Rebecca Louise Front (born 16 May 1964) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for The Thick of It (2009–2012). She is also known for her work in numerous other British comedies, including the radio show On The Hour (1992), The Day Today (1994), Knowing Me, Knowing You… with Alan Partridge (1994), Time Gentlemen Please (2000–2002), sketch show Big Train (2002), and Nighty Night (2004–2005).
Front has also been seen in a number of dramatic roles, including Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent in Lewis (2006–2014), Mrs. Bennet in Death Comes to Pemberley (2013), Mrs. Landau in The Eichmann Show (2015), Vera in Humans (2015), and Death in Paradise (2019). Her theatre credits include the musicals Company and The Fix at the Donmar Warehouse, directed by Sam Mendes.
Early life and education
Front was born in Stoke Newington, London, to Sheila and Charles Front. Her mother wrote children's books, which her father illustrated. Her father also designed the title-logo on the cover of The Beatles' album Rubber Soul. Her father is Jewish and her mother is of Jewish and Welsh descent. Front was brought up in Reform Judaism.
Front gained admission to Ilford County High School for Girls, which converted to a comprehensive school during her time there.
Front became involved in comedy while at St Hugh's College at the University of Oxford, where she studied English and became the first female president of The Oxford Revue. She also trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. and the television and radio series Fist of Fun. She went on to form a close professional association with Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Doon Mackichan and Steve Coogan, who all transferred with Front to The Day Today, the television version of On the Hour. She playing Nicola Murray MP, Secretary of State for Citizenship and Social Affairs and in charge of the dysfunctional Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship (DoSAC), and later, Leader of the Opposition.
Front featured in the 2010 BBC comedy series Grandma's House playing the part of Simon Amstell's mother Tanya, and Just William, as the mother of William Brown and also starred in the 2011 live-action 3D family comedy film Horrid Henry: The Movie as Henry's headmistress, Miss Oddbod.
In 2012, Front starred as the psychiatrist in the Sky Arts sketch series Psychobitches, where Front's character offers therapy to notable women of history and the present day, including Anne Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots, Mary Shelley, Enid Blyton, Eva Braun, Mary Pickford, Edith Piaf, and Anna Nicole Smith. The series aired on the British television channel Sky Arts 1. The first episode of a second series was broadcast on 25 November 2014.
In 2013, Front starred in the new Sky Living comedy The Spa, in the role of Alison Crabbe.
Front plays Cox in The Wrong Mans, a six-part comedy-thriller for BBC Two. The premiere was on 24 September 2013. She reprised this role in December 2014 for a special two-parter.
Front narrated Fox Wars which was broadcast on 22 October 2013.
In December 2013, Sky Atlantic aired a new comedy series called Little Cracker. The second programme in the series was an autobiographical story written by Front and her brother Jeremy. It concerns the time she witnessed the near-drowning of her father in a lake; that incident was closely followed by the death of her grandfather. The proximity of these two experiences caused Front considerable personal anguish. Front was eleven years old at the time and, because of the trauma she suffered, she went through a period of not wanting to attend school. The programme included a comedic treatment of this time in her life, followed by Front and her brother explaining the background to the story, and how they came to write and dramatise it. In the programme, Front was played by Lucy Hutchinson, and her father was played by the actor Richard Lumsden. Samantha Spiro played her mother and Front played her headmistress, Miss Dyson. Front's school friend character, Karen, was played by Imogen Front.
For their 2013 Christmas season, the BBC commissioned Death Comes to Pemberley, a three-part television drama based on the novel by P. D. James. The story returns to the world of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and involves its characters in a new tale of murder and emotional mayhem. Front played the part of Mrs Bennet. The first episode aired on BBC One at 8.15pm on Boxing Day.
In January 2014, Front appeared in the Midsomer Murders episode "Let Us Prey", about a serial killer who uses medieval torture methods to dispatch their victims. She appeared in the BBC series Outnumbered, playing the headmistress at Karen's school in early 2014.
