Ruth Gemmell

Ruth Katrin Gemmell was born in Bristol and grew up in County Durham, first in Barnard Castle before moving to Darlington with her mother upon her parents' divorce. She has three older brothers and a sister. She attended Polam Hall School,^[1] where she gained her first experience in acting, in school plays.^[2] Gemmell later moved to London, where her father lived, to pursue acting.^[2] She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.^[3]

Gemmell has played roles in both theatre and TV dramas. She played the leading female role in Fever Pitch,^[2] based on Nick Hornby's memoir of the same name, starring opposite Colin Firth^[4] and had another leading role in the comedy/drama 2 January (2006). She played the recurring character of Detective Constable Kerry Cox in the first series of the BBC police procedural Silent Witness, which premiered in 1996. She returned to the series as different characters in 2006 and 2014.^[5]

In 2004, she starred in Tracy Beaker's Movie of Me as the mother of the title character. From January 2009, she became a recurring character in EastEnders as Debra Dean, the absentee mother of Whitney Dean. In August 2009, she starred as Rebecca Sands in two episodes of The Bill.^[6]

Gemmell appeared three times in the BBC's police drama Waking the Dead.^[2] playing different characters. Her first appearance was in 2002 in the episode "Special Relationships" as DI Jess Worral, a former lover of DSI Boyd. She next appeared on the show in 2008, as Linda Cummings, an exceptionally intelligent serial killer. She reprised the role of Cummings in "Endgame", the finale of the eighth series.^[7]

Gemmell starred in Episode 8 of Jimmy McGovern's BBC drama Moving On as Joanne, in November 2010.^[8] In November 2011, Gemmell played Lady Shonagon in the adaptation for BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour of The Pillow Book, by Robert Forrest. She appeared as Jen, the wife of an adulterous civil servant, in Channel 4 drama Utopia, in early 2013.

In 2015, Gemmell appeared in five episodes of the television series Penny Dreadful as Octavia Putney. In 2020, she began playing Lady Violet Bridgerton in the Netflix series Bridgerton.^{[9][10][11][12]}

In 2021, Gemmell reprised her role of Carly Beaker for My Mum Tracy Beaker.^[13]

Gemmell was married in Westminster, London, in 1997 to 2005 to the actor Ray Stevenson, whom she met in 1995 during the filming of TV drama Band of Gold.^[14] She is currently married to her husband since 2015 who she described as an old friend. She moved from her east London home to his small village in the Midlands.

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1991	Who Needs a Heart	Abigail	Film	[5]
1996	A Stiff Drink	Woman	Short film
1997	Fever Pitch	Sarah Hughes	Film
2006	January 2nd	Claire	Film
	Love for Sale	Lonely Lady	Short film
2007	Ela	Ela's Mum
	The Imaginary Girl	Mother
2008	Gone Fishing	Imogen
	Good	Elisabeth	Film
2010	F	Sarah Balham	Film
2012	Storage 24	Sarah	Film
	Offender	Cassie	Film
2013	Chrysanthemum	Janet	Short film
2019	Cliffs of Freedom	Varvara Vakrinos	Film
2025	Cleaner	Superintendent Claire Hume	Film

