Julia Hills is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Rona in eight series of the BBC sitcom 2point4 Children. She also portrayed various roles in Channel 4's first late night satirical sketch show Who Dares Wins, Beryl in two series of the sitcom Dad and Caroline Joyner in Casualty.
Hills was nominated for an Olivier Award in 1984 for her performance as Emily Tallentire in Howard Goodall and Melvyn Bragg's musical The Hired Man. Other theatre credits include Eve in Flying Under Bridges by Sandi Toksvig adapted by Sarah Daniels, Betty in Larkin with Women, Vera in Stepping Out, The Hired Man, A Midsummer Night's Dream Rusty in Our Friends in the North by Peter Flannery, The Witch of Edmonton, Beside Herself by Sarah Daniels, We The Undersigned, Dealing With Clair by Martin Crimp, Toine in Piaf, Beauty and the Beast, Guys and Dolls, The Tempest, Sylvia Raven in Shaw'sThe Philanderer, Beside The Sea, Susannah in Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, A Mad World my Masters, Dorcas Frey in David Hare's Plenty, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Brecht's Mr Puntila and his Man Matti, Does This Train Stop at Southend?, Bunty Mainwaring in Coward's The Vortex, Shore Saints and Sea Devils, Fertility Dance, Jack and the Beanstalk and two national tours of Who Dares Wins – Sex and Drugs and Sausage Roll. From February 2009 she took part in a nationwide tour of Calendar Girls before it moved to the Noël Coward Theatre from 3 April 2009. In recent years, she has appeared as Mrs Eynsford-Hill in Pygmalion at Manchester's Royal Exchange theatre and rejoined the tour of Calendar Girls to play the role of Annie. She played Amy Ruskin in Special Occasions at The Mill Theatre Sonning playing opposite her husband Paul Clarkson and then played Homily Clock in The Borrowers at The Nuffield Theatre Southampton. She completed sell out seasons at Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol garnering five star reviews for her performances as Goneril in King Lear and Madame Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard both directed by Andrew Hilton and then moved to the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham where she performed in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie playing Amanda Wingfield. She has played the part of Kath in Entertaining Mr Sloane by Joe Orton at Curve Leicester and Toine in Piaf directed by Paul Kerryson. She has played Margaret in Springs Eternal by Susan Glaspell at The Orange Tree Theatre Richmond directed by Sam Walters and Worst Wedding Ever by Chris Chibnall at the Salisbury Playhouse. In 2019, she created the role of Dolly Bantry for the first-ever English stage adaptation of Agatha Christie'sThe Mirror Crack'd for Wales Millennium Centre directed by Melly Still which toured in the UK and Ireland.
Television work
Hills has appeared in many TV shows, such as in 2point4 Children in which she played Rona for the shows 8 series run on BBC1. She also starred as all of the women and even some of the male characters in the Channel 4 comedy series Who Dares Wins. She has appeared as Caroline Joyner in hospital drama Casualty, and previously in the series as Carol Simpson for one 1993 episode. She also starred in Ladies in Charge for 6 episodes in 1986 and shared a leading role with Kevin McNally in BBC sitcom Dad as Beryl Hook for 13 episodes over 2 series. Dad was written by Andrew Marshall who also created 2point4 Children. She has also appeared as herself on The Good Sex Guide in 1993 and The Alan Titchmarsh Show in 2009. Hills is also known for playing Annabelle Shrivener in The Archers as well as appearing in numerous other radio series and plays. Her films include Homeground.
Personal life
Hill is married to actor and director Paul Clarkson, who played John Tallentire in The Hired Man. The couple have three children.
