Katherine Kelly

Acting

Katherine Kelly

Born 1979-11-19 · Barnsley, Yorkshire, England, UK

Katherine Kelly is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her portrayal of Becky McDonald on the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2006–2012), for which she received multiple awards, including the British Soap Award for Best Actress (2009) and the NTA for Best Serial Drama Performance (2012). Kelly's subsequent television roles include Lady Mae in Mr Selfridge (2013–2014, 2016), DI Jodie Shackleton in Happy Valley (2016), Miss Andrea Quill in Class (2016), Jane Lowry in Strike Back (2017–2018), DCI Natalie Hobbs in Criminal: UK (2019–2020), Elizabeth Sutherland in Gentleman Jack (2019–2022), DI Karen Renton in Liar (2020), Sally Wright in Innocent (2021), and Angela van Den Bogerd in Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024). Katherine Kelly was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. She grew up in both South Yorkshire and the United States. She has strong links with The Lamproom Theatre in Barnsley, established in 1998 by her father John (who is originally from Castleisland, County Kerry, Ireland), and has regularly supported fund-raising events held there. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with fellow students Meredith MacNeill, Leo Bill, Elliot Cowan, Laurence Fox, and actor and novelist Anna Hope, graduating in 2001.

Acting credits

Official Secrets poster
7.2

The true story of British intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun who—prior to the 2003 Iraq invasion—leaked a top-secret NSA memo exposing a joint US-UK illegal spying operation against members of the UN Security Council. The memo proposed blackmailing member states into voting for war.

Official Secrets

2019

Last Train to Christmas poster
5.5

When successful 80s nightclub manager Tony Towers boards a magical train at Christmas, he discovers that each carriage harbours a different stage of his life and the actions he takes in one carriage directly affect his life in the next. Can Tony change his life – and the lives of the people he loves – for the better, or will he just make things worse?

Last Train to Christmas

2021

No artwork available
6.0

Clumsy romantic Sunny is infatuated with glitzy but deadbeat, Francophile bingo-caller Pauline Dupondt and forgets the important things in life, like his 80 year old Grandmother Dot's birthday.

Affection

2019

The Sound of Music Live! poster
7.7

The popular musical is brought to life on soundstages at London's Three Mills Studio, in a live TV dramatisation of the timeless story of Maria and the Von Trapp Family singers, one of the world's best-known concert groups in the era immediately preceding World War II.

The Sound of Music Live!

2015

The Last Witch poster
5.0

A young woman abruptly moves into an elderly lady's house. Strange things start to happen and soon it becomes clear witchcraft is involved.

The Last Witch

2013

Sons & Lovers poster
6.0

Filmmaker Stephen Whittaker adapts author D.H. Lawrence's simmering tale of sex, love, and family. In the years leading up to World War I, the problems faced by many families were uncannily similar to the issues that mankind would still be struggling with nearly a century later. Human relationships remain as fragile as ever, and the only constant in life seems to be a humbling sense of uncertainty. Sarah Lancashire stars in a drama detailing the anguish of first love, and the awkward confusion of first sex.

Sons & Lovers

2003

Mischief Night poster
5.7

Everyone has Halloween, but in Yorkshire, they have Mischief Night, where madness and mayhem rule. In the course of one night, the barriers that separate two families—one white, one Asian—come tumbling down in a blaze of crime, clubbing, love and fireworks—changing all their lives forever.

Mischief Night

2006

Inside No. 9: The Party's Over poster
6.2

This documentary tells the story of one of TV's darkest and most celebrated comedies, featuring cast interviews and extensive candid moments with creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. Cameras are admitted everywhere throughout the making of the show's final series, from the writers' room to the makeup trailer, from prop store to set design, making this the perfect farewell to the multi-award winning series.

Inside No. 9: The Party's Over

2024

National Theatre Live: She Stoops to Conquer poster
NR

Hardcastle, a man of substance, looks forward yo acquainting his daughter with his old pal's son with a view to marriage. But thanks to playboy Lumpkin, he's mistaken by his prospective son-in-law Marlow for an innkeeper, his daughter for the local barmaid. The good news is, while Marlow can barely speak to a woman of quality he's a charmer with those of a different stamp. And so, as Hardcastle's indignation intensifies, Miss Hardcastle's appreciation for her misguided suitor soars. Misdemeanours multiply, love blossoms, mayhem ensues. One of the great, generous-hearted and ingenious comedies of the English language, Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer offers a celebration of chaos, courtship and the dysfunctional family.

National Theatre Live: She Stoops to Conquer

2012

Dirty God poster
5.7

Jade is a young mother in the prime of her life when an acid attack leaves her severely burned. While her face has been reconstructed, her beauty is lost beneath the scars. Descending a self-destructive path with relationships crumbling, Jade must take drastic action to reclaim her life.

Dirty God

2019

Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story poster
4.6

Told with the help of some of his most famous comic characters including Cupid Stunt and Quentin Pose, the story of pioneering radio DJ and television star Kenny Everett's against-the-odds struggle to achieve both personal and professional fulfilment, as seen through the decade-and-a-half prism of his marriage to Lee Middleton.

Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story

2012

Kat and the Band poster
5.3

Seventeen year old, music obsessed school girl Kat Malone tricks her way into managing struggling band Dollar Days, pretending to be a band manager in her twenties.

Kat and the Band

2020

Coronation Street: Romanian Holiday poster
5.8

What could be better? A footballer's wedding, a week in the sun, a luxury villa in historic Transylvania. It’s the trip of a lifetime for Coronation Street's favourite café owners Roy and Hayley Cropper, until the brash Glen and Verity appear... Opposites don't attract in this chaotic comic caper as the unlikely foursome embark on an adventure neither couple will ever forget. And when Weatherfield hell-raiser Becky McDonald jets in from her honeymoon, the stage is set for mountain mayhem deep in the heart of Dracula Country.

Coronation Street: Romanian Holiday

2009

No artwork available
5.7

Coronation Street: Out of Africa is a 2008 spin-off film featuring locals from the British soap opera Coronation Street, who visit the luxury resort of Sun City, South Africa. Cilla Battersby-Brown, the mother from hell, brought her son and other "son" over to Africa to win a competition for $500,000

Coronation Street: Out of Africa

2008

Let Her Go poster
NR

Insde the frozen hell of children's parties and American cultural imperialism. A comedy short from Make Me Films.

Let Her Go

2022