Happy Valley has returned for its last ever series and viewers may well recognise Mollie Winnard, who has joined the cast as Joanna Hepworth.
Joanna is a pivotal character in the cast of the new series – she’s addicted to illegal drugs and married to a total git.
But who is the young actress, and what else has she been in?
Here’s everything we know about Joanna Hepworth actress Mollie Winnard.
Who plays Joanna Hepworth in Happy Valley?
Mollie Winnard plays Joanna Hepworth in the BBC crime drama Happy Valley.
Joanna Hepworth is the wife of Ryan’s football coach, Rob, and mother of their two daughters.
She’s a troubled character who struggles with a diazepam addiction.
Joanna gets her illegal drugs from her neighbour Faisal, played by Amit Shah, who is a dodgy pharmacist and could be struck off for what he’s doing (especially as he’s been having sex with her, too).
In episode one, a school mum called Joanna’s husband Rob when Joanna failed to pick up her daughters from school.
Her controlling husband Rob – played by Mark Stanley – accuses her of relapsing.
This leads to a horrific scene as her husband becomes violent and attempts to sexually assault her.
Rob then called the police on his own wife for having illegal drugs on her and, of course, Catherine [Sarah Lancashire] was the officer to show up.
She immediately spotted signs of abuse on Joanna – bruised arms, a padlocked fridge, financial dependence – and arrests Jo to get her away from her husband.
However, even though Catherine offered to take her to a safe guarding unit, Jo stuck to her story that she found the pills in the pub toilet and returned home.
What has Mollie Winnard been in before?
Manchester-born Mollie Winnard studied at Mark Hudson’s Manchester School of Acting.
Her career started out on the stage when she appeared in musicals including Little Shop of Horrors and Grease.
She was also a dancer in the National Youth Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker in 2008.
Her first TV role was Zoe in Love, Lies and Records in 2017.
She struck TV gold with her next role – playing Kayla Clifton in Coronation Street.
She has also appeared in the remake of All Creatures Great and Small as Maggie, and played grieving Demi in the heartbreaking BBC drama Four Lives.
Joanna Hepworth in Happy Valley: How old is Mollie Winnard?
Mollie Winnard was born on 14 March 1997.
This means that she is currently 25 years old.
Does Mollie Winnard have a boyfriend?
Mollie is dating DJ and music producer Jordan Murphy.
The actress often posts loved-up pictures with him on her Instagram account @molliewinnard.
In one post, Mollie revealed that the couple adopted two puppies together.
She captioned the post: “So we went to ‘look’ at a puppy and ended up coming home with two.
“Welcome to the family Maverick and Mavis #cockerpoo #cockerspanielsofinstagram @jordanmurphyuk.”
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Who did Mollie Winnard play in Coronation Street?
Mollie played waitress, Kayla Clifton, in the ITV soap Coronation Street.
She made her debut on the cobbles in July 2018.
At the time, she took to Twitter to announce the exciting news saying: “Say hello to Kayla.
“So excited finally be able to share my news and can’t wait to be joining the cobbles.”
Her character ruffled feathers by getting inbetween Bethany Platt and Craig Tinker’s relationship.
Not only did she pretend to be Craig‘s girlfriend and play mind tricks on him to worsen his OCD, but she went on to imprison Bethany after knocking her unconscious.
Of course, viewers subsequently learnt that Kayla was the daughter of villain Neil Clifton, the rapist policeman who Bethany helped put behind bars.
Joanna Hepworth in Happy Valley: Will Mollie Winnard ever return to Corrie as Kayla?
In an interview with the Metro, Mollie revealed that she’d love to return to the soap one day.
She said: “I’d never say never.
“I loved playing Kayla, I really feel there is more I could explore with her.
“I got quite attached to her, I ended up really liking her.”
What has Mollie Winnard been in?
Mollie made her debut in television when she starred in BBC One’s Love, Lies and Records in 2017 alongside Ugly Betty star Ashley Jensen.
The actress then went on to play Demi in the BBC series Four Lives alongside Stephen Merchant and Sheridan Smith.
She also appeared in both series one and two of the remake of All Creatures Great and Small.
The series features Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Callum Woodhouse and Rachel Shenton.
In the drama, Mollie plays Maggie, the barmaid who took a liking to Tristan Farnon in season one.
She saw past his faults and loved the young vet for his sense of humour and kind heart.
The pair went on to have a casual relationship, but then broke it off before things got too serious.
Read more: Happy Valley on BBC1: Who is taking Ryan to see Tommy? All the clues
Happy Valley continues with episode 2 on Sunday, January 8, 2023 at 9pm on BBC One.
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