# Deborah Findlay

Deborah Findlay (born 31 December 1947) is an English actress. She has worked primarily on stage and is an Olivier Award Winner, but has also appeared in several TV series. She is known for playing the Defoe family matriarch Ruth in three series of the BBC TV legal drama The Split (2018–2022).

## Early life and education

Findlay joined a theatre company while studying English at the University of Leeds.

## Career
### Theatre

Findlay has worked primarily on stage, appearing in numerous productions, including the original Top Girls. In the 1980s she worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company where she appeared in Twelfth Night and The Merchant Of Venice. In 1997 she won an Olivier Award, as well as Outer Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, for her performance as Hilda, the wife of the painter Stanley Spencer in Pam Gems' play Stanley.
In 2008, she starred in the US premiere of Vincent River by Philip Ridley. In 2009 she appeared alongside Judi Dench in a Donmar West End revival of Madame de Sade.
In 2013, she starred in the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus as Volumnia, a role which earned her Clarence Derwent award for best supporting actress.
In 2016, she appeared on the stage of The Royal Court Theatre twice: as Sally in Caryl Churchill's Escaped Alone and as Hazel in Lucy Kirkwood's The Children. She reprised her role during The Children's Broadway run, receiving a Tony Award nomination.
In 2018, she appeared at the Bridge Theatre in London, playing the role of Sister Gilchrist in Alan Bennett's Allelujah!

### Television

Findlay's TV credits include Nurse Motte 1992 Maigret with Michael Gambon; Gillian in the ITV drama The Last Train (1999); and the recurring character Greer Thornton in four of the six episodes of State of Play and in the episode "The French Drop" (2004) in Foyle's War.
She appeared in four episodes of the 2001 series of The Armstrong and Miller Show and one episode of the acclaimed and original entry of the Messiah TV series. In autumn 2007 she appeared with Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton and Francesca Annis in the BBC1 costume drama series Cranford, playing the role of the spinster Miss Tompkinson, as well as in Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale. She reprised her (in this case more prominent) role as Miss Tompkinson in the two-part Christmas special Return to Cranford.
She portrayed Home Secretary Denise Riley in Torchwood's 2009 third series Children of Earth. She was featured in separate episodes as agent Mary Carter in October 2003 and lawyer Gemma King in January 2010 of the BBC1 series Silent Witness. In 2010 she also appeared in Agatha Christie’s Poirot “Hallowe’en Party” as Rowena Drake. She also appeared in two episodes of the ITV series Midsomer Murders: as Hilary Richards in "Blue Herrings" (2000) and as Lorna Sloane in "Murder by Magic" (2015).
Findlay played Sarah Cushing in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes episodeThe Cardboard Box, which aired on television on the 11 April 1994.
In episodes aired in 2018, 2020 and 2022 she portrayed Ruth in three series of the BBC TV legal drama The Split.

