Early life

Born in Westhoughton, Bolton, Greater Manchester, Peake is the second of two daughters born to Brian and Glenys Peake (née Hall). Her father was a lorry driver before working in the electrical industry, her mother a part-time careworker; Lisa, her elder sister by nine years, is a police officer. Her parents separated when Peake was nine and she lived with her mother until the age of 15. When her mother moved in with a new boyfriend several miles away, Peake went to live with her grandfather so she could continue her GCSE studies at Westhoughton High School, before going on to take her A-Levels at Canon Slade School, Bradshaw near Bolton. Her grandfather encouraged her to develop her creativity and start acting.

Peake joined the Octagon Youth Theatre, Bolton, at 13, before a period at the youth theatre of the Royal Exchange, Manchester. She later attended Salford College of Technology but left after two years. During this time she appeared in productions with two leading amateur theatre companies in Bolton; The Marco Players and The Phoenix Theatre Company. Peake was a member of the Communist Party of Britain Salford branch in her youth. She supported Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour leadership election.

In her teens Peake was a representative for Wigan Ladies rugby league team.

Peake's early attempts to enter the acting profession were unsuccessful. She was rejected by every theatre education company in North West England, and tried unsuccessfully for three years to get into Manchester Polytechnic Theatre School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. However, at 21, she obtained a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her attempts to find sponsorship for RADA were the subject of a 1996 documentary by The South Bank Show; eventually, after being put forward by RADA, she was awarded the Patricia Rothermere Scholarship.

Later life

In 2009 Peake returned to the north-west, after living in London for 13 years. The move freed her of the financial constraints of trying to buy a house in London. Living in Salford with her art director partner Pawlo Wintoniuk, she says, gave her the freedom to choose more risky roles and lower-paying jobs in theatre. “For the last few years I have been lucky enough to choose what I want to do. Living in Salford gives me the confidence to do that because I don’t have a massive mortgage.” In 2014 the actress revealed that in an attempt to have children she had explored every option, including IVF treatments. She has suffered two miscarriages.

Political views

Peake is a feminist and socialist. She was previously active in Communist organisations, and supported Jeremy Corbyn's bid for the Labour Party leadership. She brings her views into much of her work.

In January 2014 Peake won the first Bolton Socialist Club Outstanding Contribution to Socialism Award, for using her work to oppose the government's "crippling austerity measures".

In January 2016 Peake featured in the Climate Coalition's short film I Wish For You as Mia, with Jeremy Irons starring as her grandfather, to highlight the urgency on combating climate change.

Career

Peake has appeared in a number of television and stage productions including Victoria Wood's dinnerladies, Channel 4's Shameless, in the lead role of barrister Martha Costello in the BBC's legal drama Silk and alongside John Simm in the BBC drama The Village, depicting life in a Derbyshire village during the First World War. Following career advice from Victoria Wood, between the two series of dinnerladies, Peake lost so much weight that an explanation had to be written into the script for her character, Twinkle.

Peake portrayed the Moors murderer Myra Hindley in See No Evil: The Moors Murders. Broadcast in May 2006, it was met with mixed reactions; soon after this Peake announced that she was leaving Shameless. January 2009 saw Peake appear in her first major feature film role, as Angela in the film Clubbed.

She has played the title role in Miss Julie at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. She previously played the part of Kristin in a 2000 production. as well as Doll Tearsheet in the BBC2 adaptations of Henry IV, Parts I and II.

In November 2012, a play that Peake had written, directed and starred in about the life of the Leeds-born cyclist Beryl Burton was broadcast on BBC Radio Four as Beryl: A Love Story On Two Wheels. In 2014 Peake adapted her play for the stage. Titled simply Beryl, it was commissioned by the West Yorkshire Playhouse where it ran in June and July 2014 to coincide with the start of the Tour de France in Leeds, returned in June and July 2015 and toured across England in autumn 2015.

Peake provided the vocals for the Eccentronic Research Council's 2012 concept album 1612 Underture about the Pendle Witch Trials, and as a crazed stalker in the music video for "Sweet Saturn Mine" by Moonlandingz, a collaborative effort by Eccentronic Research Council and Fat White Family in 2015.

