Lydia Leonard

Acting

Lydia Leonard

Born

1981-12-05 (44)

Place of birth

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

Known for

Acting

Credits

41 titles

Lydia Leonard (born 5 December 1980) is a British actress. She was born in Paris to an Irish mother, a teacher, and Anglo-French father, a financial accountant; she lived in France until the age of five. Originally, Leonard wanted to be a barrister, which she considers to be a profession very similar to acting onstage. Her first acting role was in Nativity spectacle in school, where she played King Herod. Leonard went from Bedales School to graduate from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2003, and then won a BBC Radio Drama Carleton Hobbs bursary. Her radio credits include playing Lady Mabel in a twelve-part adaptation of Anthony Trollope's series of political novels, and Goodwill in T…

Known for

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

The Crown poster
8.2

The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.

The Crown

2016

Spooks poster
7.7

Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.

Spooks

2002

Pretty Lethal poster
6.8

A troupe of ballerinas find themselves fighting for survival as they attempt to escape from a remote inn after their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition.

Pretty Lethal

2026

Rome poster
8.2

A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.

Rome

2005

Foyle's War poster
7.9

As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.

Foyle's War

2002

Film credits

2020s · 4 titles

2010s · 7 titles

Last Christmas poster
7.2

Kate is a young woman who has a habit of making bad decisions, and her last date with disaster occurs after she accepts work as Santa's elf for a department store. However, after she meets Tom there, her life takes a new turn.

Last Christmas

2019

The Fifth Estate poster
6.0

A look at the relationship between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his early supporter and eventual colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg, and how the website's growth and influence led to an irreparable rift between the two friends.

The Fifth Estate

2013

Legendary: Tomb of the Dragon poster
4.1

Travis and his team travel to China in search of what isn't supposed to exist ... their mission to capture a Cryptid which is wreaking havoc in a remote village and they need to do this before it is killed by Harker, the legendary bounty hunter.

Legendary: Tomb of the Dragon

2013

Born of War poster
3.9

After her parents are brutally murdered in a home invasion, college student Mina learns that her real father is a ruthless warlord who now wants her back. In retaliation, she works alongside British intelligence in order to take him down.

Born of War

2013

Archipelago poster
5.7

Deep fractures within a family dynamic begin to surface during a getaway to the Isles of Scilly.

Archipelago

2011

No artwork available
NR

Playground politics soon boil over when Paul and Kate excitedly arrive for dinner at the home of a cool couple from their kids’ school, only to discover an interloping third couple already in attendance.

Playdate

2013

The Prevailing Winds poster
NR

A lone hiker searches for her sister across moorland, despite an invisible and deadly threat in the air.

The Prevailing Winds

2016

2000s · 3 titles

Series credits

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

The Crown poster
8.2

The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.

The Crown

2016

Spooks poster
7.7

Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.

Spooks

2002

Rome poster
8.2

A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.

Rome

2005

Foyle's War poster
7.9

As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.

Foyle's War

2002

Absentia poster
7.3

A missing FBI agent reappears six years after being declared dead.

Absentia

2017

Wolf Hall poster
7.5

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the King dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope and most of Europe oppose him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer, and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

Wolf Hall

2015

A Woman of Substance poster
7.9

The life of Emma Harte, from kitchen maid at the beginning of the 20th-century, to respected businesswoman and grandmother in the 1980s. From humble beginnings, Emma Harte starts her business with a small shop, but over the next twenty years, she expands her stores and invests in the growing textile industry in Leeds.

A Woman of Substance

2026

Down Cemetery Road poster
6.8

When a child goes missing in the aftermath of a house explosion, a concerned neighbor teams up with a private investigator to find them. As secrets unravel and a military conspiracy emerges, all hell is unleashed on South Oxford's sleepy suburbs.

Down Cemetery Road

2025

McDonald & Dodds poster
7.6

Two detectives, DCI McDonald and DS Dodds, who seemingly have nothing in common, are thrown together and forge a rumbustious friendship and entertaining partnership.

McDonald & Dodds

2020

Ashes to Ashes poster
7.7

Crime drama series featuring Life On Mars' DCI Gene Hunt. After being shot in 2008, DI Alex Drake lands in 1981, where she finds herself in familiar company.

