Katherine Parkinson Shines in Disney+ 'Rivals': From 'The IT Crowd' to Cotswolds Drama

Katherine Parkinson: A Journey from Silicon Valley to the Cotswolds

Walk down the memory lane of British TV comedy and you’ll bump into Katherine Parkinson at every turn. For a certain generation, she’ll always be Jen Barber, the technically-challenged but quick-witted manager in Channel 4’s cult favorite The IT Crowd. Her comedic timing was hardly beginner's luck. Born in Hounslow, London in 1978, Katherine juggled texts from Aristotle and Latin grammar at Oxford’s St Hilda’s College before training at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). These classical roots gave her stage presence an edge—equal parts bookish charm and no-nonsense confidence.

Long before streaming platforms were a thing, she was already working her way up the British theatre ladder. Her roles in Chekhov’s The Seagull (2007), the sharp relationship drama Cock (2009), and Laurie’s Nunn's to-the-bone comedy Home, I’m Darling (2018) made her a West End regular and caught critics’ attention, earning her an Olivier Award nomination. Her sense for choosing scripts that mix humor and vulnerability has stayed sharp ever since.

Career Highlights: From Awards to the Lush World of 'Rivals'

When it comes to screen, Parkinson is as comfortable as ever. Fans spotted her in the village of Doc Martin between 2005 and 2009, setting up wry banter as the village receptionist, and then saw her shift gears dramatically in Channel 4’s sci-fi drama Humans (2015–2018), where artificial intelligence came with a side of existential dread. Parkinson made the leap to film, too, with roles in Richard Curtis’s nostalgia-soaked The Boat That Rocked (2009), and the heartwarming adaptation of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018).

Now, all eyes are on her witty turn as Lizzie Vereker in Disney+'s Rivals. Set in the 1980s Cotswolds, the series drops us into a world of big hair, bigger egos, and cutthroat TV station politics. Parkinson’s Lizzie is a romance writer tiptoeing through ambitious producers and battle-ready show hosts. Sharing the spotlight with heavyweights like David Tennant, Aidan Turner, and Danny Dyer, Parkinson delivers a performance mixing acerbic humor and sharp insight—just the right gear for Cooper’s story of rivalries, gossip, and high-society squabbles in the English countryside.

Rivals isn’t her first brush with awards. Katherine’s mantelpiece already holds two BAFTA Television Awards (2009 and 2014) for Best Female Comedy Performance, recognizing her knack for characters who walk the line between hilarious and heartbreakingly real. That ability to balance comedy with depth is why she keeps popping up in the industry’s best projects—stage or screen. But outside the spotlight, Parkinson's home life stays just that—private. All that’s known is she’s the daughter of teacher Janet Parkinson and historian Alan Parkinson. Details about marriage or kids? She’s keeping those cards close to her chest.

From her early days on the stage to the neon-drenched intrigue of 1980s TV in Rivals, Katherine Parkinson proves you don’t need to shout to stand out. Subtle, sharp, and effortlessly funny—she’s become a defining face of modern British drama and comedy, seamlessly blending both worlds with every new role.