Fun Facts – Nicola lookalikes

Nicola Walker is not related to Anna Maxwell Martin!

From time to time, viewers may mistake one actor/actress for another actor/actress, thinking that they look very much alike, or that they might be related to each other. We fully accept that if you’re not as fanatical about someone as we are about Nicola, you could easily make the mistake of thinking that either Nicola is someone else, or that another actress is Nicola.

When we went to see Mrs Klein, we overheard one gentleman asking his companion, “the actress who plays Paula, I swear I have seen her in something else before!” We kept quiet because it might have been regarded as rude if we turned around and started to recite Nicola’s CV in the hope that it would jog that gentleman’s memory. When we went to see Season’s Greetings, the man sitting behind us was very busy, during the intermission, explaining to his companions that Rachel on stage is actually Ruth in Spooks. When we were at The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, one man was so busy trying to convince his female companion that the mother, Judy, in the play, is actually Ruth from Spooks, whilst said female companion was in the queue for the Ladies Room, that he almost ended up in the Ladies Room himself!

Every so often, there appears to be a whole lot of confusion amongst viewers who cannot tell Nicola apart from actress, Anna Maxwell Martin. Ever since The Bletchley Circle started to air in September 2012, this fansite has received a disturbingly large number of visitors who land here after googling for terms such as :

  • Nicola Walker Anna Maxwell Martin
  • Anna Maxwell Martin Spooks
  • Is Anna Maxwell Martin related to Nicola Walker
  • Does Nicola Walker have a sister?
  • Is Anna Maxwell Martin Nicola Walker’s sister?

Anna Maxwell Martin

Compare these two images of Anna Maxwell Martin with any of the Nicola pics on the right panel. Do you see any resemblance?

We only know what search terms people used before they land on this fansite. We don’t actually know who these people are, only that the confusion seems to be on a global scale. Don’t get us wrong, we love to have new visitors all the time, but only for the right reasons and not because they confuse Nicola with someone else. Frankly, we cannot see the resemblance at all. What do you think? Both are brilliant actresses, but their style of acting is quite different.

So, as a public service to all fans, we state categorically here that

  • Anna Maxwell Martin has never appeared in Spooks [TV]

  • Anna Maxwell Martin is not related to Nicola Walker

  • Nicola Walker does not have any sisters, she only has one older brother

  • Anna Maxwell Martin IS NOT Nicola Walker.

Nicola is a friend of Anna Maxwell Martin’s but they have never appeared in the same programme. In September 2008, in celebration of the playwright Caryl Churchill’s 70th birthday, the Royal Court staged a special table reading of one of her plays, Top Girls. Both Nicola and Anna were involved in that reading, but apart from that one occasion, the two have not appeared on stage together. Maybe someone should cast these two actresses in the same programme so that once and for all, viewers will come to the realisation that these are two different actresses.

Sofie Gråbøl

There have been similar confusions with other actresses. For example, some think that Nicola looks like Sofie Gråbøl of The Killing fame (see pic above). What do you think? In The Killing, Sofie does a lot of acting with her eyes, which are very expressive like Nicola’s, so maybe that might explain the occasion mix-up. However, to the best of our knowledge, Nicola doesn’t speak any Danish 😛

Dame Flora Robson

We’ve also received one suggestion from a fan that Nicola looks like Dame Flora Robson (1902- 1984) (see pic above) and he was wondering whether those two are related! As far as we know, they are not related. What do you think? Can you see the resemblance?
 

Tatiana Maslany ("Orphan Black")

Tatiana Maslany
(“Orphan Black”)

Some fans think that Tatiana Maslany, who plays the lead in the US/Canadian TV show Orphan Black, looks like a younger version of Nicola.

2 May 2015

In an interview released today by BBC America about Orphan Black, dialect coach John Nelles disclosed that “popular singer-songwriter Lily Allen and MI-5 star Nicola Walker provided the spark for con-artist Sarah”. Click on the BBC America link and hear how Nicola is described as having an “estuary accent”!
 
 

Anna Crilly (Lead Balloon)

Anna Crilly (Lead Balloon)

How about Anna Crilly? She played “Magda” in the UK TV series Lead Balloon.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Do you think another actress looks like Nicola? Send us your “suggestions” and we’ll put their pics up side by side so that people can judge for themselves.

 


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