You know you're in for a gripping watch when Jill Halfpenny is on the screen. The 50-year-old actress, who began her career on the coming-of-age drama series Byker Grove before landing roles in iconic soaps such as EastEnders, Coronation Street and Waterloo Road, is no stranger to starring in twisty thrillers and edge-of-your-seat dramas, having starred in a number of them over the last few years. Keep reading for our top four picks, from the award-winning BBC drama Three Girls to Channel 5's domestic thriller, The Feud.
© Simon Rogers / Lonesome Pine Productions / Channel 5Jill plays Emma in Channel 5's domestic thriller
The Feud
Jill stars in Channel 5's six-part thriller series as Emma, who along with her husband John and their daughter Beth, live an idyllic life on Shelbury Drive. They're close friends with their neighbours, Sonia (Amy Nuttall – Downton Abbey) and Alan (Ray Fearon – Fleabag), and are fond of older couple on the street, Derek and Barbara, played by James Fleet (Unforgotten, Bridgerton) and Tessa Peake-Jones (Grantchester, Unforgotten). But when Emma and John decide to add a kitchen extension to their house, friendships are tested.
The synopsis continues: "As objections to Emma's plans are raised, life-threatening secrets start rising to the surface. Laced with menace, The Feud reveals how Emma’s aspirational dream turns sharply into obsession, paranoia, and fear."
Jill was praised as "great" and "brilliant" by viewers, while The Times awarded the series three stars and described it as "darkly comic tale of neighbourly disputes". The i Paper also handed out three stars, calling the show a "typical 5 thriller - over the top and silly".
Watch on Channel 5.
© Channel 5The Cuckoo
Another Channel 5 thriller, which was released in 2024, The Cuckoo sees Jill in the role of Sian, a lodger who is taken in by Nick and Jessica, who have just bought the house of their dreams, a grand doer-upper in the countryside town that Jessica grew up in.
The story begins when Nick and Jessica face financial trouble and are forced to pull their adopted teenage daughter, Alice, out of private school and take in a lodger in order to keep the house. The synopsis continues: "Sian is beautiful, flirty, and mysterious. She immediately begins sowing discord within the family – acting too familiar with Nick, borrowing Jessica’s clothes, and building an increasingly inappropriate rapport with Alice. Jessica begins to question if Sian is really who she claims to be? Quickly she realises something more insidious and twisted is going on and Jessica, Nick and Alice will be forced to fight for each other and their own lives."
So, what did TV critics think? The i Paper hailed the show as "the best weeknight drama on TV" and said it "hooks from the start with expert pacing and tantalising clues," while The Daily Mail handed out three stars in its review.
Watch on Channel 5.
© Justin Slee,ITVJill plays Doreen Hill, the mother of Sutcliffe's final victim
The Long Shadow
ITV's BAFTA-nominated drama, which aired in 2023, dramatises the manhunt for notorious serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, who was also known as the Yorkshire Ripper. The series follows the victims who crossed paths with the murderer, as well as those of the police officers at the centre of the investigation. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980.
Jill plays Doreen Hill, the mother of Sutcliffe's final victim Jacqueline Hill, in the harrowing drama, which boasts an impressive 87 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes and was awarded four stars from The Guardian and RadioTimes.com. The latter noted that while the series "may not be particularly subtle," it's a "gripping drama with a respectful approach".
"One murder has the power to cast a long shadow and this case plunged a whole society into darkness," the synopsis begins. "For every victim, there were friends and loved ones. For every police officer, there was the burden of failure - of near misses and guilt – and the knowledge that as they failed to find their man, more women continued to suffer. The impact on the lives of those who live on after the death of their loved one remains to this day. Those who cannot escape what happened, who must sit with their incomprehensible trauma for decades after, enduring their own life sentences."
It continues: "With people today holding to account the institutional foundations that foster misogyny, racism, and violence against women, The Long Shadow will speak to the societal issues of the past whilst highlighting alarming parallels between these terrible crimes and tragic events in our more recent history."
Watch on ITVX.
© Photo: BBCThree Girls is a BAFTA-winning drama
Three Girls
This BAFTA-winning drama, based on the true stories of victims of grooming and sexual abuse in Rochdale, drew in an average of 8.2 million viewers when it first aired in 2017. Written by Nicole Taylor (The C Word), Three Girls comes from the same production team behind award-winning BBC drama, Five Daughters, including director Philippa Lowthorpe (Call The Midwife, Jamaica Inn).
According to the synopsis, the series looks at "the way in which these girls were groomed, how they were ignored by the authorities directly responsible for protecting them, and how they eventually made themselves heard". While Jill plays one of the girls' mothers, Maxine Peake (Silk, A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Lesley Sharp (Scott And Bailey, Capital) play two women who were crucial in getting the girls' voices heard.
Watch on BBC iPlayer.
