Olivia Colman is all over our screens this winter, from Channel 4’s The Great Peep Show British Bake Off, which airs on Christmas day, to the second season of The Night Manager, coming out on the first of January.
That’s not to mention queer family drama Jimpa, or Wicker, starring Alexander Skarsgård. Or her new role alongside Andrew Scott in Elsinore, which has just been announced. Colman has even been doing adverts for house raffle Omaze.
Over the last 25 years, she has acted in some of the country’s most majestic properties, from Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk, which doubled as Sandringham in The Crown, or Hatfield House, where The Favourite was filmed. But where does Colman herself call home?
From her Peckham townhouse to her Norfolk barn conversion, here’s your guide to where she’s lived.
Early years: East Anglia and Bristol
Olivia Colman is a Norwich girl, born and raised in the cathedral city. Much like Colman’s Mustard (no relation).
“We moved houses quite a lot, just for fun,” she told Vogue in 2019. “I had a nice, outdoorsy childhood—lots of camping, lots of walks on very wet beaches with anoraks.”
In the early 90s, she moved to Cambridge to study teacher training at Homerton College, although this was short-lived. A job cleaning houses allowed her to stay in the city – and audition for student theatre productions.
It was here that she met David Mitchell and Robert Webb, after auditioning for the Footlights “by accident”, as she told The Guardian in 2018. It was also the start of another important relationship – that with her husband, the writer and producer Ed Sinclair (they first said ‘I love you’ in their student flat, apparently).
After Sinclair graduated, he got a place at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and he and Colman moved west. Ironically, Colman was still working as a temp and cleaner when they relocated, before auditioning herself, training as an actor, and graduating in 1999.
East Dulwich
After leaving Bristol in 1999 and marrying Sinclair in 2001, Colman headed to East Dulwich on a budget. “We had what we call our Angela's Ashes day when we first moved to London from Bristol (in 1998). I had £1 left in my overdraft and cash machines don't dispense pounds,” she told The Daily Mail.
'Ed didn't have any money either, so we managed to find enough pennies from the sofa to buy one potato to share.'
The couple reportedly bought a two-bedroom flat for £90,000, selling it for £150,000 two years later.
They stayed in the area, though, buying a four-bedroom Victorian terraced house in 2005. They gained planning permission to extend the property, creating a bigger, brighter kitchen with a skylight along the side and bi-folding doors leading onto the garden.
Other features, a previous listing shows, include wooden floorboards and period fireplaces, as well as a garden office.
Peckham
In 2011, Colman, Sinclair and their two children —they now have three— upsized to a five-bedroom house a short walk away. At 2,400 square feet, the double-fronted Victorian property was almost twice the size of their previous home, spanning three floors.
The couple went for a similar kitchen extension, with another skylight and full-height windows on two sides. Photos show a large kitchen island, a table large enough for 10 and a patio outside for alfresco dining.
As well as the bright, open-plan kitchen, the house has two reception rooms – the larger of which has wooden floorboards, a fireplace and full-height window shutters, painted grey to match the walls.
Upstairs, there are five double bedrooms, including a master suite with a dressing area and ensuite bathroom.
Outside, Colman and Sinclair had a “supremely generous” 60-foot rear garden, featuring a treehouse on stilts, a trampoline and a swing.
The couple sold the house for £2.27 million in 2021, having bought it for £885,000 a decade earlier.
Norfolk
In 2022, Colman joined the likes of Ed Sheeran and Jeremy Clarkson in swapping the city for a quieter country life.
After cashing in on their Peckham house, she and Sinclair bought a Grade II-listed barn conversion in Norfolk, in a return to Colman’s East Anglian roots.
The move, said Colman in an interview with Vogue, was prompted by an incident with a paparazzi photographer outside her house in Peckham, which made her feel unsafe.
“We never fell out of love with London…I love London, but it became difficult,” she said. “We’ve moved to the countryside and it’s lovely.”
Colman has reportedly applied for planning permission to add a swimming pool and summer house extension to the property, which is located a stone’s throw away from Sandringham.
London pied-a-terre
After selling up in Peckham, Sinclair told The Times that the couple were looking for a smaller pied-a-terre for their frequent visits to the capital.
They may have looked for a more centrally located property, or have perhaps opted to retain links with their old stomping ground in Peckham.
