Alexandra Roach
Born
Alexandra Elizabeth Roach

(1987-08-20) 20 August 1987
Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales
OccupationActress
Years active2003–present
Spouse
Jack Scales
​
​
(m. 2018)​
Children1[1]

Alexandra Elizabeth Roach (born 20 August 1987)[2] is a Welsh actress best known for her roles as Becky in Utopia and DS Joy Freers in No Offence. She has also made appearances in series including Being Human, Inside No. 9, Black Mirror and Killing Eve.

Life and career

Roach was born in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales. A number of her relatives, including her father Jeff (who went on to work for the Welsh Rugby Union), her brother and her sister, have been part of the police force at one point.[3] A fluent Welsh speaker, Roach appeared in long-running television soap Pobol Y Cwm in her early teens and won Best Juvenile Actor in a Soap at the Children in Entertainment Awards.[4] After leaving the series in 2005, she spent time with the National Youth Theatre of Wales before going on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating with a B.A. in acting in 2010.

She has described how her Welsh accent counted against her in an early audition for a television role. "This old guy was the director and he was so well spoken, and he asked me where I was from, and I told him: 'Wales, Swansea,' and he just blanked me and turned to the casting director and said, 'oh no, she's not right'" ... So I said, 'I'm not going to do it in this voice, I'm going to do it with an English accent,' and he was like, 'no, honestly, there's no point'. He just wouldn't look at me, he wasn't listening to me."[5]

In May 2010 Roach appeared in The Door Never Closes by Rex Obano at the Almeida Theatre.[6] A number of high-profile roles followed, including Sasha in Being Human, Beth Partridge in Candy Cabs, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (in which she played notorious child murderer Constance Kent).

Roach starred as a young Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.[7] She appeared as Helene in Sky Comedy's Hunderby in autumn 2012,[8] and was cast as Molly in the film adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's 2003 novel Private Peaceful.[9] She was included on the Screen International "Stars of Tomorrow" list in 2011.[10] In 2013, she starred in the British TV series Utopia.

On 3 June 2013, Roach appeared in the fifth episode of the ITV comedy Vicious, as Ash's vegan girlfriend Chloe. She returned to the role for one episode in June 2015. On 8 August 2014, she appeared in the inaugural episode of the BBC One TV comedy drama film Walter, in which she played a Welsh-speaking detective.[11] In 2015 she starred in the TV series No Offence as DS Joy Freers.

In 2016 she became engaged to club promoter Jack Scales,[3] whom she later married.[12]

Roach was a presenter at the 2017 BAFTA Cymru Awards ceremony.[13]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2011 The Iron Lady Young Margaret Thatcher
2012 Trap for Cinderella Do
2012 Private Peaceful Molly Monks
2012 Anna Karenina Countess Nordston
2012 Girls' Night Out Princess Elizabeth
2013 One Chance Julie-Ann Cooper
2014 Cuban Fury Helen
2014 Testament of Youth Winifred Holtby
2016 The Huntsman: Winter's War Doreena
2019 The Kid Who Would Be King Ms. Foster
2019 A Guide to Second Date Sex Laura
2022 This Is Christmas Amanda

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2001–2005 Pobol Y Cwm Elin
2010 The IT Crowd Stenographer Episode: "Reynholm vs Reynholm"
2011 Being Human Sasha Episode: "Type 4"
Candy Cabs Beth Partridge 3 episodes
New Tricks Nina Ward Episode: "Moving Target"
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Constance Kent Television film
2012 Hunderby Helene
Loserville Kathryn Television film
2013, 2015 Vicious Chloe Episodes: "Dinner Party" (2013), "Stag Do" (2015)
2013–2014 Utopia Becky Lead role
2013 The Thirteenth Tale Hester Barrow Television film
2014 Walter Detective Constable Annie Hopkins Episode: "Pilot"
2015–2018 No Offence DS Joy Freers Main cast
2017 Inside No. 9 Nina/Charlotte Episode: "The Riddle of the Sphinx"
Black Mirror Carrie Episode: "Black Museum"
2018 On the Edge Becca Episode: "That Girl"
2019 Sanditon Diana Parker 7 episodes
Sticks and Stones Jess 3 episodes[14]
2020 Death in Paradise Bethan Miller Episode 9.6
Killing Eve Rhian Episodes: "Beautiful Monster",[15] "Are You Leading or Am I?"
Zog and the Flying Doctors Sunburnt Mermaid Short film
2021 Viewpoint Zoe Sterling Miniseries, 5 episodes
2022 Y Golau (The Light in the Hall) Cat 6 episodes
2023 Bodies Maggie Limited Series
Men Up Ffion Jenkins Television film
TBA Nightsleeper TBA Upcoming six-part BBC One series[16]

Video games

References

  1. ↑ "A L e X a N D R a R O a C H on Instagram: "Toni's 6 months old today..."
  2. ↑ Alexandra Roach [@alexandraroach1] (20 August 2014). "Getting spoilt at work this morning for my birthday... Thanks to the best ADs @likeasalmon, @LucyGoughJones" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. 1 2 Curtis, Nick (21 April 2016). "Alexandra Roach: 'I'm not a movie star. Yet'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "Young actress wins soap award". BBC News. 18 February 2003. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  5. ↑ Liz Skone James (January 2020). "Interview: Alexandra Roach". Fabric Magazine. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  6. ↑ "The Door Never Closes". Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  7. ↑ Grice, Natalie (27 December 2011). "Mining town actor's Thatcher role". BBC News. Retrieved 7 August 2019 – via BBC.
  8. ↑ "Comedy's A-List Join Julia Davis' Hunderby". Sky.com. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  9. ↑ Cooper, Sarah (19 August 2011). "Screen Star Alexandra Roach joins all British cast of Private Peaceful". Screendaily.com. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  10. ↑ "Screen unveils 2011 Stars of Tomorrow". Screendaily.com. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  11. ↑ "Cymeriad sy'n siarad Cymraeg ar BBC 1 heno". Golwg360 (in Welsh). 8 August 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  12. ↑ Nathan Bevan (28 May 2020). "Who is Killing Eve's new villain Rhian? Everything about Welsh actress Alexandra Roach". WalesOnline. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  13. ↑ "Cyhoeddi'r Enillwyr: Gwobrau'r Academi Brydeinig yng Nghymru 2017". BAFTA (in Welsh). 8 October 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  14. ↑ Sticks and Stones (TV Mini-Series 2019) – IMDb, retrieved 17 May 2021
  15. ↑ ""Killing Eve" Beautiful Monster (TV Episode 2020) – IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  16. ↑ "Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole board BBC drama Nightsleeper". bbc.co.uk/mediacentre. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
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