Lisa McGrillis

McGrillis grew up in Scotby, near Carlisle in Cumbria with her mother, a special needs teacher, and her father, an accountant. She studied performing arts at Northumbria University.[2]

McGrillis had a role in The Pitmen Painters, by Lee Hall, in 2007. It transferred to London’s National Theatre and then to Broadway theatre.[3]

McGrillis was in Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2011 as Margaret the maid.[4] When Eve Best, the star of the show, fell ill, director Jeremy Herrin asked McGrillis to step up to play Beatrice. She then appeared in The Pass with Russell Tovey at the Royal Court Theatre in 2014.[5][6]

After appearing in Hebburn (TV series),[7] McGrillis was the regular character DS Rachel Coles in Inspector George Gently with Martin Shaw.[8][9]

McGrillis starred opposite Academy Award nominee Lesley Manville in the BBC television sitcom Mum as Kelly, the well-meaning but dim girlfriend of Manville’s son, Jason.[10][11] In February 2019, she played Hannah Wilde in Death in Paradise S8.E8.[12] She later played a grass-roots Manchester politician in the third series of Channel 4 Paul Abbott police drama No Offence and, in 2020, appeared as ‘Mad Kay’ in BBC sitcom King Gary, written by Tom Davis[13] and as 'Sandra' in the Channel 4 drama Deadwater Fell.[14]

Her husband, Stuart Martin, is also an actor, and they met at a Christmas party in the National Theatre bar; they have one son.[15] McGrillis is an ambassador for children’s charity PIPA.[16]