Actress Katherine Parkinson Describes Assault After Theater Performance

Katherine Parkinson said a man attacked her while she walked home from a play outside London. The 48-year-old actress described the incident during an appearance on Elizabeth Day's How to Fail podcast. Parkinson said she had taken the cheapest available accommodation to save money from the job.

She was walking with a colleague when a man who had previous convictions approached them and began arguing with her co-worker. "I said, 'Leave her alone,' and he knocked me out cold, broke my nose and everything else," Parkinson said. She stated that the man was later arrested and sentenced for actual bodily harm.

Parkinson said she felt shame after overhearing a hospital nurse comment on her being "a nice girl" and ask what she had been doing before the attack. She noted that friends had allowed her to walk home alone, which contributed to her sense that she was treated as more vulnerable than others.

Parkinson said the experience made her protective of her daughters' safety when walking alone. She connected this behavior to the assault only after another parent asked about it at a school event. She said she has not had therapy but finds value in the cultural influence of therapeutic approaches.

Parkinson also referenced Michaela Coel's series I May Destroy You as helpful in processing the incident. Parkinson currently appears in the second season of the Disney series Rivals, reprising her role as Lizzie Vereker.