{"id":828302,"date":"2026-11-08T17:38:24","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T17:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/828302\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T17:38:24","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T17:38:24","slug":"monica-dolan-looks-back-i-was-repulsed-by-rose-west-yet-i-had-to-work-out-what-made-her-tick-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/828302\/","title":{"rendered":"Monica Dolan looks back: \u2018I was repulsed by Rose West, yet I had to work out what made her tick\u2019 | Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monica Dolan in 2026, recreating a 1976 childhood photograph of her with a hand puppet, looking through a serving hatch<\/a>Monica Dolan in 1976 and 2026. Later photograph: Simon Webb\/The Guardian. Styling: Andie Redman. Hair and makeup: Alice Theobald. Archive photograph: courtesy of Monica Dolan<\/p>\n

Born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, in 1969, Monica Dolan is a TV, film and stage actor. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and won a Bafta for her portrayal of Rosemary West in ITV\u2019s Appropriate Adult in 2011. She won the Laurence Olivier award for best supporting actress for her role in\u00a0the West End production of All About Eve in 2019. Her other television credits include Mr Bates vs the Post Office<\/a>, W1A<\/a>, Sherwood<\/a>, Alan\u00a0Partridge: Alpha\u00a0Papa, and Smoggie Queens. She\u00a0stars in Onwards and Sideways, in UK cinemas from 6\u00a0November, ahead of its\u00a0release on BBC iPlayer later this year.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s me staging a puppet show with a Waldorf Muppet, my head poking through the very 1970s-looking hatch in our house in Woking, Surrey. There\u2019s a somewhat neglected Sindy on the side. I think she was an ice-skating one \u2013 I wasn\u2019t massively keen on dolls, but I liked that you could move her legs around quite acrobatically, and if you bent her knee too far the plastic would snap and a\u00a0wire would poke through.<\/p>\n

I was teased for having chubby cheeks a lot at this age, and it was right\u00a0before the dentist sent me to get the gap in my teeth closed in hospital. I\u00a0could have been Madonna if I\u2019d kept it. Or maybe I\u2019d have never got a job as\u00a0an actor.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t one of those extrovert performer types as a child, but I\u00a0remember recognising how useful having a sense of humour was in terms of connecting to my family, especially as I was the youngest of four. Once, after my dad had sent me to my room for being naughty, I decided I would come downstairs in my red dressing gown. As I strode through the door I\u00a0did a few karate chops and delivered some lines from Hong Kong Phooey, the cartoon I liked to watch after school. The whole family laughed. Dad might have even laughed a little bit, too. It certainly made it harder for him to carry on being mean.<\/p>\n

My teen years were complicated. People at school were forming groups, and I was never that sort of person \u2013 I\u00a0was more of a satellite when it came to friendship circles. I wasn\u2019t into boys in the way that the other girls were. I\u2019d get massive crushes on some poor person but always from afar. But I was quite a joker as well \u2013 someone who was outspoken in class. It didn\u2019t always go down well, and I\u00a0am\u00a0sensitive, so it wasn\u2019t easy being told to stop talking.<\/p>\n

My parents met at University College Dublin while studying sciences. There was a certain expectation that I might follow in their footsteps, because science was so important to them \u2013 basically, Mum thought if you didn\u2019t study science you weren\u2019t very bright. When I was choosing O-levels, they had filled in a form and underlined my options for me: physics, chemistry and biology. When I saw it, I absolutely blew my top. They came to my room to talk to me and genuinely couldn\u2019t see why they\u2019d done anything wrong. I said to Dad, \u201cThis is a life decision. It is like getting married. It should be mine to choose.\u201d Eventually he said he\u2019d Tipp-Ex it out. I did end up doing those subjects, but I wanted it to be my choice, not theirs.<\/p>\n

