Why Ms. Tobin From Last Night In Soho Looks So Familiar
Somehow every British actor manages to be in every British movie and TV show — it's uncanny. If you look at any prominent actor from across the pond, chances are they've been in "The Bill," "Doctor Who," either a Marple or Poirot TV movie, "Harry Potter" and "Game of Thrones." Let's also throw in at least one Edgar Wright production. Elizabeth Berrington is one such actor. She has finally joined Wright's greater Cornettosphere with "Last Night in Soho."
As the director explained to Total Film, the new movie was inspired by Quentin Tarantino and the name of a Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich song. "Have you ever heard 'Last Night in Soho?'" Tarantino asked Wright. "He played it for me, and he goes, 'This is the best title music for a film that's never been made.'" Well, now Wright has made the film Tarantino conjured.
"Last Night in Soho" stars Thomasin McKenzie as Eloise Turner, an aspiring fashion designer who somehow gains the ability to inhabit the body of swinging '60s singer Sandie ("The Queen's Gambit" star Anya Taylor-Joy). But things start to go pear-shaped for Eloise and Sandie, as the former finds herself trying to fix both past and present as they fall apart around them. The film also stars 11th Doctor Matt Smith, Terrence Stamp as a menacing older man, and the late great Diana Rigg in her final role. The recognizable Elizabeth Berrington plays Ms. Tobin in the film, and you can also spot her work all over British telly and film.
Elizabeth Berrington helped end the British Office
Elizabeth Berrington had a memorable role in "The Office" (UK) Christmas special as Anne — the new, pregnant, and very annoying deskmate of Tim (Martin Freeman). After the show's events, Gareth ("Pirates of the Caribbean" star Mackenzie Crook) is the general manager of Wernham Hogg's Slough offices. David Brent (Ricky Gervais) sells cleaning supplies and tries to regain the spotlight that the docuseries had once shone on him.
Anne serves as something of a punishment for Tim's refusal to take the manager job. If he had accepted, Gareth would be stuck with Anne instead. By the end of the two-part Christmas special, Tim and Dawn have kissed. It's possible with this new wind in his sail, Tim will finally find more fulfilling employment. Or not. It took Jim and Pam (Tim and Dawn's US equivalents) several years post-hookup to eventually leave the Dunder Mifflin nest.
Berrington was part Time Lord on Doctor Who
Elizabeth Berrington previously worked with her "Last Night in Soho" co-star Matt Smith in Series 6 of the new "Doctor Who." She played a character named Auntie in the episode "The Doctor's Wife." In the story, written by Neil Gaiman, the TARDIS is called to a junkyard asteroid, where an entity called House (voiced by "Good Omens" star Michael Sheen) puts the matrix of the TARDIS in a woman named Idris. House inhabits the TARDIS and leaves the Doctor stranded with Idris on the asteroid.
The only other inhabitants of the junkyard are Uncle and Auntie, who turn out to be made out of the body parts of slaughtered Time Lords. Without House there to keep them alive, they quickly die. It is pretty extreme body horror for an ostensible family show.
"The Doctor's Wife" is important in the "Doctor Who" continuity because it's the only time the TARDIS is given a voice. She tells the Doctor that although she doesn't always bring him to where he asks, she always gets him to where he needs to go. Fans see this as confirmation that the TARDIS has some timey-wimey oopsy-daisy detector that brings the Doctor to places and times where his services are required.
Berrington did her time on cozy mystery shows
Elizabeth Berrington has been on many of the classic British cozy mystery shows. These series tend to go through actors since each episode needs to be populated with a fresh crew of suspects and victims. Berrington's IMDb shows that she's done one-episode stints on "A Touch of Frost," David Suchet's "Poirot" series, "Midsomer Murders," "Father Brown," and "Death in Paradise."
Berrington's "Poirot" ep is from the later, more somber era of TV movies — 2008's "Cat Among the Pigeons." Written by "Sherlock" co-creator Mark Gatiss, the episode focuses on the smuggled rubies from the fictional Middle Eastern state of Ramat. After a revolution, the rubies wind up in the luggage of Jennifer Sutcliffe. Jennifer attends Meadowbank School, where staff members keep being murdered. Berrington plays new, sadistic gym teacher Grace Springer.
Berrington concluded her cozy mystery era with the Series 7 premiere episode of "Death in Paradise." The show focuses on the fish-out-of-water Detective Inspector of the fictional British colonial island of Saint Marie. Different white British men take up the mantle of DI on this small island and solve enough murders to work through whatever trauma caused them to leave England in the first place. At the start of Series 7, the current DI is Jack Mooney, who is still grieving the loss of his wife. Berrington plays the victim in the episode, Diane Smith, who appears to have killed herself on the eve of marrying a billionaire — or did she? She didn't.
Berrington played the muscle on The Nevers
Contains spoilers for Season 1 of The Nevers
One of Elizabeth Berrington's meatiest roles of late was on the HBO show "The Nevers." The series followed a group of (mostly) women in Victorian London who gained special powers after a cosmically weird event. Think "X-Men" meets "Peaky Blinders." She played Lucy Best, who breaks anything she touches. Unfortunately for Lucy, she discovered her power (or "turn," as they call them on the show) when holding her infant child as every bone broke in their body.
"The Nevers" is a show about a ragtag group of women and the establishment of men who want them to submit. Lucy turned out to be a double agent, feeding information to Lord Massen (Pip Torrens), a man who fears the women who have turns. Massen used the information to have someone killed, an outcome that Lucy profoundly regrets.
Joss Whedon originally conceived "The Nevers" as something to do after working on "The Avengers." HBO picked up the show, and filming began in 2019 but had to pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Joss Whedon stepped away from the show at the end of the year, according to Variety. The back half of the episodes shot during the health crisis have yet to be released, so we might see Lucy again.