Lesley Sharp

Lesley Sharp is an English actress. She became widely known for her role as Detective Constable Janet Scott in the ITV crime series Scott & Bailey. Her other credits include Rita, Sue and Bob Too, The Rachel Papers, Naked, Priest, The Moonstone, Great Expectations, Daylight Robbery, Clocking Off, From Hell, Vera Drake, Afterlife,, This Cop Life, and The Full Monty (TV series).
She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her part in the film The Full Monty, and for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her role in Bob & Rose.

Early life and education

Sharp was born as Karen Makinson in Manchester, England, to Elsie Makinson and Norman Patient, a married tram driver. The two were carrying on an extramarital affair. She was adopted at six weeks old by Roberta and William Henry John Sharp, a tax inspector. Sharp grew up in Merseyside.
Sharp has stated that she started acting because, as a child, she felt "invisible" and did not "quite fit in". She has said that her inspiration to act came from watching Dick Emery on television.
Sharp attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the class of 1982.

Career

Sharp's screen debut was in Alan Clarke's Rita, Sue and Bob Too, playing Bob's wife, Michelle. Further film appearances included supporting roles in The Rachel Papers, and Stephen Poliakoff's Close My Eyes, with Clive Owen and Alan Rickman. Sharp starred in Mike Leigh's Naked, and the Jimmy McGovern-penned Priest. She made appearances in Prime Suspect 4: The Lost Child, and The Full Monty.
She had leading roles in Common As Muck, followed by Playing the Field, a drama about a female football team which ran for five series. Sharp had supporting parts in Great Expectations, as Mrs Joe, and in Nature Boy, as Martha Tyler, before landing the role of Trudy Graham in Paul Abbott's BAFTA-award-winning Clocking Off, Russell T. Davies then cast her opposite Alan Davies in Bob & Rose, which resulted in a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress nomination in 2002.
Further film roles in From Hell, starring Johnny Depp, and Cheeky, which was directed by Naked co-star David Thewlis, preceded another television drama written by Russell T. Davies. She starred in The Second Coming.
Sharp again worked with Mike Leigh in Vera Drake, which was followed by the television drama Planespotting, The same year, she played the clairvoyant lead role of Alison Mundy opposite Andrew Lincoln's sceptical Robert Bridge in ITV's supernatural drama series Afterlife.
After a ten-year break from stagework, in October 2005 Sharp returned to the theatre as Emma in Sam Shepard's The God of Hell at the Donmar Warehouse. In 2008, she starred in the three-part Lucy Gannon-penned drama The Children. Later in 2008, she worked with Russell T. Davies for a third time when she played Sky Silvestry in the Doctor Who episode "Midnight". Davies later tipped Sharp to become the first woman to play the Doctor.
In early 2009 Sharp played Petronella van Daan in the BBC's new version of The Diary of Anne Frank. She subsequently played Paddy Considine's wife in Channel 4's acclaimed drama series Red Riding. Sharp starred in a 2009 revival of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the Vaudeville Theatre with Marc Warren and Diana Vickers, which ran from October to the following January.
Between 2011 and 2016, Sharp co-starred with Suranne Jones, playing Janet Scott for the five series comprising ITV1's crime drama series Scott & Bailey. In May 2012 she starred in the Sky1 comedy series Starlings as Jan Starling.
In 2015, Sharp played the part of Mary, the daughter of Petunia Howe, in the three-part BBC series Capital based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name.
She appeared in several episodes of the 2021 Netflix original Fate: The Winx Saga as Rosalind but was replaced in this role with Miranda Richardson after the first season. In 2021 she took the lead role in Kae Tempest’s Philoctetes at the National Theatre.
In 2022 she narrated the police documentary This Cop Life.

