The Feud star Jill Halfpenny's five other unmissable dramas and where to watch them
She's also well known for playing Kate Mitchell in EastEnders
Jill Halfpenny’s suburban fracas in The Feud is making waves over on Netflix, but that’s all in a day’s work for this award-winning actress.
Flying onto the scene as Byker Grove’s Nicola Dobson in the late 80s, Jill has steadily transformed into one of the country’s most reliable harbingers of quality.
So, with renewed interest in her Channel 5 drama The Feud, we’re looking back at five other unmissable shows she’s appeared in.
Crime drama The Long Shadow on ITVX
Airing in 2023, The Long Shadow dramatised the five-year manhunt for Peter Sutcliffe (aka the Yorkshire Ripper, although the family hate the term and the original series name was changed because of it).
Jill played Doreen Hill in ITV’s seven-parter. She was the mother of the serial killer’s last known victim Jacqueline Hill. Peter was successfully apprehended eight weeks after her death, having preyed on Jacqueline as she walked back to her Leeds University halls on November 17, 1980.
A review from Radio Times described The Long Shadow as “gripping from start to finish, more than earning its seven hour run-time by packing the episodes with detail”.
It continued: This is evidently extremely thoroughly researched, making the drama as informative as it is emotional.”
The series brought to life the frustrations detectives faced, all while being scrutinised on a national level. Tip Toe’s David Morrissey, The Hack’s Toby Jones, Coronation Street’s Katherine Kelly, and Line of Duty’s Daniel Mays all appeared alongside Jill Halfpenny.
Three Girls on BBC One
In 2017’s harrowing Three Girls, Jill once again portrayed the parent of a victim. As Julie Winshaw, she and husband Jim were powerless as their daughter Molly was drawn into the Rochdale child sex abuse ring.
Three episodes documented the true events that led to nine British Pakistani men receiving convictions for crimes such as sex trafficking, rape, and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. The Greater Manchester Police subsequently launched Operation Doublet, which has caught 33 more individuals.
The drama had a huge impact when it first came out. Awards followed, including BAFTAs for Best Miniseries, Best Actress for Molly Windsor, and Best Writer: Drama for Nicole Tyler.
Maxine Peake was typically sublime as sexual health worker Sara Rowbotham. She battled for the police to take her concerns seriously.
The Drowning on Channel 5
Channel 5’s four-part mystery The Drowning gaves us Harlan Coben vibes.
Jill led the cast as Jodie Walsh, a grieving mum crippled with money woes. Nine years after the death of her young son Tom, she spotted a boy who looked just like him. Even though Tom’s body was never recovered from the lake, Jodie’s family did not support her desperate flights of fancy.
The Guardian awarded this one four stars at the time of its release, praising the “weight of sadness it carries” in a review.
It said: “The Drowning pays much attention to the endurance and the depths of a bereaved parent’s sorrow and how guilt manifests. It also refused to go in for big dramatic gestures at the expense of this hard-won authenticity.”
Audiences lapped it up too. The Drowning became Channel 5’s most popular drama ever. Over six million viewers tuned in for the first episode.
Channel 5 series The Cuckoo
Mixing up the goodie-goodie formula, Jill appeared as sneaky Sian in last year’s The Cuckoo.
Named after the birds that like to lay their eggs in others’ nests, the story concerned Nick, Jessica and their daughter Alice. As a way of easing their financial struggles, the family took in lodger Sian…
But, as she integrated into the family, Sian’s behaviour turned stranger day by day. Cue the mother of all revelations.
The i Paper deemed it “well paced, well written” and “far slicker than it was silly”, while The Daily Mail praised Jill for selling her character’s plight “with conviction”.
Fans of The Hack’s Lee Ingleby will know he played the father in the series.
The Feud’s Jill Halfpenny starred in Liar
Between 2017 and 2020, Jill occupied the role of soldier Jennifer Robertson in thrilling psycho-drama Liar. She played the wife of DI Vanessa Harmon.
Liar centred on Joanne Froggatt’s teacher Laura Nielson. Fresh out of a relationship, she found herself on a date with widower and surgeon Andrew Earlham (Ioan Gruffudd).
When she woke up the next morning, Laura realised she’d been raped. But her police complaint hit a brick wall, and she decided to seek justice on her own.
When the show originally hit screens, its episode drops were water-cooler moments as the horrible mystery slowly unfolded.
Read more: The Feud ending explained including the killer’s real identity as thriller drops on Netflix
