Catherine Shepherd

In Sally4Ever (2018), Catherine Shepherd's Sally can look as though another response would take more energy than she has left. Shepherd lets the exhaustion show without pleading for sympathy, and we keep watching her while the louder characters make themselves impossible. We laughed at Sally's depleted expressions and then felt mean for laughing, because Shepherd makes the effort of enduring these people so apparent. It is a precise comic performance in a series we recommend to those who can bear prolonged embarrassment.

The move from ensemble sketch work in The Peter Serafinowicz Show (2007–2008) to the lead in Sally4Ever did not require Shepherd to become louder. Her ability to let another performer be outrageous is part of what makes Sally worth following. The series grew out of improvisation with Julia Davis, with Shepherd sharing in its development. Writing was not a sudden departure: she had already written and directed See Me (2011), a short starring Olivia Colman.

Davis, who writes, directs and plays Emma in Sally4Ever, gives Shepherd plenty to withstand, while Alex Macqueen's David supplies a noisier kind of discomfort through animal sounds. Andy Hollis's cinematography leaves room to study the faces, which make more impression than David Ferris's production design. Robin Peters's editing often gives Shepherd's reactions time to register, allowing us to notice how little Sally has left to give. But some stretches of unpleasantness keep going after the joke has stopped developing, and even this cast cannot make every escalation worthwhile. Shepherd holds our attention without competing with the others, though restraint cannot shorten a scene.

Two Weeks in August (2026), which she created and wrote, puts ordinary people under pressure on a group holiday across eight episodes. The setting offers plenty of opportunities for the sort of social unease she makes so readable as an actor. Her exhausted Sally is still the clearest reason for our interest in what she writes. Start with Sally4Ever, provided that watching someone too polite to escape appalling company sounds like an evening well spent.