London Evening Standard article

In a short article titled, “Up-and-Coming Character Actors to Watch”, published on 5 April 2011, the London Evening Standard rounded up a list of 5 character actors/actresses which they have labelled as “up-and-coming” and “to watch”. For the convenience of Nicola fans, we quote below what the paper had to say about Nicola :

Nicola Walker
Walker, 40, best known for her long-running role as Ruth in the BBC’s Spooks, has a wonderful knack of providing the quiet, beating heart of whatever drama she’s in. Ruth, the still centre of an office of MI5 mayhem, is a case in point, as is her recent turn as lovelorn Rachel in Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings at the National.

The other character actors covered in this article were :

Pip Carter
Bryony Hannah
Anna Maxwell Martin
Russell Tovey

Nicola last shared the stage with Pip Carter in Gethsemane (2008-2009). Nicola recently worked with Russell Tovey in Being Human (episode titled The Longest Day). Although Anna Maxwell Martin has not yet worked with Nicola, she does have a (somewhat tenuous) connection with Nicola in that Anna was recently seen on TV as the female lead in South Riding, a TV mini series in which Peter Firth also had a small but important role. Certain fans have expressed the view that Anna’s role in South Riding should have or could have been done by Nicola. This is no more than these fans’ hope for a perpetuation of the “Ruth and Harry” characters from Spooks, which is not only an unnecessary pigeonholing of Nicola’s enormous talents but also dismissive of the skills of Anna Maxwell Martin, an equally capable actress in her own right.

Anna Maxwell Martin is often mistaken for Nicola. Some fans think that the two of them must be somehow related. They are not. Please see our comments on this subject in this Fun Fact.

We are not sure whether Nicola should be labelled as “up-and-coming”, given that she has had lead roles on TV, comedy (Chalk) and drama (Touching Evil), in the past. But on the grounds that any publicity is good publicity, we still want to thank the London Evening Standard for including Nicola in this list! πŸ˜€

Update : 7 April 2011

We have received a number of requests from fans of the other actors named in this list, so for everyone’s convenience, we will quote below what was said in the article about these other actors :

Pip Carter

Quietly making a name for himself as a recurrent cast member of headline National Theatre productions (Never So Good, David Hare’s Gethsemane), Carter, 26, recently provided the perfect foil to Matt Smith’s flamboyant Christopher Isherwood as a wryly world-weary yet quietly smitten WH Auden in the BBC’s Christopher and His Kind.

Bryony Hannah

Many would contest that it is the diminutive Hannah who is the real star of current stage hit The Children’s House, rather than headline names Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss. Her scheming schoolgirl Mary is another of the compelling children that 27-year-old Hannah has become known for, after notable work at the National in Earthquakes in London and War Horse.

Anna Maxwell Martin

Her angular beauty might not quite fit the Hollywood mould, but Maxwell Martin, 32, has surprised and delighted with her professional choices ever since her BAFTA-winning work in the BBC’s Bleak House (2005). Her turn as a progressive headmistress in the recent television adaptation of South Riding showcased her at her passionate, questing best.

Russell Tovey

The personable Tovey, 29, first garnered public attention and affection as sports-mad Rudge, one of Alan Bennett’s iconic original History Boys, a role he played at the National, on Broadway and on film. Now he’s wooing BBC3 audiences as flat-sharing werewolf George in the popular supernatural drama Being Human.

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