Ashes to Ashes

2008

Gentleman Jack poster
7.9

Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, 1832. Anne Lister attempts to revitalize her inherited home, Shibden Hall. Most notably for the time period, a part of her plan is to help the fate of her own family - by taking a wife.

Gentleman Jack

2019

Secret Service poster
6.7

A British intelligence officer Kate Henderson races against time to uncover a UK politician's potential ties with the Kremlin, risking her reputation and family, as a murder and election loom.

Secret Service

2026

A Very Royal Scandal poster
6.6

Follow Emily Maitlis' professional and personal journey as a Newsnight journalist, leading up to her acclaimed interview with Prince Andrew, in which he explained his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

A Very Royal Scandal

2024

We Are Lady Parts poster
7.6

An anarchic, laugh-out-loud music comedy following a Muslim female punk band called Lady Parts, tracking the highs and lows of the band members as seen through the eyes of Amina Hussein — a geeky doctorate student who is recruited to be their unlikely lead guitarist.

We Are Lady Parts

2021

River poster
7.4

Respected police officer John River, a gifted cop with a troubled mind, struggles to come to terms with the recent loss of a colleague, and chases a suspect across London - with tragic consequences. Now at odds with the authorities, River ends up in a precarious position as he seeks to bring closure to the mother of murdered teenager, who blames him for failing to keep his promise.

River

2015

Red Election poster
6.5

Danish secret service agent Katrine Poulson and British spy Beatrice Ogilvy are thrown together in a race against time. As a terrorist plot against the British PM unfolds, Poulson and Ogilvy are tangled up in a web of lies, murder and power struggles; they can't trust anyone, and they soon realise the deadly conspiracy could be part of a far-reaching geopolitical masterplan.

Red Election

2021

The Line of Beauty poster
6.8

Crawl deep under the skin of Thatcher's Britain, seen through the eyes and experiences of a young, gay man, from the euphoria of falling in love to the tragedy of AIDS. A story of love, class, sex and money.

The Line of Beauty

2006

Ten Percent poster
5.6

A London talent agency’s employees must scramble to keep their star clients happy and their business afloat after the sudden death of their founder.

Ten Percent

2022

Jericho poster
7.3

Jericho is an ITV British crime drama series which was transmitted in 2005. It was created and written by Stewart Harcourt and starred Robert Lindsay as Detective Inspector Michael Jericho, who is loved by the public but who is embarrassed by his status as a hero. The series was set in London in 1958.

Jericho

2005

Lucan poster
7.1

Belgravia, London, November 7th, 1974. Sandra Rivett, nanny of the aristocratic Lucan family, is found beaten to death. Shortly thereafter, the prime suspect, John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, mysteriously disappears. When the manhunt begins, the subsequent scandal shakes the foundations of the British ruling class like never before.

Lucan

2013

Apple Tree Yard poster
6.3

What starts out as a simple, reckless mid-life affair between a genetic scientist named Yvonne and a Westminster paper pusher takes an intriguing turn when she realizes he’s a spook – then suddenly gets very dark indeed. A provocative study of obsession, longing and just how far down a criminal path desire can take you.

Apple Tree Yard

2017

Flesh and Blood poster
6.0

Three adult siblings find their family thrown into disarray when their recently widowed mother, Vivien, declares she is in love with a new man. The tension his presence creates threatens to drag the whole family towards tragedy, and perhaps crime.

Flesh and Blood

2020

No artwork available
NR

When the Embassy in London is attacked, a U.S. diplomat faces an impossible choice: protect the Ambassador or follow orders to extract a high-value asset. As a deeper conspiracy unfolds, she must team up with her ex, a British SAS soldier.

Embassy

—

Life in Squares poster
6.5

The three-part series centres on the close and often fraught relationship between sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, and Vanessa’s sexually complicated alliance with gay artist Duncan Grant as they, and their group of like-minded friends, navigate their way through love, sex and artistic life through the first half of the 20th century.

Life in Squares

2015

Quacks poster
7.5

A raucous comedy set in Victorian London about four medical pioneers fighting to make a mark on the world.

Quacks

2017

No artwork available
NR

Spirited American heiress Isabel Archer travels to Europe, where she navigates a complex web of relationships, ultimately committing to a fateful marriage to the charming but cruel Gilbert Osmond. This leads to profound disappointment and a tragic realisation of her own choices.

The Portrait of a Lady

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