In September 2013 Peake was appointed an Associate Artist of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Her association with the theatre began in childhood and she was a member of the youth theatre. Major productions in which she has performed include The Children's Hour in 2008, for which she won a MEN Award, and Miss Julie in 2012 for which she won a Manchester Theatre Award. All of her performances at the Royal Exchange have been directed by Sarah Frankcom with whom she also collaborated on The Masque of Anarchy in 2012 for the Manchester International Festival. Building on this work, in September 2014 Frankcom went on to direct her as the title character in a radical re-imagining of Hamlet. The demand for tickets was so great that the production was extended for a week, having been "the theatre’s fastest selling show in a decade". The Guardian said of her performance: "Peake’s delicate ferocity, her particular mixture of concentration and lightness, ensure that you want to follow her whenever she appears". A year later she appeared in Frankcom's production of The Skriker, as "Caryl Churchill’s shape-shifting, doom-wreaking fairy". The Guardian's Lyn Gardner listed the production in her top ten British plays of the year.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1996	Hetty Wainthropp Investigates	Photocopy Assistant	TV series (1 episode: "Fingers")
1998	Girls' Night	Sharon
	Picking Up the Pieces	Lucy	TV series (1 episode: "Episode No. 1.7")
	Dinnerladies	Twinkle	TV series (16 episodes: 1998-2000)
1999	Sunburn	Sue	TV series (1 episode: "Episode No. 1.5")
	Coronation Street	Belinda Peach	TV series (1 episode: "Episode No. 1.46352")
	Jonathan Creek	Marion Cretiss	TV series (1 episode: "The Curious Tale of Mr. Spearfish")
2000	Clocking Off	Marie Leach	TV series (1 episode: "The Leaches' Story")
2001	The Way We Live Now	Ruby Ruggles	TV mini-series (4 episodes)
	Linda Green	Receptionist	TV series (1 episode: "Fitness Freak")
2002	All or Nothing	Party Girl
	Hamilton Mattress	Lulu (voice)	short
	Holby City	Tanya Wilton	TV series (1 episode: "Pawns in the Game: Part 1")
	Dalziel and Pascoe	Dr. Allison Laurie	TV series (1 episode: "Mens Sana")
2003	At Home with the Braithwaites	Trixie Fletcher	TV series (1 episode: "Episode No. 4.3")
	Early Doors	Janice	TV series (4 episodes)
2004	Christmas Lights	Pauline	TV film
	Shameless	Veronica Fisher	TV series (27 episodes: 2004-2007)
2005	Be Mine	Tina's Mum	short
	Faith	Linda	TV film
	Frozen	Ticket Attendant
	Stealing Up	Daughter	short
	Messiah: The Harrowing	DS Vickie Clarke	TV mini-series
2006	See No Evil: The Moors Murders	Myra Hindley	TV film Won - Royal Television Society North Best Actress Award
	The Madness of the Dance	The Professor	short
2007	Confessions of a Diary Secretary	Tracey Temple	TV film
	I Am Bob	Marilyn Monroe	short
	Would Like to Meet	Heather	short
2008	Bike Squad	WPC Kate McFay	TV film
	Fairy Tales	Cindy Mellor	TV series (1 episode: "Cinderella")
	Hancock & Joan	Joan Le Mesurier	TV film Nominated—BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress
	Placebo	Dr. Sian Nuttall	TV film
	Clubbed	Angela
	The Devil's Whore	Elizabeth Liliburne	TV mini-series (4 episodes)
	Little Dorrit	Miss Wade	TV mini-series (7 episodes)
2009	Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980	Helen Marshall	TV film
	Agatha Christie's Marple - They Do It with Mirrors	Jolly Bellever	TV film
	The Street	Madeleine	Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
	Criminal Justice	Juliet Miller	TV series (5 episodes) Won - Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress Won - Crime Thriller Awards - Best Actress Dagger
2010	The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister	Anne Lister	TV film
	Alice		short
	Edge	Elly
2011	Silk	Martha Costello	TV series (Series 1, 6 episodes) Nominated - Broadcasting Press Guild Award - Best Actress Nominated - Crime Thriller Awards - Best Actress Dagger
	Room at the Top	Alice Aisgill	Nominated - Broadcasting Press Guild Award - Best Actress
	Best Laid Plans
2012	Silk	Martha Costello	TV series (Series 2, 6 episodes) Nominated - Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
	Henry IV, Parts I and II	Doll Tearsheet	TV dramas, part of the series The Hollow Crown
	Private Peaceful	Hazel Peaceful
2013	The Village	Grace Middleton	TV series (Series 1, 6 episodes) Nominated - BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress Nominated - Broadcasting Press Guild Awards - Best Actress
	Run & Jump	Vanetia Casey	Feature film
2014	Silk	Martha Costello	TV series (Series 3, 6 episodes)
	The Village	Grace Middleton	TV series (Series 2, 6 episodes) Nominated - BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress Nominated - Broadcasting Press Guild Awards - Best Actress
	The Falling (film)	Eileen	Feature Film
	Keeping Rosy	Charlotte	Feature film Won - Fantasporto Directors Week Best Actress Award
	The Theory of Everything	Elaine Mason	Feature film
2015	Call Security	Narrator	Documentary, BBC 1 24 March
2016	Comic Strip - Red Top	Rebekah Brooks	Comedy,UK Gold 20 January
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Titania	TV movie

Theatre

Year	Play	Role	Notes
1998	Early One Morning	Lizzie
	Breakthrough	Various
2000	Miss Julie	Kristin
	The John Ford Investigation	Various
	The Importance of Being Earnest	Gwendoline
	The Cherry Orchard	Dunyasha
2001	The Relapse	Miss Hoyden
	Luther	Katherine Von Bora
2002	Mother Theresa is Dead	Jane
	Hamlet	Ophelia
2003	Serjeant Musgrave's Dance	Annie
	Robin Hood	Maid Marion
	The Permanent Way	Various	Not in the final cast
2005	Rutherford and Son	Janet
2006	On the Third Day	Claire
2007	Leaves of Glass	Debbie
2008	The Children's Hour	Karen Wright
2011	Loyalty	Laura
	The Deep Blue Sea	Hester Collyer
2012	Miss Julie	Miss Julie
2013	The Masque of Anarchy	Performer
2014	Beryl		Writer
	Hamlet	Hamlet
2015	How To Hold Your Breath	Dana
	The Skriker	The Skriker

Radio drama

• Guilty Until Proved Innocent (2009), Dina
• Geoffrey Chaucer - Troilus and Criseyde (2009), Criseyde (dramatised by Lavinia Greenlaw)
• This Repulsive Woman (2010), Deborah Hurst
• Craven (Series 1: 2009, Series 2, 3 & 4: 2012, Series 5: 2013, Series 6: 2014), Detective Sue Craven
• Beryl: A Love Story On Two Wheels (2012), writer and performer (Beryl Burton)
• Queens of the Coal Age (2013) writer and performer (Anne Scargill)
• My Dad Keith (2014), writer and performer (Steph)
• Betsie Coleman (2015), performer (Betsie Coleman)
• Briar Road (2015), narrator (writer Jonathan Buckley)
• Not In Our Name CD (2015), narrator (writer Heathcote Williams)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]