The Forsytes' Millie Gibson: From learning ballet for the period drama to her low-key love life
Everything you need to know about The Forsytes star, Millie Gibson
Millie Gibson is currently wowing viewers as Irene Heron in Channel 5 period drama, The Forsytes. Her latest role sees her transported back to the opulent world of the upper classes in the late Victorian era, but this is no fluffy period drama. In this lavish series, love, money and power rule everything.
Based on author John Galsworthy’s novels, The Forsyte Saga, the six-part drama follows the lives across four generations of stockbrokers. However, while the Forsytes are renowned for being sticklers for tradition, tensions behind closed doors threaten to tear the family apart as conflict brews.
Millie plays Irene to perfection, but what else has she appeared in? And what is her life like off-screen? Here’s everything you need to know about The Forsytes star Millie Gibson…
Who does Millie Gibson play in The Forsytes?
Millie Gibson plays Soames’ love interest, Irene Heron, in The Forsytes cast. Irene is a dancer who was forced to give up her dreams of making it big in Paris when her father’s death left her penniless.
But things change forever when she meets ambitious Soames Forsyte. Irene’s fortunes improve dramatically when they get married.
Despite joining the upper classes when she marries into the Forsyte family, Irene’s heart still lies with dancing. Speaking of filming her ballet scenes for the series, Millie said: “I had a lot of ballet lessons pre-filming.
“The first ballet scene I ever shot was where Soames is imagining Irene on stage. As I had just come from another job, I had to learn the key aspects of ballet really quickly.
“I learned that choreography in one lesson with the men from the Royal Ballet, who were absolutely incredible and made me feel so comfortable and welcome. I went home that day so fulfilled.”
Who is Kelly Neelan in Coronation Street?
Soap fans will know Millie best as Kelly Neelan in Coronation Street, a role she played from 2019 to 2022. She was just 14 when she first landed the part which propelled her to stardom.
The role started as just five episodes, but Millie wowed the show’s bosses with her gritty portrayal of troubled Kelly and ended up becoming a regular. Kelly was the teenage daughter of notorious gangster Rick Neelan, but her life changed when Imran Habeeb and Toyah Battersby fostered her.
Millie soon became a fan favourite and won a British Soap Award for Best Young Performer for her role in 2022.
While on the soap, Kelly became homeless and later got engaged to Aadi Alahan. She also plotted to kill Gary Windass after she discovered he had killed her dad in self-defence.
Kelly was also part of the gang that attacked Nina Lucas and Seb Franklin on a night out. Seb was tragically killed, and doctors fought to save Nina’s life in hospital. The real killer, Corey Brent, framed Kelly for the crime, and she went to prison for murder.
Thankfully for Kelly, new evidence proving Corey’s guilt came to light and she was released from prison. Kelly subsequently left Weatherfield to start a new life away from the ghosts of her past.
Who did Millie Gibson play in Doctor Who?
In 2023, Millie landed the part of the Doctor’s companion, Ruby Sunday, in Doctor Who.
Millie played the coveted role until 2025 and said the best thing to come out of the show was her friendship with co-star Ncuti Gatwa, who played the Fifteenth Doctor.
She told The iPaper: “Ncuti is probably the most charismatic person you’ll ever meet and he made me up my game. He made me a better actor. Watching him become the Doctor… I felt like I had the front row seat of witnessing greatness.”
In the most recent episodes to air, Ruby chose to leave the TARDIS so she could spend more time with her family after she reunited with her birth mother.
But that’s not the last we will see of the character. Show runners have already confirmed that Ruby’s not gone for good and she will play an important part in the upcoming season 15.
What else has The Forsyte star Millie Gibson been in?
Millie landed her first-ever TV role when she was only 13. She starred as Indira Cave in the popular CBBC football series, Jamie Johnson.
Before landing her role in Coronation Street, Millie also appeared in BBC drama Love, Lies and Records.
In 2018, she starred in the ITV drama, Butterfly, where Anna Friel and Emmett J Scanlan played her parents.
Where is Millie from? How old is she?
Millie’s full name is Amelia Eve Gibson and she was born on June 19, 2004, in Manchester. She’s now 21.
She took drama classes at a theatre workshop while at school, where a talent agency spotted her.
The actress says that people recognise her more for Coronation Street than Doctor Who, especially when she’s in her hometown of Manchester, where she still lives.
How did Millie Gibson get her eyebrow gap?
Fans have often wondered how Millie got the gap in her eyebrow, and she admits that people often assume she did it herself.
But this isn’t a fashion statement from the star – it was in fact the result of a childhood accident.
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine, Millie said: “I was very young and in all my baby pictures I look like a right thug. I fell down the stairs as a baby and it’s never grown back… Everyone thinks I’ve done it myself!”
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