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1995	The Bill	Sue Latham	Episode: "Woman of Substance"
	Band of Gold	Gina Dickson	Episode: "Sold"	[2]
1996	Kavanagh QC	Jenny Norris	Episode: "Men of Substance"
	Short Sharp Shocks	Kate	Episode: "Everywhere"
	Silent Witness	Kerry Cox	Recurring role (series 1)
1997	Peak Practice	Christine Higson	Episode: "Home Truths"
	Perfect Blue	Jo	Television film
1998	Macbeth	Lady Macduff	Television film
1999	The Bill	Jane Joyce	Episode: "Sex, Lies and Videotape"
	The Alchemists	Julia Bannerman	Television film
	Four Fathers	Nicola Yallop	3 episodes
2001	Holby City	Diana Calder	Episode: "Extra Time"
2002	Dalziel and Pascoe	Rachel Waller	Episode: "For Love Nor Money"
	Waking the Dead	DI Jess Worrall	2 episodes
2003	The Bill	Carol Evans	3 episodes
	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Jeannie Waring	"Playing for the Ashes"
	Murder in Mind	Liz Willis	Episode: "Landlord"
	Spooks	Miranda	1 episode
2004	Tracy Beaker: The Movie of Me	Carly Beaker	Television film	[13]
	Blue Dove	Jenny Page	Miniseries
2005	Midsomer Murders	Anne Merrick	Episode: "The House in the Woods"
2006	The Afternoon Play	Rachel	Episode: "Are You Jim's Wife?"
	A Touch of Frost	Christine Harris	Episode: "Endangered Species"
	Silent Witness	DI Beth Ashdown	Episode: "Terminus: Part 2"
2007	Five Days	Dr Tobolska	3 episodes
2008	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Miss Sweetiman	Episode: "Mrs. McGinty's Dead"
	Summerhill	Rose	Television film
2008–2009	Waking the Dead	Linda Cummings	Guest role (season 7, episodes 3-4; season 8, episodes 7–8)
2009	Trial & Retribution	Kay Satchell	Episode: "Shooter: Part 1"
	Primeval	Katherine Kavanagh	2 episodes
	EastEnders	Debra Dean	11 episodes
	The Bill	Rebecca Sands	2 episodes
2010	Lewis	Robyn Strong	Episode: "Your Sudden Death Question"
	Casualty	Kate Margolin	Episode: "No Place Like Home"
	Law & Order: UK	Mel Garvey	Episode: "Confession"
	Moving On	Joanne	Episode: "Losing My Religion"	[8]
2011	The Fades	Alice	TV mini-series
2012	Inside Men	Rebecca	TV mini-series
2013	Father Brown	Martha Quinton	Episode: "The Wrong Shape"
	Dancing on the Edge	Lady Winnet	1 episode
	Holby City	Amanda Layton	2 episodes
	Coming Up	Lynn	Episode: "Big Girl"
2013–2014	Utopia	Jen Dugdale	Recurring role (9 episodes)
2014	Silent Witness	Ellie Brooke	Episode: "Undertone: Parts 1 & 2"
	Inspector George Gently	Irene Seddon	Episode: "Gently Between the Lines"
	Casualty	DC Monica Darling	Episode: "Deadfall"
2015	Midsomer Murders	Diana Carnarvon	Episode: "A Vintage Murder"
	Penny Dreadful	Octavia Putney	Guest role (series 2)
2015–2016	Home Fires	Sarah Collingborne	Main role
2017	Ransom	Laurie	Episode: "Girl on a Train"
2018	Doctors	DCI Gail Hargreaves	2 episodes
2019	Doc Martin	Shirley Knott	Series 9 Episode 2 :"The Shock of the New"
2020–present	Bridgerton	Lady Violet Bridgerton	Main role; 32 episodes	[9]
2021	My Mum Tracy Beaker	Carly Beaker		[13]
2023	Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story	Lady Violet Bridgerton, Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton (née Ledger)	Main role; 5 episodes	[9]

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Theatre

More information Title, Role ...

