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Arabella Weir

Arabella Weir is a British comedian, actor and writer whose career moves easily between sketch comedy, sitcoms, drama, books, radio and the stage. Born in San Francisco on 6 December 1957 to Scottish parents, she spent part of her childhood in Washington, Cairo, Bahrain and London. Having also spent many childhood holidays in Scotland, Weir has described herself as culturally Scottish. Her television breakthrough came in 1994 with BBC’s The Fast Show. Weir was more than a cast member: she also wrote several episodes, helping shape the programme from both sides of the camera. Her character Insecure Woman supplied the catchphrase behind the title of her 1998 international bestseller, Does My Bum Look Big in This? She followed it with the novels Onwards and Upwards in 2000 and Stupid Cupid in 2002, while also writing for The Independent and The Guardian. That overlap between performance and writing has remained central to Weir’s work. She wrote for and appeared in Posh Nosh, and later became widely known for Two Doors Down, which she joined in 2016. Her other television roles include Anna, the mother of Michelle Richardson, in Skins; Jenny in Drifters from 2013 to 2016; and Yvette in three 2023 episodes of Coronation Street. She has also appeared in Citizen Khan and the Doctor Who Christmas special The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. Weir’s range extends beyond television. She voiced a female incarnation of the Doctor in the 2003 Doctor Who Unbound audio drama Exile, performed as Chris Harper in the West End production of Calendar Girls, and has appeared across multiple series of the BBC Radio 4 comedy Believe It! In 2019, she premiered a debut one-woman show drawing on her childhood and her difficult relationship with her late mother, later taking it to the Edinburgh Festival. Across these formats, Weir’s career has been defined by the close connection between comic performance, character writing and personal observation.