The Stolen Girl, which gripped viewers on Disney+ last year, is now airing on ITV, winning over a whole new wave of fans. One of its strongest assets is the brilliant Denise Gough in the lead role of Elisa Blix – and she may well be a very familiar face.
Gough, already a well-known and multi-award-winning performer in the theatre world, is rapidly becoming a major screen star, too.
The Irish actress most recently won heaps of praise for her work as villain Dedra Meero in Star Wars show Andor, for which she won a Peabody Award in 2023.
She was also seen in the title role in BBC drama Paula in 2017, and played Dr Alison Walden in two episodes of The Fall. She was nominated for a BAFTA for her work in the 2021 three-parter Too Close.
Casualty, The Bill, Silent Witness, Holby City, Stella and Apple Tree Yard have all also played host to her talents in recent years.
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Lucasfilm/Disney
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On the big screen, she was recently seen alongside Claire Foy in H Is For Hawk, and she has a yet-to-be-confirmed role in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.
It’s the stage, though, where she has already become a bona fide A-lister.
She is currently on London’s West End starring alongside Billy Cruddup in the play High Noon, and in 2024 she reprised her role as Emma in the 2015 play People, Places and Things; for which she previously won an Olivier Award and a Critics’ Circle Theatre Award.
For her work in Angels in America, both in the UK and the US, she was nominated for a Tony and won another Olivier.
Other stars in The Stolen Girl include Strike’s Holliday Grainger as Rebecca Walsh, Hollyoaks and Unforgotten star Bronagh Waugh as DI Shona Sinclair, and This Is Going To Hurt’s Michael Workéyè as Kabel Negate.
Disney+//Disney
There are two One Day stars in it, too: Ambika Mod, who played Em on the small screen alongside Leo Woodall; and Jim Sturgess, who played Dex alongside Anne Hathaway in the 2011 movie.
The Stolen Girl, which is comprised of five episodes, was written by Catherine Moulton and is based on the novel Playdate by Alex Dahl.
The Stolen Girl airs on Wednesdays at 9pm on ITV, and is now available to stream in full on ITVX.
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Shaun is an Evening News Editor at Digital Spy, with over a decade of experience reporting on all things pop culture. He has written for outlets including Metro, Attitude, Huffington Post, The Mirror, Yahoo!, Pink News and Express Online; specialising in TV, movies, soaps, music and LGBTQ+ issues. He is also a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning scriptwriter, having written episodes of the soap Hollyoaks, the official Steps musical Here & Now and multiple Offie Award-nominated plays. He studied English Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia, and will happily talk at length about Desperate Housewives to anyone who’ll listen.