Jessica Raine’s TV shows and movies

We loved Jessica Raine as Jenny Lee in Call the Midwife, but the actress has done much more besides...

Jessica Raine

by Lorna White |
Updated on

While you might remember English actress Jessica Raine from her time starring in Call the Midwife, she's had a rather impressive TV and film career since then.

Jessica's TV and film career

She found her love for acting early on in her life and after leaving school went on to study drama and cultural studies at University. After graduating, she was turned down from every drama school she applied for, so she went to Thailand to teach English.

After a year in Thailand, she applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art a second time and was successful. She went on to star in a range of stage and TV shows, most notably Call the Midwife and an appearance in Doctor Who.

Jessica Raine pic

Who did Jessica Raine play in Call the Midwife?

Jessica played the protagonist Jenny Lee, who we followed as she moved into Nonnatus House to begin life with the nuns of Call the Midwife. She stayed on the show for three series until she moved on to pursue a film career.

Was Jessica Raine in Doctor Who?

She had a guest role on Doctor Who back in 2013. She appeared in the episode Hide, and then later played the show’s producer Verity Lambert in An Adventure in Space and Time to mark Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary.

Jessica Raine in Wolf Hall

In 2015 she appeared in six episodes of Wolf Hall as Jane Rochford.

Jessica Raine in Line of Duty

She joined the BBC police drama Line of Duty in series 2, in 2015, playing Detective Constable Georgia Trotman.

Jessica Raine in Fortitude

As if 2015 wasn’t busy enough for Jessica, she also appeared in Fortitude over 12 episodes as Jules Sutter AND as Tuppence Beresford in Partners in Crime.

Jessica Raine in The Last Post

Jessica also starred in BBC's The Last Post, as the alcoholic and rather brazen wife of a British army officer. The series is set in the colonial outpost of Aden in 1965 and sees Jessica looking every inch the sixties bombshell.

She's described her character Alison Laithwaite, who is seen swigging gin first thing in the morning as 'humming with dissatisfaction' and 'climbing the walls with boredom'. She's also called her the 'favourite character I've played so far, ever.' It's a big change from lovely quiet Jenny in Call the Midwife!

She admitted on BBC's The One show that she rather lost her cool while filming a scene involving a scorpion - she had to do several re-shoots after getting frightened. To be honest, we can't blame her for that!

The Devil's Hour

Her most recent role is The Devl's Hour which you can stream now on Amazon Prime. She stars alongside Peter Capaldi in this drama thriller which sees Jessica's character Lucy be haunted by terrifying visions during the night before being drawn into a hunt for a serial killer.

Has Jessica Raine been in any films?

She had a role in Robin Hood, in 2010, as Isabel of Gloucester, and played Nanny in 2012’s The Woman in Black.

Is Jessica Raine married?

Yes she is! She married actor Tom Goodman-Hill in 2015 in a London ceremony. The pair met while acting in a play in 2010 and wed just two weeks after news broke out of their engagement!

Jessica Raine Tom Goodman-Hill

Jessica and her husband Tom Goodman-Hill welcomed a son together in 2019. The Call the Midwife star admitted to "neglecting" to tell Baptiste bosses she was pregnant when she took on the role of Genevieve in the highly anticipated BBC drama.

Speaking at the show's premiere, the 37-year-old actress is quoted by the Daily Mirror newspaper as saying: "I was a bit tired but the worrying thing for production was there was a car race and stunt and I neglected to tell them I was pregnant when I took the job.

"I broke the news and everyone was amazing. We had to work out how to do a car chase without me being in any danger. Also, my character is quite hard and being pregnant is quite emotional so it worked well."

Jessica joked her pregnancy cravings meant she was most interested in food while shooting the series, which is a spin-off of BBC One thriller The Missing.

She added: "I was interested most in food on this job! My shirts get bigger as the series goes on."

How old is Jessica Raine?

Jessica was born May 20, 1982 and is currently 41 years old.

BUTTON

Lorna White is a Senior Digital Writer at Yours.co.uk. She was previously a writer at Yours Magazine writing features and news stories before joining the digital team. Lorna loves the great British countryside and likes to spend her spare time out and about in her home of Nottinghamshire walking her dog, Pippin.

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