### Radio

Findlay's radio credits include Sally in Closed to Visitors by Dawn Lowe-Watson on BBC Radio 4 in 1992 and Hermione Pink in the BBC Radio 4 Drama The Ferryhill Philosophers, starting in 2015. Findlay played Miss Dredger in BBC Radio 4 Drama Mr Pye 2023.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1990 | Truly Madly Deeply | Claire | |
| 1995 | Jack & Sarah | Miss Cartwright | |
| 1999 | The End of the Affair | Miss Smythe | |
| 2001 | Me Without You | Judith | |
| 2001 | A Loving Act | Dr. Emily Smith | Short film |
| 2004 | Vanity Fair | Mrs. Sedley | |
| 2008 | Summer | Doctor Price | |
| 2008 | One of Those Days | Supervisor | Short film |
| 2011 | Arthur Christmas | General (voice) | |
| 2014 | National Theatre Live: Coriolanus | Volumnia | |
| 2014 | Suite Française | Madame Joseph | |
| 2015 | The Lady in the Van | Pauline | |
| 2015 | The Ones Below | Tessa | |
| 2016 | Jackie | Maud Shaw | |
| 2016 | Kaleidoscope | Maureen | |
| 2017 | Hampstead | Mary Neal | |
| 2018 | National Theatre Live: Allelujah! | Sister Gilchrist | |
| 2019 | Making Noise Quietly | Helene Ensslin | |
| 2021 | From A Strange Land | Margaret | Short film |
| 2022 | Up on the Roof | Claire | |
| 2024 | That Christmas | Mrs. Horton (voice) | |
| TBA | Such A Lovely Day | Granny | Pre-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1978–1980 | The English Programme | Unknown | 3 episodes |
| 1982 | Play for Today | Ingy | Episode: "Commitments" |
| 1983 | Busted | Angela | Television film |
| 1984 | Shroud for a Nightingale | Heather Pearce | 2 episodes |
| 1984 | Dramarama | Nurse | Episode: "Rachel and Rosie" |
| 1986 | Ladies in Charge | Hetty | Episode: "Zoe's Fever" |
| 1986 | What If It's Raining | Marilyn | 3 episodes |
| 1989 | First and Last | Lisa | Television film |
| 1991 | All Good Things | Doll | 5 episodes |
| 1991 | Performance | Isabella / Joyce / Mrs. Kidd | Episode: "Top Girls" |
| 1991 | The House of Bernarda Alba | Martirio | Television film |
| 1992 | Anglo Saxon Attitudes | Kay Consett | 3 episodes |
| 1992 | Natural Lies | Grace | 3 episodes |
| 1992 | Downtown Lagos | Celia Dawson | 3 episodes |
| 1993 | Maigret | Juliette Motte | Episode: "Maigret on the Defensive" |
| 1993 | 15: The Life and Death of Philip Knight | Cheryl Morris | Television film |
| 1994 | The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes | Sarah Cushing | Episode: "The Cardboard Box" |
| 1994 | Milner | Sylvia Milner | Television film |
| 1994, 1997 | Casualty | Caroline Palmer / Debbie Cookson | 2 episodes |
| 1996 | The Vet | Anna Walker | Episode: "Out of the Past" |
| 1997 | Jane Eyre | Mrs Reed | Television film |
| 1998 | Heat of the Sun | Matilda Watcham | Episode: "Hide in Plain Sight" |
| 1998 | Kavanagh QC | Susannah Emmott | Episode: "Bearing Witness" |
| 1998 | Trial and Retribution | DC Jill Ashton | 2 episodes |
| 1999 | The Last Train | Gillian | Episode: "Episode #1.5" |
| 1999 | Wives and Daughters | Miss Phoebe | 4 episodes |
| 2000 | Anna Karenina | Countess Lydia | 4 episodes |
| 2000 | The Bill | DSU Wray | Episode: "Fifty-Fifty" |
| 2000 | Comedy Lab | Roxanne Anderson | Episode: "Anderson" |
| 2000−2015 | Midsomer Murders | Lorna Sloane / Hilary Richards | 2 episodes |
| 2001 | The Armstrong and Miller Show | Various | 4 episodes |
| 2001 | Messiah | Clarissa Buchanan | Episode: "The First Killings" |
| 2003 | State of Mind | D.C.I. Stella Munroe | Television film |
| 2003 | State of Play | Greer Thornton | 4 episodes |
| 2003 | Home | Margaret Ballantyne | Television film |
| 2003–2010 | Silent Witness | Gemma King / Mary Carter | 4 episodes |
| 2004 | Foyle's War | Mrs Thorndyke / Evelyn Cresswell | Episode: "The French Drop" |
| 2006 | Thin Ice | Jeanette | TV miniseries |
| 2006 | The Family Man | Mary | Television film |
| 2007 | This Life + 10 | Doctor | Television film |
| 2007 | The Yellow House | Madame Roulin | Television film |
| 2007 | The Good Samaritan | Eileen Mayhew | Television film |
| 2007 | Who Gets the Dog? | Pamela Wilson | Television film |
| 2007 | Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale | Susan Owen | Television film |
| 2007–2009 | Cranford | Miss Tomkinson | 7 episodes |
| 2008 | Lewis | Lady Hugh | Episode: "Life Born of Fire" |
| 2008 | Heartbeat | Eva Knight | Episode: "Out of the Long Dark Knight" |
| 2009 | Gunrush | Jill | Television film |
| 2009 | Torchwood | Denise Riley | 2 episodes |
| 2010 | Poirot | Rowena Drake | Episode: "Hallowe'en Party" |
| 2010 | Law & Order: UK | Kim Sharkey | Episode: "Broken" |
| 2011 | The Trouble with Tolstoy | Sophia Tolstoy (voice) | Television film |
| 2011 | New Tricks | Helen Gilder | Episode: "Setting Out Your Stall" |
| 2012 | Holby City | Philippa Pawlowski | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | Leaving | Vanessa | 3 episodes |
| 2013 | Starlings | Sandra | Episode: "Episode #2.6" |
| 2015 | Life in Squares | Aunt Jane | Episode: "Episode #1.1" |
| 2015 | Coalition | Harriet Harman | Television film |
| 2015 | Comedy Blaps | Harriet | Episode: "High and Dry Blap" |
| 2016 | Lovesick | Fiona | Episode: "Jonesy?" |
| 2018 | Collateral | Eleanor Shaw | 2 episodes |
| 2018–2022 | The Split | Ruth | 18 episodes |
| 2021 | The Drowning | Lynn | 4 episodes |
| 2021 | Romeo and Juliet | Nurse | Television film |
| 2023 | Dalgliesh | Miss Willard | 2 episodes |