Sarah Parish may be best known for her roles in Broadchurch, Bancroft and Cutting It, but the 57-year-old actress has spent the past decade juggling two very different careers. Alongside her acting work, she runs a children's charity founded after the death of her eight-month-old daughter Ella-Jayne in 2009.
Ella-Jayne, who was born with the rare genetic disorder Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome, died from congenital heart failure. Five years later, Sarah and her husband, actor James Murray, set up The Murray Parish Trust, raising more than £5 million for Southampton Children's Hospital. The couple were both awarded MBEs in July for their charity work.
The charity, now rebranded as Inspire This, has shifted its focus to closing a "real gap" in mental health support for seriously ill children and their families. Its goal is to reach every seriously ill child in the UK by 2035, providing services such as drama classes, yoga and music workshops, as well as creating more comforting spaces in paediatric units. Sarah recalled the "incredibly depressing" bare room where she stayed with Ella-Jayne before saying goodbye, saying the charity aims to "make a bad situation better for people".
Speaking about how the charity has helped her cope with grief, Sarah said: "It kept us going, really, kept us together, kept us connected because we've always got something that is ours." She added: "Grief is a funny thing. It comes and goes."
Despite the demands of running a charity, Sarah has no intention of giving up acting, which she says works "perfectly" alongside the fundraising. Her career break came in Peak Practice in 1997, followed by roles in Mistresses, Trollied and W1A, while she has also starred alongside Kevin Costner in Hatfields & McCoys. This summer, she has been filming the second series of Piglets and Netflix's Geek Girl, with celebrity support for the charity coming from the likes of Hugh Bonneville, Dame Imelda Staunton, David Tennant and Amanda Holden.
