Victoria Wicks’s Sally Smedley is a vain, snobbish newsreader worth spending time with. We recommend her work in Drop the Dead Donkey for its contribution to an ensemble that remains good company after the headlines have dated.
Fi1m perspective
Sally Smedley’s vanity gives Victoria Wicks plenty to work with before a topical joke arrives. In Drop the Dead Donkey (1990), she helps make the newsroom worth returning to even when its news has become old news. We warmed to Sally and her colleagues more than we expected, because the care given to their individual personalities makes them worth following beyond the topical gags. It is good ensemble acting, and the strongest reason we have to recommend her.
Wicks is not required to carry that newsroom alone. Neil Pearson’s Dave Charnley and Jeff Rawle’s George Dent give us other people worth following, with David Swift’s Henry Davenport and Stephen Tompkinson’s Damien Day extending the appeal. That company suits her: Sally has a recognisable personality without having to be our favourite person in every episode. The reservation belongs to the programme rather than to Wicks; an appetite for old news still helps, and affection for the cast cannot make every topical reference fresh.
Sally was her television break, a regular role across all six series from 1990 to 1998. During that run, Wicks joined Howard Barker’s company, The Wrestling School, as an associate in 1996, beginning a long collaboration alongside her screen work. The combination of mainstream television and experimental theatre makes a narrow description of her as a sitcom actor inadequate. The College Director in Skins (2007) fits her recurring casting as an authority figure, but those parts should not obscure the sustained theatre work.
Her film appearances include Joan’s mother in The Imitation Game (2014) and Miriam in Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise (2015). We would still begin with the longer television role, where the pleasure of the casting has time to accumulate. Sally gives us someone worth following from episode to episode, even when she is only one of several reasons to return. Start with Drop the Dead Donkey and resist the need to pick a favourite.
Biography
Victoria Wicks is a British actress. She was born on 18 April 1959 in Chippenham, Wiltshire.
She trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Her early career included work as an acting assistant stage manager at Northampton Rep, followed by engagements at Bristol Old Vic, Regent’s Park and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She is an associate of Howard Barker’s theatre company, The Wrestling School.
Wicks is known for playing Sally Smedley in the Channel 4 comedy series Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–1998). Other television roles include Mrs Gideon in The Mighty Boosh (2004) and the College Director in Skins (2007–08). Film appearances include The Imitation Game (2014) and High-Rise (2015).
