Jessica Plummer lands biggest role yet in major new BBC drama The Girl Before
SHE was in a Welsh castle for I’m A Celeb last year – but now Jessica Plummer is heading for a hi-tech, ultra-minimalist home in her next TV role. The ex-EastEnders actress has been cast in major new BBC drama The Girl Before, opposite film stars David Oyelowo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The adaptation of the […]
SHE was in a Welsh castle for I’m A Celeb last year – but now Jessica Plummer is heading for a hi-tech, ultra-minimalist home in her next TV role.
The ex-EastEnders actress has been cast in major new BBC drama The Girl Before, opposite film stars David Oyelowo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
The adaptation of the JP Delaney novel of the same name is set in stunning townhouse One Folgate Street, owned by an architect played by David.
The four-parter, which is a collaboration with HBO, tells the story of Jane, played by Gugu. When she moves into One Folgate Street, she has to obey the architect’s very stringent rules.
And she soon discovers that another girl has lived there and gone through the same experience. She is “the girl before”, played by Jessica, who is best known for her role as Chantelle Atkins in Albert Square.
A TV insider said: “This is a real gem of a role for Jessica, and it just goes to show the promotional power of a show like I’m A Celebrity.
“She obviously has an acting pedigree after appearing on EastEnders, but going into ‘the castle’ will have helped put her on the radar of so many more casting directors.
“Jessica also has plenty of inspiration when it comes to making the jump from soaps to other dramas, with the likes of Jenna Coleman and Suranne Jones paving the way.”
The story at the heart of the new drama, which is written and produced by author JP Delaney, will be familiar to many, as the bestseller it is based on has sold more than a million copies since it was published in 2016.
Good for you Jessica.
THE ESSEX SERPENT
THE Night Manager actor and bum-flasher Tom Hiddleston will star opposite Claire Danes in new Apple TV drama series The Essex Serpent.
Tom plays Will Ransome, the trusted leader of a small Victorian rural community, while Claire will star as Cora Seaborne, who has recently been widowed by a man who abused her.
MOCKING YODA LOOK, YOU ARE
BABY Yoda is the breakout star of Disney+ show The Mandalorian – just like Oti Mabuse has been on Strictly.
The dancer poked fun at her own outfit yesterday on Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4, saying she looked like the little green character.
She also spoke for the first time about my story that BBC bosses fear losing her from the series, after being offered other roles.
Asked about the possibility of her not returning, she said: “Some of these conversations obviously I have never been a part of. They are above my pay grade.
“I can’t say yes as to whether I’m going back or not. Everybody will have to wait and see. But it is nice to be spoken about, right?”
The Beeb should now be bending over backwards to keep her.
'Deliberately destroyed'
EMMERDALE bosses want to build a new barn in the village – so they can blow it up later this year during an explosive storyline.
Their application to planners states: “We will use structural timbers, with the addition of some specialist ‘breakaway’ stunt material in some areas, to ensure the maximum visual impact and the highest level of safety.”
They also promise the entire barn will be “deliberately destroyed” during the stunt.
ALAN’S INN DNA HUNT
NO, this isn’t Amanda Holden and Alan Carr posing as the new faces of Carphone Warehouse.
This snap captures the pals as they find another revelation in an episode of DNA Journey.
Their adventure, which airs tomorrow at 9pm on ITV, takes Amanda to a stately home in Cornwall and Alan to a pub in South East London, meeting family they never knew existed.
In an Instagram Live alongside Alan, Amanda said: “Everybody wanted to be related to you, not me.”
DRUNKEN JO DROVE CAR HOME
COMIC Jo Brand revealed she once got behind the wheel hammered during the time she worked as a nurse in London.
She said: “I’d had a particularly bad day so I went for a big p***-up after work with a load of nursing mates.
“I had my car with me and [on the way home] I went through some red traffic lights with a police car behind me.
“Because I was quite drunk – sorry about this, don’t drink and drive – I drove into where I lived and for a laugh to entertain my friends, I drove on to the ornamental gardens [in the middle of the flats] and went round and round the fountain going ‘woo hoo’.”
She told Dave show Unforgivable, where celebs admit the worst of their past, that the officer let her off.
She added: “This policeman came over and said, ‘Have you been drinking, madam?’ And I said, apparently, ‘I should say so, big boy’.”
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But a pal pleaded with the officer on her behalf.
“And so he said to me, ‘Get in your flat before I change my mind’,” Jo added.
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