Catherine Shepherd is an English actress, writer and director. She played roles in Peep Show and Sally4Ever, and created and wrote Two Weeks in August.
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Early life and education
Shepherd was born on 16 September 1975 in Hammersmith. She is the daughter of producer, Ann Scott, and actor Jack Shepherd. She attended James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich, London, and read English and Italian at Edinburgh University.
Shepherd's twin sister, Victoria Shepherd attended the University of Cambridge and was part of the Footlights. Victoria is a historian and author of Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside (2026) and A History of Delusions (2023). She also created and produced the ten-part BBC Radio 4 series A History of Delusions, and has produced other documentaries and strands for the station.
Career
Acting
In 2004 and 2015, Shepherd played the character April in the sitcom Peep Show.
Other credits include Paddington and Paddington 2 directed by Paul King, Harry and Paul's story of the 2s, Ruddy Hell it's Harry and Paul, The Comic Strip Presents Red Top, The IT Crowd, The Peter Serafinowicz Show, and the BBC comedy Twenty Twelve written by John Morton.
In 2018, Shepherd played the titular role of Sally in Sally4Ever, written and directed by Julia Davis. The series was a co-production between Sky Atlantic and HBO. It is a dark comedy about a woman, Sally, who is in a dead-end relationship with her fiancé David (played by Alex Macqueen), and embarks on an affair with actress/musician/dancer Emma (played by Julia Davis). The series also stars Julian Baratt, Mark Gatiss, Joanna Scanlan, Felicity Montagu, and Jamie Demetriou.
Davis said that "I’d always loved Catherine Shepherd, who plays Sally, because she’s so understated and precise. And she corpses a lot." The series started as a short film idea developed by Shepherd, Davis and Baratt. The writing process consisted of Davis and Shepherd improvising together, and Davis writing this up and honing it. On set, scenes were taken both on and off script.
The Guardian said that "Every slight movement of Catherine Shepherd's face should win its own Bafta award." Paste Magazine said that the "biggest surprise about Sally4Ever is just how great Shepherd is: It's an understated performance of the highest order. In fact, understated might be an understatement."
Refinery29 called the series "disgustingly funny". The New Statesman said "Quite how a comedy can be at once so grotesque and so tender, so filthy and yet so plangent, I do not know. But it suits this (possibly slightly ill) viewer just fine." The Financial Times gave the series a four-star review, describing it as "fetid brilliance". The series won a BAFTA.
Writing
Shepherd has written for various film and TV projects. She wrote on Georgia Pritchett's TV adaptation of the hit podcast The Shrink Next Door (2021) for Apple TV, starring Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell. She also wrote on Buccaneers (2023) for Apple TV.
In 2011, Shepherd wrote and directed the short film See Me, which starred Olivia Colman. It was produced by Quark Films, Film4 and UK Film Council. Shepherd is set to direct Like a Virgin, which is being made with the BFI. Kate Ogborn is the producer. In 2015, it was announced that Gemma Arterton would star. The script was nominated for The Brit List 2011.
Shepherd created and wrote the eight-part drama series Two Weeks in August. It was her first time writing a TV series, and was written over several years. It was produced by Various Artists Limited (VAL). It is a BBC project, produced in association with ITV Studios.
Filmed in Malta and Gozo, the series tells the story of a woman who goes on holiday to Greece with friends and family and gets trapped on an island. Shepherd said that it is: "a story about what it’s like to try and be happy in a very anxious and confusing world and at its core, about a woman struggling to play all the roles she’s been given by life. How do you enjoy yourself for two weeks in August when the world appears to be falling apart around you?" Jessica Raine, who plays the lead character of Zoe, described Shepherd's script is "Epic and nuanced. Funny and tragic."
The series was aired on BBC One in May 2026, and streamed on BBC iPlayer.
Filmography
Audio
In October 2018, Shepherd narrated the audiobook for Blue Sky Thinking by Ben Lewis.