Front portrayed Fiona in the BBC Radio 4 series Love in Recovery. She also starred in the sitcom Up the Women as Helen Bute, the antagonist for three episodes in mid-2013 and a six-episode series in 2015. From 2014 to 2019, she narrated the Channel 4 series The Supervet.
In 2017, she co-wrote and appeared in the sitcom Shush! on BBC Radio 4, a sitcom set in a library.
Personal life
Front is married to Phil Clymer, previously a radio producer at the BBC World Service; they have two children. Front was part of the BBC English/World Service rep company.
Front's book Curious: True Stories and Loose Connections (published 2014) is a collection of autobiographical stories. A second book, Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Adventures in the Ordinary (published 2018), is a collection of true stories about surprising turns of events, bizarre misunderstandings and improbable life lessons. Jeremy Front, her brother, is a writer and comic actor. They have collaborated on writing and performance projects. The most recent is a series of spoof documentaries, Incredible Women, for BBC Radio 4.
Filmography
{| class="wikitable"
|+Key
| style="background:#FFFFCC;"|
| Denotes projects that have not yet been released
|}
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
!Ref.
|-
| 1995
| England, My England
| Mary II
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3"|1996
| The Office
| Pru
| TV film
|
|-
| Never Mind the Horrocks
| Various roles
| TV film
|
|-
| Company
| Sarah
| TV film
|
|-
| 1997
| The Missing Postman
| Sarah Seymour
| TV film
|
|-
| 2002
| Promise Land
|
| Short film
|
|-
| 2003
| George Orwell: A Life in Pictures
| Jura Interviewer
| TV film
|
|-
| 2004
| Suzie Gold
| Barbara Gold
|
|
|-
| 2005
| Colour Me Kubrick
| Maureen
|
|
|-
| 2006
| This Is Genius: Lucas Wilson III
| Guinevere Wilson
| TV film
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|2007
| You Can Choose Your Friends
| Amanda Snell
| TV film
|
|-
| Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off.... to Glastonbury
| Narrator
| TV film
|
|-
| 2008
| Shush
| Alice
| TV film
|
|-
| 2009
| Planet 51
| Various roles
| Voice only
|
|-
| 2011
| Horrid Henry: The Movie
| Ms Oddbod
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|2015
| The Eichmann Show
| Mrs. Landau
| TV film
|
|-
| Valentina's Dream
| Valentina Tereshkova
| Short film
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|2016
| Billionaire Boy
| Miss Sharp
| TV film
|
|-
| Grimsby
| Lady at Worldcure Event
|-
| rowspan="3"|2017
| Comic Relief Hecklers Anonymous
| Martha Hopkins
| TV film
|
|-
| Transformers: The Last Knight
| Aunt Marie
|
|
|-
| Edmund the Magnificent
| Shopkeeper
| Short film
|
|-
| 2018
| Down a Dark Hall
| Mrs. Olonsky
|
|
|-
| 2019
| The Aeronauts
| Aunt Frances
|
|
|-
| 2020
| Marionette
| Maureen
|
|
|-
| 2021
| Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard
| Therapist
|
|
|-
| 2022
| Batgirl
|
|
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
!Ref.
|-
| 1990
| Up Yer News
|
| TV short
|
|-
| 1991
| Tricky Business
| Debbie
| Recurring role; 3 episodes
|
|-
| 1992
| Dizzy Heights
|
| Recurring role; 2 episodes
|
|-
| rowspan="3"|1993
| Saturday Zoo
| Various roles
| Series 1, Episode 2
|
|-
| Noel's House Party
| TV Assistant
| Series 2, Episode 16
|
|-
| The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer
| Suzanne
| Episode: "Water"
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1994
| Paris
| Madame Trombaut
| Episode: "Les Gimmiques"
|
|-
| The Day Today
| Various roles
| Series regular, 7 episodes
|
|-
| 1994–95
| Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge
| Various roles
| Series regular; 8 episodes
|