Alexandra Elizabeth Roach (born 20 August 1987) is a Welsh actress best known for her roles as Becky in ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...

'' and DS Joy Freers in ''

No Offence ''No Offence'' is a British television police procedural drama on Channel 4, created by Paul Abbott. It follows a team of detectives from Friday Street police station, a division of the Manchester Metropolitan Police (a fictional version of the ...

''. She has also made appearances in series including '' Being Human'', ''

Inside No. 9 ''Inside No. 9'' is a British black comedy anthology television programme that first aired in 2014. It is written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and produced by the BBC. Each 30-minute episode is a self-contained story with new chara ...

'', ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fiction ...

'' and ''

Killing Eve ''Killing Eve'' is a British spy thriller television series, produced in the United Kingdom by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC Three. The series follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), a British intelligence investigator tasked with capturi ...

''.

Life and career

Roach was born in Ammanford,

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

, 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. A fluent

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

speaker, Roach appeared in long-running television soap ''

Pobol Y Cwm ''Pobol y Cwm'' (''People of the Valley''; ) is a Welsh-language soap opera produced by the BBC since October 1974. The longest-running television soap opera produced by the BBC, ''Pobol y Cwm'' was originally transmitted on BBC One Wales and l ...

'' in her early teens and won Best Juvenile Actor in a Soap at the Children in Entertainment Awards. 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 The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

, graduating with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

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." In May 2010 Roach appeared in ''The Door Never Closes'' by Rex Obano at the

Almeida Theatre The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diver ...

. A number of high-profile roles followed, including Sasha in '' Being Human'', Beth Partridge in ''

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'', and ''

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'' (in which she played notorious child murderer

Constance Kent Constance Emily Kent (6 February 1844 – 10 April 1944) was an English woman who confessed to the murder of her half-brother, Francis Saville Kent, in 1860, when she was aged 16 and he aged three. The case led to high-level pronouncements ther ...

). Roach starred as a young

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

in '' The Iron Lady''. She appeared as Helene in Sky Comedy's ''Hunderby'' in autumn 2012, and was cast as Molly in the film adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's 2003 novel ''

Private Peaceful ''Private Peaceful'' is a novel for older children by British author Michael Morpurgo first published in 2003. It is about a fictional young soldier called Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who is looking back on his life from the trenches of World War ...

''. She was included on the Screen International "Stars of Tomorrow" list in 2011. In 2013, she starred in the British TV series ''

''. On 3 June 2013, Roach appeared in the fifth episode of the ITV comedy '' Vicious'', as Ash's

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a 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 Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

'', in which she played a Welsh-speaking detective. In 2015 she starred in the TV series ''

'' as DS Joy Freers. In 2016 she became engaged to club promoter Jack Scales, whom she later married. Roach was a presenter at the 2017 BAFTA Cymru Awards ceremony.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

* '' Du Lac & Fey: Dance of Death'' (2019), as

Mary Jane Kelly Mary Jane Kelly ( – 9 November 1888), also known as Marie Jeanette Kelly, Fair Emma, Ginger, Dark Mary and Black Mary, is widely believed to have been the final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who murdered ...

(voice role)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roach, Alexandra 1987 births Living people Welsh-speaking actors Welsh film actresses Welsh soap opera actresses British film actresses British soap opera actresses British television actresses 21st-century Welsh actresses People from Ammanford Alumni of RADA