Sophie Willan (born 21 October 1987) is an English actress, narrator, writer and comedian. She has won three

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

s for her television sitcom '' Alma's Not Normal''.

Early life

Sophie Willan was born on 21 October 1987, in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

where she grew up, and spent time in care as a child, as her mother was a

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

addict. She later worked as an escort to fund her arts career.

Theatre and stand-up comedy

Willan began her arts career in theatre, founding feminist theatre and cabaret group Eggs Collective. Willan's stand-up takes inspiration from her unusual life experiences. In 2015 she won the ''

Magners Magners Irish Cider is a brand of cider produced in County Tipperary in Ireland by the C&C Group. The product range includes the cider varieties: Original, Light, Berry, Pear and Rosé. The cider was originally produced as Bulmers Irish C ...

New Comedian of the Year'' award. In 2016 she took her debut stand-up series ''On Record'', based on her experiences of growing up in and out of the care system, to the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. A nationwide tour followed in 2017, including 10 dates at London's

Soho Theatre Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three pe ...

and a commission to adapt the show into a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

series, with a second series being greenlit. Her second show, ''Branded'', was an exploration of the labels applied to Willan by other people. In the show she addressed her past as a sex worker. The show received a positive review in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Willan performed the show at the

2017, receiving a

Herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen ...

Angel Award and a nomination for Best Show.

Television

Willan is the narrator of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

’s '' The Circle'' and joined the cast of ''

Still Open All Hours ''Still Open All Hours'' is a British sitcom (2013–2019) created for the BBC by Roy Clarke, and starring David Jason and James Baxter. It is the sequel to the sitcom '' Open All Hours'' (1976–1985), which both Clarke and Jason were invol ...

'' (

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

) and '' Click & Collect'' (

). She portrayed Carol in Series 4 of sketch show '' Class Dismissed'' (

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

) and has performed comedy on ''Live from The Comedy Store'' (

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

), ''

As Yet Untitled ''Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled '' is a British television programme that was first broadcast on Dave and hosted by comedian Alan Davies. In each episode Davies holds an unscripted roundtable discussion with four guests. The guests include st ...

'' (

Dave Dave may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the 1993 film * ''Dave'' (TV series), a 2020 American comedy series * ...

) and '' The Last Leg Correspondents'' ( C4). She has also been nominated as a

Chortle Chortle is a British comedy website launched in 2000 by Steve Bennett. The site is a major source of comedy news in the UK. It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the C ...

Best Newcomer, honoured on the BBC New Talent Hot List and became the first recipient of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

’s

Caroline Aherne Caroline Mary Aherne (24 December 1963 – 2 July 2016) was an English actress, comedian, writer and director. She was best known for performing as the acerbic chat show host '' Mrs Merton'', in various roles in '' The Fast Show'', and as Denise ...

Comedy Bursary. She was a South Bank Sky Arts Award Best Breakthrough Nominee in 2018. In 2020, following the success of the pilot episode, Willan's sitcom '' Alma's Not Normal'', which she wrote and stars in as the title character Alma Nuthall, was commissioned for a full series by

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

and broadcast in 2021. '' The Mirror'' called it ‘''

Phoenix Nights '' Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights'', sometimes shortened to ''Phoenix Nights'', is a British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The show is a spin-off from the "In th ...

'' meets ''

Fleabag ''Fleabag'' is a British comedy-drama television series created and written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, based on her one-woman show first performed in 2013 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The series was produced by Two Brothers Pictures for digi ...

'', guided by the spirit of

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, musician, screenwriter, and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades, and her live comedy act ...

’; ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' said, ‘Willan's writing is skilled and clearly very personal...uplifting and strangely enchanting’. A second series of the show was commissioned in 2022, which premiered on 7 October 2024. In 2023, Willan appeared as Maeve in the second series of

prison drama ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. Willan appeared as a contestant on the seventeenth series of the

show '' Taskmaster'' which launched in March, 2024. Previewing the first episode, ''

s Phil Harrison commented that "Already, Willan looks like a potential all-timer contestant". She also appeared in '' Ludwig'' in 2024 as Holly Pinder.

Personal life

On 18th May 2025, Willan announced via instagram that her and partner Gourmet Chef Carniel Francis Levy are expecting a baby boy in November 2025.

Awards

Willan won a BAFTA Television Craft Award for Best Writer: Comedy for the pilot of ''Alma's Not Normal''. At the 2022 British Academy Television Awards, Willan was awarded the Best Female Comedy Performance for her performance in the series, which was nominated for Best Scripted Comedy. In 2022, Willan received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Bolton The University of Greater Manchester (legally: The University of Bolton Higher Education Corporation) is a public university in Bolton, Greater Manchester in England. The university is commonly referred to as a 'post-92' institution, which is a ...

for her contribution to television and comedy.

Care work

In 2015, Willan secured funding of over £100,000 to create the multi-platform literary project '' Stories of Care'', creating and curating short stories written by fellow care leavers. The project recruited care leavers across

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

to take part in the creation of a published children's anthology for looked-after children.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willan, Sophie 1987 births Actresses from Bolton BAFTA winners (people) Comedians from Greater Manchester English stand-up comedians English television actresses English voice actresses English women comedians Escorts Living people People associated with the University of Greater Manchester