In contrast to my school days, university was a place I flourished. I\u00a0had\u00a0finally found my people. I\u00a0was in my final year when I met an agent. I\u00a0asked her, \u201cWhat should I\u00a0do if I get a\u00a0job before I leave drama school?\u201d She\u00a0said, \u201cWell, that\u2019s not going to happen to you.\u201d Anyway, it did. I\u2019d\u00a0met\u00a0the head of Northcott theatre, in\u00a0Exeter, who offered me a season there. We did a variety of plays, everything from Outside Edge to To\u00a0Kill a Mockingbird and The\u00a0Merchant of Venice. My parents came to see me in all of them; they were so supportive. Even Mum, who found a lot of cultural things a real chore.<\/p>\n

double quotation markOne thing that\u2019s remained constant is how much I\u00a0care. I still feel a need to entertain. To be seen<\/p>\n

After that I had quite a long period of unemployment. I sat around and got impatient. Then I went back to Guildhall to be part of someone\u2019s final\u2011year production. My agent wasn\u2019t very pleased \u2013 he thought it was a bad look for a new actor to go back to university to work free of charge. I said, \u201cWell, you\u2019ve not got me anything. And I want to do something.\u201d I was right because, to\u00a0return the favour, the Guildhall told me about a director who was looking for people for their production of Jane\u00a0Eyre. They said they\u2019d make sure I got an audition. I got the part. That was the start of everything.<\/p>\n

When I worked with Mike Leigh on Topsy-Turvy, he would get cross if you referred to your character as \u201cI\u201d. \u201cAlways call the character she or he,\u201d he\u2019d say. \u201cThey\u2019re not you!\u201d It was releasing, because acting can become very involved. But it wasn\u2019t until I\u00a0played Rose West that I understood how much that distance matters. I\u00a0was repulsed by her, yet I had to work out what made her tick and what her priorities were. So I got the transcript of the case from her solicitor and treated it like a play, focusing on the technicalities. That let me stay objective and at a distance.<\/p>\n

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Even so, after that performance I\u00a0was a bit of a husk. A bit rubbed out as a person. When that happens it\u2019s\u00a0important to remember basic things that you like, to keep you connected to who you truly are. For me that was getting a dog. Having a dog is earthing, as they live in the moment and you have to go out for a\u00a0walk every day, to spend time with this being who isn\u2019t bothered about what\u2019s\u00a0going to happen next. As I\u2019ve got older I\u2019ve\u00a0realised you shouldn\u2019t work all the\u00a0time, either. Dad helped me with that. I told him I was unemployed and he said, very firmly, \u201cNo, you\u2019re resting.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve played a lot of characters who are real people. It is probably awful to\u00a0admit, but I\u2019ve never thought in terms of disappointing them. But I\u00a0can\u2019t pretend that I don\u2019t get very nervous, particularly when I played Jo Hamilton [the subpostmaster in Mr Bates vs the Post Office]. When we did the first screening, the subpostmasters were there, people who felt so broken by what they\u2019d been\u00a0through. I thought, \u201cWhat if they\u00a0just think, that\u2019s not me; that\u2019s not my story at all?\u201d There were real\u2011life consequences, and I felt a\u00a0lot\u00a0of pressure.<\/p>\n

The stakes are lower with comedy but it is still demanding. There\u2019s nowhere to hide if the timing\u2019s not right, and it can be humiliating. One day shooting W1A, I was on take 11 of a scene and [writer and director] John Morton was clearly thinking, \u201cThis still isn\u2019t right\u201d while I kept thinking, \u201cWhat am I\u00a0doing wrong?\u201d I got there in the end.<\/p>\n

One thing that\u2019s remained a\u00a0constant is how much I care. The girl in the photo wanted to have an effect on people, to make people laugh. If you look closely at her, there\u2019s a little bit of hope \u2013 something eager to be liked. I\u00a0still feel that now. A need to entertain. To be seen. That seven-year-old is trying to make a difference and so am I.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monica Dolan in 2026, recreating a 1976 childhood photograph of her with a hand puppet, looking through a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-828302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}