	Title	Role	Director	Venue	Ref
	A Tale of Two Cities	Seamstress	Phillip Prowse	Glasgow Citizens	[5]
	The Country Wife	Alethia	Ian Forrest	Lancaster Playhouse	[5]
	Tis Pity She's a Whore	Annabella			[5]
	The Importance of Being Earnest	Cecily	Hugh Hogart	Edinburgh Lyceum	[5]
	The Winter's Tale	Perdita	Debbie Paige	Salisbury Playhouse	[5]
	An Ideal Husband	Mabel Chilton	Hugh Hodgart	Edinburgh Lyceum	[5]
	Uncle Vanya	Yelena			[5]
	Measure for Measure	Isabella	Ian Forrest	Chester Gateway	[5]
1991	The Second Mrs. Tanqueray	Ellen	Debbie Page	Salisbury Playhouse	[15]
1994	Othello	Desdemona	Oliver Godfrey	The Railway Tavern	[16]
1997	Turn of the Screw	Governess	Julian Woolford	Hornchurch Queen's Theatre	[17]
1998	Nabokov's Gloves	Mary Duggan	Ian Brown	Hampstead Theatre	[18]
1999	The Weir	Valerie	Ian Rickson	Royal Court Theatre	[19]
2000-2001	Ancient Lights	Iona	Ian Brown	Hampstead Theatre	[20]
2002	Kick for Touch	Eileen	Josie Rourke	Crucible Theatre	[21]
	Trips' Cinch	Lucy Parks	Thea Sharrock	Southwark Playhouse	[22]
2004	Midwinter RSC	Maude	Zinny Harris	[23]
2004-2005	Macbeth RSC	Lady Macduff / Witch	Dominic Cooke	Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[24]
	King Lear RSC	Regan	Bill Alexander		[25]
2005	Coram Boy	Mrs Lynch	Melly Still	National Theatre	[26]
2008	Helter Skelter / Land of the Dead	Woman	Patricia Benecke	Bush Theatre	[23]
	Riflemind	Cindy	Philip Seymour Hoffman	Trafalgar Studios	[27]
2010	Les Liaisons Dangereuses	Merteuil	Toby Frow	Salisbury Playhouse	[28]
2011	Zephaniah: In the Night, A Promise	—N/a	Charlotte Westenra	Bush Theatre	[29]
	Death and the Maiden	Paulina	Patricia Benecke	Salisbury Playhouse	[30][31]
2012	Betrayal	Emma	Nick Bagnall	Sheffield Theatres	[32]
2014	The Ant and the Cicada RSC	Selina	Erica Whyman	The Other Place	[33]
	Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. RSC	—N/a			[33]
	I Can Hear You RSC	Ruth	Jo McInnes		[33]
	This is Not an Exit RSC	Nora			[33]
2017	No Places for a Woman	Annie	Kate Budgen	Theatre503	[34]
2018	The Whale	Liz	Laurence Boswell	Theatre Royal Bath	[35]
	Still Alice	Self	David Grindley	West Yorkshire Playhouse	[36]

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Radio dramas

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Station	Notes	Ref.
	The Woman of Juda	Vivien Davies			[37]
	Maestro	Various characters			[37]
	The Cloths of Heaven	Rachel			[37]
1994	Teen Lurve	Nickie	BBC Radio 5		[37][38]
	The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes	Violet de Merville	BBC Radio 4	Episode: "The Illustrious Client"	[39]
1996	The Candlemass Road	Lady		Saturday Night Theatre	[37][40]
	The House	Polly Bannister		Series 6	[41][37]
1999	Fireworks	Maid			[42]
2001	Ancient Lights	Iona	BBC Radio 3		[43]
2003	Parade's End	Sylvia			[44]
	After Scarborough	Sandy	BBC Radio 4		[45]
	The Spaceman	Mother			[46]
2008 - 2018	The Pillow Book	Sei Shōnagon		Woman's Hour Drama; Series 1–11	[47]
2009	Classic Serial: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold	Liz		Episodes: 1, 3	[48][49]
2010	The Vanishing	Lieneke		Saturday Play	[50]
	Classic Serial: The Secret Pilgrim	Stephanie		Episode: 1	[51][52]
2011	The Spy Who Came in from the Cold	Liz Gold			[53]
2013	The Corrupted	Gracie Braden			[54]
	The Man in the Lift	Angie			[55]
2013-2014	The Cazalets	Villy		Series: "Casting Off," "All Change"	[56]
2014	Old Times	Kate	BBC Radio 3		[57]
	Alison Moore: The Pre-War House and Other Stories	Narrator	BBC Radio 4 Extra	5 episodes	[37][58]
	Time		BBC Radio 4	Episode: "A Bagful of Stories"	[59]
	The Mysterious Death of Jane Austen	Anne		15 Minute Drama: 5 episodes	[60]
	The Time Being: Spells for Love	Melissa			[37][61]
2015	The Left Hand of Darkness	Ashe		2 episodes	[62][63]
	Clown Shoes	Narrator	BBC Radio 4 Extra	5 episodes	[64]
2017	The Essex Serpent		BBC Radio 4	10 episodes	[65]
	A Perfect Spy	Mary			[66]

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Audio dramas

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2020	The Archers	Victoria	Episode: "1.19335"

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