Christine Bottomley

Christine Bottomley (born 27 April 1979)^[1] is an English actress. Her television roles include playing Kirsty in EastEnders (2001), Melanie in Early Doors (2003–2004), Susie Ward in Heartbeat (2003), and Zoey Wyatt in Shameless (2006). Other credits include Massive (2008), Hope Springs (2009), Land Girls (2009), and Hush (2008).

Christine Bottomley
Bottomley in 2012
Born	(1979-04-27) 27 April 1979 (age 45) Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (2001)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001–present
Known for	Early Doors Back to Life The End of the F***ing World

More recently she has starred in Fearless (2017), The End of the F***ing World (2017–2019), The Nest (2020), Back to Life (2019–2021), Domina (2021) and Sherwood (2024).

Early life

Christine Bottomley was born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester,^[1] and grew up in a flat above the family's chemist shop.^[2] She went to several local youth drama groups before embarking on a course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama,^[2] from where she graduated in 2001.^[2]

Career

Bottomley in 2012

Following graduation, she made her on-screen debut as Kirsty in EastEnders (2001).^[1] She played a regular role from 2003–2004, as Melanie in the BBC2 sitcom Early Doors.^[1] Bottomley has had numerous parts on television, including episodes of the second series of Torchwood (2008),^[3] the comedy series Massive (2008),^[3] the drama series Hope Springs (2009),^[3] and Land Girls (2009).^[3] Her first film role was in Hush, in 2009.^[3]

In 2010, she was nominated for Best New Actress at the London Film Critic's Circle Awards for her portrayal of Lisa Thompson in The Arbor.^[4] She is a three-times winner of Best Actress at the BBC Audio Drama Awards; in 2014 for My Boy;^[5] 2017 for The Sky is Wider^[6] and 2018 for Solitary.^[7]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Venus	Hospital Nurse
2007	The Waiting Room	Fiona
	Death of a Socialist	Alice	Short film
2008	Hush	Beth
2010	The Arbor	Lisa Thompson
	Little White Lies	Mum	Short film
2011	Lost Christmas	Helen
2012	All in Good Time	Molly Batt
	Strawberry Fields	Emily
2013	Charlie Says	Liz	Short film
	Out of Darkness		Short film
	Man in the Moon	Scarlet
2014	Keeping Rosy	Sarah
2017	Cowboy Dave	Debbie	Short film
	Funny Cow	Funny Calf's Mum
2018	Peterloo	Female Reformer
2022	Typist Artist Pirate King	Joan
2024	Robin and the Hoods	Bridget

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	EastEnders	Kirsty	Episode: "21 September 2001"
2002	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Bride	Episode: "Missing Joseph"
	Holby City	Danni Simmons	Episode: "High Risk"
	The Bill	Sandie	Recurring role; 5 episodes
	Dalziel and Pascoe	Christine Fitzgerald	Episode: "For Love Nor Money"
2003	Heartbeat	Susie Ward	Recurring role; 5 episodes
	Grease Monkeys	Tracie	Episode: "Girl Crazy"
2003–2004	Early Doors	Melanie	Series regular; 11 episodes
2004	Sex, Footballers and Videotape	Mel	TV film
	Murder Prevention	Sally Brook	Episode: "False Prophet"
2005	Comedy Lab		Episode: "Speeding"
2006	Shameless	Zoe Wyatt	Episode: "Dark Friends"
	The Street	Yvonne O'Neill	Series regular; 6 episodes
	Vincent	Selina Kenyon	Series 2, episode 1
	Simon Schama's Power of Art	Fillide	Episode: "Caravaggio"
	Blue Murder	Mandy Breeley	Episode: "Make Believe"
2006–2007	The Innocence Project	Sarah Shawcross	Series regular; 8 episodes
2007	Instinct	Milly	TV film
	Sound	Lou	TV film
	Sea of Souls	Mary Dunbar	Episode: "The Prayer Tree"
2008	The Palace	Natalie	Recurring role; 3 episodes
	Torchwood	Maggie	Episode: "A Day in the Death"
	Tess of the D'Urbervilles	Kate	Recurring role; 3 episodes
	Massive	Lou	Series regular; 6 episodes
2009	Hope Springs	Shoo Coggan	Series regular; 8 episodes
	Land Girls	Annie Barrett	Series regular; 5 episodes
2010	The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister	Ann Walker	TV film
	Survivors	Clare	Series 2, episode 5
2011	Midsomer Murders	Blaze Leadbetter	Episode: "The Oblong Murders"
	In with the Flynns	Sarah	Episode: "Whistleblowing"
	Inspector George Gently	Terri Molloy	Episode: "Goodbye China"
	Moving On	Caroline	Episode: "Tour of Duty"
2012	Secrets and Words	Valerie King	Episode: "Help Me If You Can"
2013	Silent Witness	DI Kate Warren	Episode: "True Love Waits"
	Great Night Out	Julie	Series regular; 6 episodes
	Frankie	Diane Preston	Series 1, episode 3
	New Tricks	Becky Belgrade	Episode: "Into the Woods"
	Vera	Lisa Strachan	Episode: "Prodigal Son"
2014	DCI Banks	Katy Heath	Episode: "Wednesday's Child"
	Undeniable	Emma Rawlins	TV mini-series; 2 episodes
2014–2016	In the Club	Vicky Brierly	Series regular; 12 episodes
2015	Cucumber	Lynne	Series 1, episode 3
2017	Fearless	Jenna Brooks	Series regular; 6 episodes
	The Tunnel	Helena Carver	Recurring role; 2 episodes
2017–2019	The End of the F***ing World	Gwen	Recurring role, 10 episodes
2018	Torvill & Dean	Mavis Dean	TV film
	Hard Sun	Maggie Sweeting	Episode: "One Thousand, Eight Hundred Days"
2019	Flack	Sally Henderson	Episode: "Anthony"
2019–2021	Back to Life	Mandy	Series regular; 11 episodes
2020	The Nest	Zoe	Series regular; 5 episodes
2021–2023	Domina	Scribonia	Series regular; 13 episodes
2022	Silent Witness	Florence Clarke	Episode: "History, Part 3"
2024	Sherwood	Rachel Crosley	Main role, second series
	The Wives	Annabelle Morgan	Two episodes
	Ridley	Katharine Penrose	Two episodes

