Katherine Kelly
Biography
Katherine Kelly is an English actress born on 19 November 1979 in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England. She gained prominence portraying Becky McDonald in the ITV soap Coronation Street from 2006 to 2012, a role that earned her the British Soap Award for Best Actress in 2009 and the National Television Award for Best Serial Drama Performance in 2012. Her subsequent television work includes 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 a role as Angela van Den Bogerd. She has 53 credited performances.
Career overview
Katherine Kelly, born 19 November 1979 in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England, is an English actress. She first achieved widespread recognition portraying Becky McDonald on the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, a role she inhabited from 2006 to 2012. Her performance earned her the British Soap Award for Best Actress in 2009 and the National Television Award for Best Serial Drama Performance in 2012.
Following Coronation Street, Kelly expanded her television repertoire with a series of diverse roles. She appeared as Lady Mae in the period drama Mr Selfridge during 2013‑2014 and again in 2016, and as Detective Inspector Jodie Shackleton in the crime series Happy Valley in 2016. The same year she played Miss Andrea Quill in the science‑fiction series Class. She later took on the part of Jane Lowry in Strike Back from 2017 to 2018, and portrayed DCI Natalie Hobbs in Criminal: UK across 2019 and 2020. From 2019 to 2022 she was cast as Elizabeth Sutherland in Gentleman Jack, while in 2020 she appeared as DI Karen Renton in Liar. Additional credits include Sally Wright in Innocent (2021) and Angela van Den Bogerd. Across film and television she has accumulated more than fifty credited performances.
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Career timeline
Full filmography
- The Crow Girl (2025) as Sophia Craven
- The Hack (2025) as Sheridan McCoid
- In Flight (2025) as Jo Conran
- How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge) (2025) as Katrina
- Protection (2024) as DCI Hannah Wheatley
- Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024) as Angela van den Bogerd
- Inside No. 9: The Party's Over (2024) as Self
- The Long Shadow (2023) as Emily Jackson
- Ruby Speaking (2023) as Vicki
- Hotel Custody (2022) as Narrator
- Let Her Go (2022) as Absent Princess
- Bloods (2021) as George
- Last Train to Christmas (2021) as Paula
- Kat and the Band (2020) as Liz Malone
- Gentleman Jack (2019) as Elizabeth Sutherland
- Criminal: UK (2019) as Natalie Hobbs
- Flack (2019) as Brooke
- Official Secrets (2019) as Jacqueline Jones, MI6 Agent
- Cheat (2019) as Leah Dale
- Dirty God (2019) as Lisa
- Affection (2019) as Pauline
- The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer (2018) as Self - Guest
- Innocent (2018) as Sally Wright
- Murdertown (2018) as Presenter
- Liar (2017) as DI Karen Renton
- The Night Manager (2016) as Permanent Secretary
- HIM (2016) as Hannah
- Class (2016) as Miss Quill
- The Secret River (2015) as Mrs. Webb
- The Sound of Music Live! (2015) as Baroness Elsa Schraeder
- The Great Chicago Adventure (2015) Art Department Assistant
- Inside No. 9 (2014) as Lynne
- Happy Valley (2014) as DI Jodi Shackleton
- Mr Selfridge (2013) as Lady Mae Loxley
- The Guilty (2013) as Claire Reid
- The Last Witch (2013) as Alice Lister
- Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story (2012) as Lee Everett-Alkin
- National Theatre Live: She Stoops to Conquer (2012) as Miss Hardcastle
- Odd One In (2010)
- The National Television Awards Backstage Live (2010)
- The Justin Lee Collins Show (2009) as Self
- Live from Studio Five (2009) as Self
- Coronation Street: Romanian Holiday (2009) as Becky McDonald
- Coronation Street: Out of Africa (2008) as Becky Granger
- The Visit (2007) as Julie
- Life on Mars (2006) as Auntie Heather
- New Street Law (2006) as Rebecca
- Mischief Night (2006) as Junkie Jane
- The Royal (2003) as Tina Binnington
- Sons & Lovers (2003) as Suffragette Speaker - Emily
- Silent Witness (1996)
- Coronation Street (1960) as Becky Granger / Becky McDonald
- Number 10 as Frances Telford