Honey actress Ann Skelly is about to become a HUGE star and could soon outshine her famous boyfriend
New obsession unlocked...
Ann Skelly is utterly mesmerising in the leading role of Martha in BBC One spy thriller Honey, but you might not have heard of her yet.
Everybody’s going to be talking about the Irish actress after the new six-part series drops. A prequel to the hit series Killing Eve, it combines dark comedy with tongue-in-cheek thrills, and plenty of action (in and out of the bedroom). Oh, and there’s a love triangle. So far, so Killing Eve.
Ann is sublime in the role of MI6 agent Martha Schmitt. A prequel to the huge Jodie Comer hit which aired from 2018 to 2022, this new spin-off goes back in time with Carolyn Martens.
Although Fiona Shaw’s Killing Eve character Carolyn went on to become the ruthless Head of the Russia Desk at MI6, she started out working deep undercover in East Berlin as Martha. And that’s where we first meet her.
Here’s everything you need to know about the actress Ann Skelly, who brings Martha to life in BBC One drama Honey. Like her Killing Eve predecessor Jodie Comer, Ann Skelly is destined to be every bit as famous…
Ann Skelly plays Martha in Honey on BBC One
If you haven’t heard of actress Ann Skelly yet, you soon will have. She portrays MI6 agent Martha in the BBC One spy thriller Honey. Her job undercover in 80s Cold War Berlin puts her in huge danger… But you wouldn’t know it. She doesn’t play by the rules, likes taking risks, and basically falls in love with two men!
And Ann Skelly is the reason the show works so well. Talking about the role, she said: “One of the very first lines in the character description said that Martha is convinced of her own brilliance. It tickled me. I liked the hunger of her, and the voraciousness of her desire.”
Because Martha is a woman, she is deployed as a “honey trap”, and very frustrated by that. She knows she’s brilliant, and that she can do so much more. She wants to get into the action and rise up in the world of spies. To do that, she has to take risks, be really brave and also impulsive at times…
Ann explained: “Martha is supposed to be playing the long game, honey trapping, learning the ropes. But her motivations are more selfish. She wants to go out on her own, she wants to be brilliant, and to do that, she has to follow her instincts.”
What TV and films is Ann Skelly famous for?
Ann Skelly has been on our screens for just over 10 years, having made her very first TV appearance as a teenager in the 2015 crime drama Red Rock. The series, based around a busy Dublin Garda station, is often a jumping point for young Irish actors. Ann played Rachel Reid until 2017.
She went on to play Biddy Lambert in the Brian Gleeson series Rebellion, about the birth of modern Ireland. And later joined the cast of assassin thriller Playground as Hannah Baylor.
Other notable roles include Annie Moffat in the TV adaptation of Little Women, Ethelfled in Vikings, and Beth Winters in BBC Two’s Jamie Dornan drama Death and Nightingales. Death and Nightingales was an “epic tale of love, betrayal, deception, and revenge set in the Irish countryside in 1885”.
Ann is arguably most famous for portraying Penance Adair in the Victorian supernatural drama The Never, opposite The Dark’s Laura Donnelly. It’s a role she played for two years, between 2021 and 2023.
More recently, the actress starred as Nuala in The Sandman, and Adelaide ‘Dodo’ Guinness in House of Guinness, both on Netflix.
She’s been in multiple films too, including Rose Plays Julie, Four Letters of Love, and Trad. In 2017, she played the title role in the 2017 gang movie Kissing Candice.
Who is Ann Skelly’s famous boyfriend?
Ann Skelly is in a long-term relationship with Scottish actor Iain De Caestecker. They’ve been dating since 2021.
Iain is probably best known for playing Leo Fitz in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. between 2013 and 2020. While soap fans will know him for playing Adam Barlow from 2001 to 2003. He’s also famous for his leading roles in The Winter King, The Control Room, and The Fades.
Ann and Iain tend to keep their relationship reasonably private, although she does occasionally share snaps of him on her official Instagram page.
He accompanied her to the London premiere of her new series House of Guinness in September 2025.
How old is she, and where is she from?
Ann Skelly was born on December 6 1996, which makes her very nearly 30 years old (at the time of writing).
An Irish actress, she was born in Dublin and moved to County Wexford as a toddler, first to Ballycanew, then to Oylegate, and later to Kilmuckridge.
She went to Coláiste Bríde in Enniscorthy and was homeschooled during her Leaving Cert. She attended the Irish Film Academy’s weekend acting classes as a teen, and later trained at Bow Street Academy. Ann graduated from the academy, Ireland’s national screen acting school, in 2017.
By then, she’d already bagged major roles in Red Rock, Rebellion, and Little Women.
Read more: Why Jodie Comer’s character Kate Parks won’t be returning to BBC One thriller Doctor Foster for series 3