Personal life

Sharp married Nicholas Gleaves in 1994, and they have two children.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Tartuffe, or the Impostor	Mariane	TV film
1987	ScreenPlay	Valerie	"Road"
1989	ScreenPlay	Marion Parkin	"Night Voice"
1989	ScreenPlay	Woman	"Wedded"
1991	Josie		1 episode
1991	Performance	Dull Gret / Angie	"Top Girls"
1992	She-Play		"First Night"
1993	Nights	Carol
1993–94	Frank Stubbs Promotes	Petra Dillon	Main
1994	The All New Alexei Sayle Show	Various	2 episodes
1994	Stages	Susan	"Speaking in Tongues"
1994	Dandelion Dead	Constance 'Connie' Martin, née Davies	Mini-series
1995	Prime Suspect	Anne Sutherland	"The Lost Child"
1995	The Peter Principle	Susan Harvey	"Pilot"
1996	The Moonstone	Rosanna Spearman	TV film
1997	Common As Muck	Christine Stranks	Main
1997	Lloyds Bank Channel 4 Film Challenge	Pet Warmley	"Nurse Ajax"
1998–2000	Playing the Field	Theresa Mullen	Main
1999	Great Expectations	Mrs. Joe	TV film
1999	Daylight Robbery	Carol Murphy	Main
2000	Nature Boy	Martha	Mini-series
2000–01	Clocking Off	Trudy Graham	Main
2001	Bob & Rose	Rose Cooper	Main
2003	The Second Coming	Judith Roach	Mini-series
2003	Carla	Helen North	TV film
2004	Carrie's War	Louisa Evans	TV film
2005	Planespotting	Lesley Coppin	TV film
2005	Born with Two Mothers	Laura Mayfield	TV film
2005	Days of Darkness	Jerri Nielsen	TV film
2005–06	Afterlife	Alison Mundy	Main
2005	Our Hidden Lives	Edie Rutherford	TV film
2006	The True Voice of Murder		TV film
2006	The True Voice of Prostitution		TV film
2008	Doctor Who	Sky Silvestry	"Midnight"
2008	The Children	Anne	Mini-series
2009	The Diary of Anne Frank	Petronella van Daan	Mini-series
2009	Red Riding	Joan Hunter	"1980"
2009	Moving On	Sylvie	"Butterfly Effect"
2009	Cranford	Mrs. Bell	Specials
2009	Poirot	Miss Martindale	"The Clocks"
2010	Whistle and I'll Come to You	Hetty	TV film
2011	Leah's Story	Narrator	Documentary
2011	The Shadow Line	Julie Bede	Mini-series
2011–16	Scott & Bailey	DC Janet Scott	Main
2011	The Walton Sextuplets: Moving On	Narrator	TV film
2011	Shirley	Eliza Bassey	TV film
2012	Protecting Our Children	Narrator	Mini-series
2012–13	Starlings	Jan	Main
2012	Corfu: a Tale of Two Islands	Narrator	Documentary
2013	Homeboys	Eileen	TV film
2013	Who Do You Think You Are?	Herself	1 episode
2014	Shirley	Charlotte Brontë
2015	Capital	Mary	Mini-series
2015	Tom Daley: Diving for Gold	Narrator	Documentary
2016	Paranoid	Lucy Cannonbury	Main
2017	Three Girls	DC Margaret Oliver	Mini-series
2017–19	Living the Dream	Jen Pemberton	Main
2021	Fate: The Winx Saga	Rosalind	3 episodes
2021–	Before We Die	Hannah Laing	Main
2021	Help	Gaynor	TV film
2021	Heaven Made	Narrator	Documentary
2023	The Full Monty	Jean	Mini-series
2024 -	Red Eye	DG Madeline Delaney	Drama
2026	Bergerac	Monica	Upcoming

Theatre

In October 2005, Sharp starred in her first theatre role for a decade in the play The God of Hell at the Donmar Warehouse, London.
In 2008, she played the lead character in the play Harper Regan at Royal National Theatre.
In 2014, she played the character Helen in the play A Taste of Honey at Royal National Theatre.