Jemima Rebecca Redgrave is a fourth-generation English actress of the Redgrave family. She played the title character in four series of Bramwell, and has a recurring role in Doctor Who as Kate Stewart, Head of Scientific Research at UNIT. As well as a career in television, she has appeared in many onstage productions and on film, including her portrayal of Evie Wilcox in the BAFTA-award winning Merchant Ivory adaptation of Howards End.
After graduation, Redgrave landed a succession of high-profile stage acting roles: in the 1988 stage production of Strindberg's Easter; in Lady Windermere's Fan in Belfast, Northern Ireland; as Emily in Thornton Wilder's Our Town; as Irina in a 1990 revival of Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters in London's West End with her aunts Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave; in 1993 with Colin Firth in Alexander Griboyedov's Chatsky at the Almeida Theatre, London; and in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2001 at the Albery Theatre, London, playing Titania alongside Dawn French as Bottom. In 2010, she appeared in New York's Public Theater in ' which featured seven hours of on-stage acting. Redgrave appeared in four of the twelve plays. In 2012, Redgrave appeared alongside Ben Chaplin in Roger Michell's production of Farewell to the Theatre at the Hampstead Theatre, followed by starring roles in Donkeys' Years and An Ideal Husband. In 2018, Redgrave appeared in another Roger Michell production, appearing again alongside Ben Chaplin, this time in Joe Penhall's 'Mood Music at The Old Vic.
Television
She has appeared in many roles on British television, including leading actor roles as the eponymous Dr. Eleanor Bramwell in four series of ITV's Bramwell and as D.S. Eve Granger in Cold Blood, alongside John Hannah and Matthew Kelly. Redgrave also appeared as Eleanor in Roger Michell's The Buddha of Suburbia: a four-part adaptation of the ground-breaking novel of the same name by Hanif Kureishi and with a soundtrack written and performed specifically for the production by David Bowie. Other prominent roles have included Francesca Rochester in Judge John Deed and Dee Stanton in Like Father, Like Son. In 2007, she portrayed Lady Bertram in Mansfield Park and Sophie Wall in Waking the Dead, followed by a 2009 appearance in the series, Unforgiven, written by Sally Wainwright. In 2013, she also appeared as Doctor Zoe Evans in the BBC Onedrama seriesFrankie. From 2016 to 2018, Redgrave played former RAMC surgeon, Major Berenice Wolfe, in the popular BBC medical drama Holby City. In 2019, she joined the cast of ITV's Grantchester as Amelia, the mother of the show's lead character, Rev. Will Davenport.
''Doctor Who''
In 2012, Jemma became the first member of the Redgrave acting family to appear in Doctor Who, making her first appearance as Kate Stewart, the daughter of The Brigadier and current Head of Scientific Research at UNIT, in "The Power of Three" and reprising the role a year later in the 50th anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor": a special episode featuring three Doctors which was broadcast by the BBC in 94 countries simultaneously and in cinemas worldwide. Redgrave returned to the role of Kate Stewart in the Doctor Who finale "Death in Heaven", and in the 2015 episodes "The Magician's Apprentice", "The Zygon Invasion" and "The Zygon Inversion", appearing alongside Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor. Since 2015, she has also appeared as Kate Stewart as the lead in numerous UNIT audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, working alongside actors such as Ingrid Oliver, Ramon Tikaram, Derek Jacobi and Alex Kingston.
Personal life
Redgrave married Tim Owen, a barrister at Matrix Chambers, in 1992. They had a son, Gabriel, in 1994. The couple separated from 1997 to October 1998. They reconciled, however, and had another son, Alfie, in 2000.
