Background
Parish was born in Yeovil, Somerset, to Bill and Thelma Parish. She has a sister, Julie, and a brother, musician John Parish.
Parish was born in Yeovil, Somerset, to Bill and Thelma Parish. She has a sister, Julie, and a brother, musician John Parish.
She was educated at the local Preston School and Yeovil College. She later attended Yeovil Youth Theatre.
She is known for her work on television series including: The Pillars of the Earth, Peak Practice, Hearts and Bones, Cutting lieutenant, Doctor Who, Mistresses, Merlin, the British Broadcasting Corporation television series Atlantis and the Independent Television medical drama, Monroe. She began acting at an early age and believes her first stage appearance was aged two in a pantomime in the village of Tintinhull playing the pearl in an oyster. After training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London, her appearance in a cult advert for Manchester-based Boddingtons bitter in 1994 (as Vera, who likes nothing better than "a good rub down with chip fat") led to a series of roles as Northern women, including Dawn Rudge in Peak Practice (1993), Allie Henshall in Cutting lieutenant (2002), Annie Naylor in Trust and Natalie Holden in Blackpool (2004).
She starred alongside Debra Messing in the movie The Wedding Date, had a small role in The Holiday, which starred Jude Law, and appeared as the Empress of the Racnoss in the Christmas 2006 Doctor Who episode "The Runaway Bride".
Parish"s most recent appearance was in the one-off drama Recovery. She also starred in the British Broadcasting Corporation series Shakespeare Retold in which she played Beatrice.
She returned as General Practice Katie Roden in series two and threes of Mistresses which was first shown on British Broadcasting Corporation One in February 2009. She played Lady Catrina in the British Broadcasting Corporation television series Merlin.
In November 2009, she starred in a short film to promote Somerset, commissioned by inward investment agency Into Somerset.
In 2011, Parish co-starred in Independent Television"s medical drama Monroe, alongside James Nesbitt. From 2013 to 2015, she appeared in the British Broadcasting Corporation television series Atlantis, playing one of the main cast characters, Pasiphaë. Since March 2014 she has played the role of Anna Rampton in two series of the British Broadcasting Corporation comedy W1A. Since November 2015, Parish has portrayed Cheryl Fairweather in Sky 1 sitcom Trollied.
She has frequently co-starred opposite David Tennant — in the 2004 musical serial Blackpool.
The Tony Marchant drama Recovery and the 2006 Doctor Who Christmas special episode, "The Runaway Bride". She has joked that "We"re like George and Mildred – in 20 years" time we"ll probably be doing a ropey old sitcom in a terraced house in Preston.".
