Television
Davis belonged to a comedy troupe which included her future Gavin & Stacey co-stars Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones. Her first break into TV was as a regular cast member of Big Train after her work on a BBC Radio 4 comedy was brought to the attention of Father Ted writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews. Her career was given a further boost in 1998 after she sent a tape of her work to Steve Coogan who invited to her to write and tour with him later that year.
Davis has starred in many comedy television shows in the UK including I'm Alan Partridge, Big Train, Brass Eye, Jam, Human Remains, Gavin & Stacey, I Am Not An Animal, Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible, Ideal and Nathan Barley.
In 2004 Davis wrote and starred in the highly acclaimed dark comedy Nighty Night, which returned for a second series in 2005. In more serious roles Davis has starred in productions such as the BBC's For the Love of God, The Alan Clark Diaries (in which she plays secretary to the notorious MP), Fear of Fanny, in which she played the original celebrity chef Fanny Cradock, and Persuasion, an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel.
In the last episode of The Office, she is heard on the phone as the voice of a woman from a dating agency in conversation with David Brent. Over Christmas 2008, Davis appeared on Little Britain Abroad as a Russian mail-order bride called Ivanka.
In 2010 Davis co-wrote and co-starred in Lizzie and Sarah with Jessica Hynes. The pilot was aired in the UK on 20 March 2010 on BBC2. It was made by Baby Cow and is noted as being even darker than Davis's previous work.
In December 2011 Davis appeared in the second episode of the drama series Black Mirror entitled '15 Million Merits' as Judge Charity, on the fictional talent show "Hot Shot". On 22 December 2011, Davis appeared in the Christmas special and finale of the BBC Three comedy How Not to Live Your Life as Anne Yeaman.
Davis appeared in the series' pilot episode of Bad Sugar, shown on Channel 4 on 26 August 2012.A full series will air in 2013. Hunderby, created, written and starring Davis, is currently airing on Sky Atlantic.
Read more about this topic: Julia Davis
Famous quotes containing the word television:
“So by all means let’s have a television show quick and long, even if the commercial has to be delivered by a man in a white coat with a stethoscope hanging around his neck, selling ergot pills. After all the public is entitled to what it wants, isn’t it? The Romans knew that and even they lasted four hundred years after they started to putrefy.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“We cannot spare our children the influence of harmful values by turning off the television any more than we can keep them home forever or revamp the world before they get there. Merely keeping them in the dark is no protection and, in fact, can make them vulnerable and immature.”
—Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)
“It is not heroin or cocaine that makes one an addict, it is the need to escape from a harsh reality. There are more television addicts, more baseball and football addicts, more movie addicts, and certainly more alcohol addicts in this country than there are narcotics addicts.”
—Shirley Chisholm (b. 1924)