Lenora Isabella Crichlow (born 4 January 1985) is a British actress. She became known for her starring roles as Maria "Sugar" Sweet in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series Sugar Rush, Annie Sawyer in the BBC Three supernatural drama series Being Human, and Shania Andrews in the 2012 sports drama film Fast Girls. In 2013, Crichlow portrayed Chen Sam in the television film Burton & Taylor and Victoria Skillane in the episode "White Bear" of the dystopian sci-fi series, Black Mirror. She has since had regular roles in the ABC sitcom Back in the Game and the NBC comedy series A to Z. Since 2020 she has been part of the main cast of the HBO/Sky One comedy series Avenue 5 playing second engineer Billie McEvoy.
From the age of twelve, Crichlow trained and worked with the YoungBlood Theatre Company in Hammersmith, West London.[5]
Career
Crichlow's first professional acting role came when she was cast alongside Billie Piper in the television film Bella and the Boys. She made her first feature film appearance in the low-budget horror film Wilderness, released in 2006,[6] and her first television appearance in the ITV police drama series The Bill.[7] Crichlow came to public prominence starring as Maria "Sugar" Sweet in Channel 4's adaptation of the Julie Burchill novel Sugar Rush,[8] which won the 2006 International Emmy Award in the Children And Young People category.[9]
In November 2008, the BBC announced Crichlow had been cast as Annie Sawyer,[13] a ghost in a flat shared with a vampire and a werewolf, in the BBC Three series Being Human,[14] replacing Andrea Riseborough who had played the character in the pilot.[15] In 2011, Crichlow won the TV Actress of the Year Award at the annual Glamour Awards for her work on the show.[16] She continued to play the role of Annie in the programme until deciding to depart following the last episode of the fourth series, which aired in March 2012.[17] Crichlow later narrated the audiobook of Simon Guerrier's tie-in novel The Road.[18]
In November 2009, Crichlow played the part of Alice Jackson in Collision, an ITV1 drama which ran over five consecutive nights.[19] From January to February 2010, Crichlow appeared as aspiring fashion designer Ali Redcliffe in the BBC One romantic comedy miniseries Material Girl. In June 2010, she also played the role of Ashley in a BBC Three pilot, Dappers.[20] That same month, Crichlow presented Nelson Mandela: One Incredible Life on BBC Three. For the documentary, Crichlow travelled to South Africa to learn more about Nelson Mandela's story.[21][22] In 2011, Crichlow played the character of Police Sergeant Lily Thomson in the BBC drama Death in Paradise.[23]
In January 2011, Crichlow appeared in six short accompaniments for The Tudors airings on BBC America.[24] Crichlow also narrated The Gatwick Baby: Abandoned at Birth, shown on BBC Three on 13 April 2011.[25] The following year, she appeared in an episode of Inspector George Gently,[26] and played the central role of Shania Andrews, a streetwise 200m runner, in the Olympics-themed drama film Fast Girls.[27] In December 2012, she starred as Laura Stanton in the ITV1 drama film Doors Open, an adaptation of the Ian Rankinnovel of the same name.[28]