Radio

Year	Date	Title	Role	Strand	Station
2004	29 November	Double Acts: Scissors and Ribbon[8]	Lisa	Afternoon Play	BBC Radio 4
2007	23 February	Money Magic[9]	Kathy	Friday Drama	BBC Radio 4
2008	15–22 March	The Dark Side[10]	Annie	Saturday Drama	BBC Radio 4
2011–2012	June 2011 – October 2012	Everyone Quite Likes Justin[11]	Lisa	Comedy	BBC Radio 4 Extra
2012	17 March	"Tony Teardrop"[12]	Carly	The Wire	BBC Radio 3
	19 December	My Boy[13]	Lisa		BBC Radio 4
2013	12 March	Meic Povey – Take me to Hafod Owen[14]	Vicky		BBC Radio 4
	1 October	Man in the Moon[15]	Scarlet		BBC Radio 4
	11–15 November	Children in Need: Holding on to you[16]	Jo	15 Minute Drama	BBC Radio 4
2014	31 January – 3 February	Tony Teardrop[17]	Carly		BBC Radio 4
	2 March	Lorca's Rural Trilogy[18]	Martirio	Drama on 3	BBC Radio 3
	15 June	Writing Lives: Treats[19]	Reader		BBC Radio 4
	30 November	Dream of White Horses[20]	Sarah	Drama on 3	BBC Radio 3
2015	25–29 May	Amicable[21]	Sally	15 Minute Drama	BBC Radio 4
	29 May	Time for One More Question[22]	Melanie		BBC Radio 4
	11–18 October	Reading Europe – Poland: Entanglement[23]	Olga Kuzniecow		BBC Radio 4
	28–29 November	Blood, Sex and Money[24][25]	Severine		BBC Radio 4
2016	6–7 July	States of Mind[26][27]	Ella	Afternoon Play	BBC Radio 4
	25 September	Peter the Great: The Gamblers[28]	Sophia	Tsar	BBC Radio 4 Extra
	22 October	Between Ballards Ears[29]	Actor	Between the Ears	BBC Radio 3
	11 December	The Tidebreak[30]	Mrs Williams	Drama on 3	BBC Radio 3
2017	7 July	The Archivist[31]	Clare		BBC Radio 4
	7 October	Solitary[32]	Mandy	Between the Ears	BBC Radio 3
2018	8–19 January	Stone (series 7)[33]	Sarah		BBC Radio 4
	22 January – 2 February	The Truth About Hawaii[34]	Lizzie	15 Minute Drama	BBC Radio 4
	1–9 May	The Wings of the Dove[35]	Susie Stringer	Henry James	BBC Radio 4 Extra
	9 July	My Mother's Daughter[36]	Helen		BBC Radio 4
2019	26 February	Debbie Purdy[37]	Debbie Purdy	Test Case	BBC Radio 4 Extra
	30 April	What's He Building in There?[38]	Kate		BBC Radio 4
	17–21 June	Reading Europe – Lullaby[39]	Louise		BBC Radio 4
	14 July	The Masque of Anarchy[40]		Drama on 3	BBC Radio 3
	27 September	This Changeling Self[41]	She		BBC Radio 4
	6 October	The Mother[42]	Karpov / The Landlady	Drama on 3	BBC Radio 3
	28 November	Monique & Me[43]	Adult Cara		BBC Radio 4
	24 December	The Christmas Present[44]	Holly		BBC Radio 4
2020	3–13 February	24 Kildare Road[45]	Hayley		BBC Radio 4
2021	2 March	The Ventriloquist's Dummy[46]	Jess		BBC Radio 4
	18 April	Killer[47]	Dani	Drama on 3	BBC Radio 3
2022	18–26 January	Money, Sex and Blood (series 3)[48]	Maria	Fault Lines	BBC Radio 4
	29 March	Waterloo Station[49]	Christa		BBC Radio 4

Theatre credits

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Ref
2000	The Pleasureman	Various roles	Citizens Theatre, Glasgow	[50]
2001	Dracula	Lucy Westerman	Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama	[51]
2004	Ladybird	Lera	Royal Court Theatre, London	[52]
	Flush	Holly	Soho Theatre, London	[53]
2005	Rutherford and Son	Mary	Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester	[54]
	Osama the Hero	Mandy	Hampstead Theatre, London	[55]
	A Single Act	Michelle	Hampstead Theatre, London	[56]
2007	Alaska	Emma	Royal Court Theatre, London	[57]
2009	Uncle Vanya	Sonya	Young Vic, London	[58]
2015	How To Hold Your Breath	Jasmine	Royal Court Theatre, London	[59]

Awards

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2010	The Arbor	London Film Critics' Circle Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated	[4]
2014	My Boy	BBC Audio Drama Awards	Best Actress	Won	[5]
2017	States of Mind: The Sky is Wider	BBC Audio Drama Awards	Best Actress	Won	[6]
2018	Solitary	BBC Audio Drama Awards	Best Actress	Won	[7]