Nicola Walker elected as Honorary Fellow

The College is very pleased to announce that Nicola Walker, alumna and Bafta-nominated actress, has been elected as an Honorary Fellow of Murray Edwards.

Nicola, acclaimed for her roles in the spy drama Spooks and The Split and currently on screen in the comedy TV series Alice and Steve, will be formally admitted at a College ceremony in the autumn.

As a student at Murray Edwards - then called New Hall - from 1988-91, she studied English, and performed with the student comedy group the Cambridge Footlights.

The first in her family to go to university, Nicola revealed at a recent college alumnae event that she was advised by her school careers advisor to become a legal secretary. However, when she gained excellent A levels, her English teacher recommended applying to New Hall, suggesting the college would be ‘a perfect fit’.

At her admissions interview, she admitted, she ‘didn’t know what was going on. But everyone was so kind and so welcoming and made you feel like you had a right to be here.’

On arrival for her first term at New Hall, Nicola teamed up with fellow English student Sue Perkins, now famous as a comedian and presenter. As Nicola’s designated ‘college mother’, Sue was supposed to offer advice and support, but ended up borrowing her charge’s bike for an evening out, then getting drunk and losing it.

The two performers bonded immediately, also becoming friends with Sarah Phelps, a fellow English student and future Bafta-winning scriptwriter. All three were involved in drama and comedy at Cambridge, but relished the chance to head home up Castle Hill to their all-women college.

She was far from alone as the first in her family to enter higher education, Nicola discovered. ‘It was very clear to me immediately that I’d found other women that came from similar backgrounds to me and I hadn’t expected to find that… I got them, they got me. That wasn’t the same outside the college.’

She added: ‘All the brilliant people I met here – that’s what kept me safe, kept me certain that I was in the right university. You were safe here. It was a safe place to do dangerous things. It wasn’t safe and boring. It was incredibly welcoming.’

Acting President Dr Rachel Polonsky said: ‘We are thrilled to be welcoming Nicola Walker as an honorary fellow. Murray Edwards has a long record of nurturing creative, spirited women who take their talents out into the world for us all to enjoy.

‘We are very proud of the sense of belonging Nicola enjoyed here, and that her time at Murray Edwards not only helped her develop intellectually but gave her the opportunity to take risks and develop the creative networks – with Sue Perkins and others – that would help launch her acting career.’

• Watch Nicola Walker, Sue Perkins and Sarah Phelps in conversation here: https://youtu.be/6eytc1qnTA4?si=CBlcJ3SIeQRSI0Jm