1989–2004: Television debut, soap roles, and Strictly Come Dancing

Halfpenny began her professional career in 1989 when she joined the cast of the Newcastle-based children's drama series Byker Grove,^[1] playing the part of Nicola Dobson until 1992. Following guest star appearances on shows such as The Bill, Birds of a Feather, and Peak Practice, she landed the part of staff nurse Rebecca Hopkins on ITV's Coronation Street; a role she played between 1999 and 2000. The character was involved in a high-profile affair storyline with Martin Platt, eventually leading to the breakdown of Platt's marriage.^[2]

In December 2002, Halfpenny took on the role of Kate Mitchell on BBC One's EastEnders. The character—an undercover policewoman—was introduced as a honeytrap for Phil Mitchell, with the intent of coaxing him into a murder confession; her cover was eventually blown and, having fallen in love with him, she became Mitchell's wife. It was revealed in October 2004 that the character had been axed, with her final scenes airing in January the following year.^[3]

Between October and December 2004, Halfpenny competed in the second series of the celebrity ballroom dancing contest Strictly Come Dancing, where she was paired with professional dancer Darren Bennett. The couple were crowned the winners of the competition during its live final on 11 December 2004, after receiving the maximum 40 marks from the judging panel.^[4] That same week, it was announced that Halfpenny would star as Roxie Hart in the West End musical Chicago, beginning in January 2005.^[5]

2005–2017: Stage roles, Waterloo Road, and presenting work

Halfpenny earned critical praise for her performance in the The Bodies, a play adapted from an Émile Zola novel by Peter Flannery, which ran from June to July 2005 at Newcastle's Live Theatre.^[6] Describing her work as the "dangerously crazed" Thérèse, The Guardian commented, "Halfpenny, forced to remain impassive at the outset, is tough and moving in her portrayal of [the character's] descent into madness".^[7] Next, she made a cameo appearance as a Geordie nanny on The Catherine Tate Show;^[8] guest-starred on Channel 4's Shameless as a violent ex-jailbird;^[9] hosted the debut episode of the BBC musical theatre tribute The Sound of Musicals,^[10] where she performed songs from My Fair Lady and Moulin Rouge!; and began playing the regular part of schoolteacher Izzie Redpath on the BBC's Waterloo Road, for which she won the 2007 TV Quick Award for "Best Actress".^[11] The character was later killed in an accidental stabbing during the finale of the show's second series, which aired on 26 April 2007.^[12] That same year, she narrated the BBC Three documentary series Freaky Eaters and the Channel 4 one-off special Fat Man's Warning.^[13]

Halfpenny appeared as Norma Farnes—Spike Milligan's long-suffering manager—in Richard Harris's Surviving Spike, which opened at the Theatre Royal, Windsor in February 2008. In his review for The Independent, critic Julian Hall felt that Halfpenny's performance "lends added zip to what is already a tightly written play ... [she] successfully evokes the tenacity that Farnes must have had to [endure Milligan]".^[14] Her next roles on stage were Cora in Calendar Girls (July to October 2009)^[15] and Paulette Bonafonté in the West End production of Legally Blonde, which opened in January 2010.^[16] She earned particularly strong notices for her performance in the latter,^[17][18] winning the Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role.^[19][20]

In March 2012, Halfpenny headlined a revival of Mike Leigh's 1977 play Abigail's Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory, which later transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre for four months.^[21] Her portrayal of the snobbish Beverly was warmly received, with The Guardian's Kate Kellaway calling her "fantastic", adding: [she] perfectly catches Bev's dark side – her selfishness, sexual frustration and dangerous stupidity".^[22] She then portrayed the matriarch of a 1940s household in the supernatural horror miniseries Lightfields, which aired between February and March 2013.^[23]

Halfpenny featured in two major television projects in 2014: first, the Kay Mellor-produced BBC One drama series In the Club, where she played an expectant first-time mother, and then Channel 4's seven-part satirical comedy series Babylon, in which she co-starred as PC Davina Bancroft. In September that same year, she narrated a segment on the history of North East England as part of the televised opening ceremony for the Great North Run.^[24] She then appeared as a timid middle-class holidaymaker in Alan Ayckbourn's Way Upstream at Chichester Festival Theatre (April to May 2015),^[25] and played one of the principal characters—Jill Drummond, a disabled woman who falls for her humanoid caregiver—on the first season of the science fiction drama series Humans, which aired between June and August 2015. Described as a "stylishly slow-burning Sunday night treat" by The Telegraph,^[26] Humans was Channel 4's highest-rated drama in two decades, attracting an average of 6m viewers.^[27]

Halfpenny made her radio broadcast debut in May 2017, covering slots on BBC Radio 2 for regular presenters such as Liza Tarbuck and Sara Cox,^[28][29] and later hosting the station's Good Morning Sunday show throughout August 2018.^[30] Her acting projects during this period included the controversial BBC miniseries Three Girls,^[31] an examination of the events surrounding the Rochdale child sex abuse ring. Airing over three consecutive nights in May 2017, the drama received a positive reception, with Halfpenny's portrayal of Julie Winshaw—a fictionalised version of one of the parents whose teenage child was exploited—garnering praise.^[32]

2018–present: Theatre and television

In the stage adaptation of the psychological thriller novel The Girl on the Train, Halfpenny headlined as Rachel, a dispirited alcoholic who witnesses a murder but struggles to convince people of what she saw. Premiering at the Leeds Playhouse in May 2018, the production was met with mixed reviews,^[33] though critics agreed that Halfpenny was its biggest asset, with The Yorkshire Post commenting that she "steals the show ... Her role requires a nuanced performance that keeps the audience guessing [and] it's one she delivers with great aplomb".^[34] The following year, she starred as a conflicted parent who accepts hush money after her 13-year-old son is molested by a Hollywood film producer, in the four-part BBC miniseries Dark Money.^[35]

In Channel 5's The Drowning, a mystery thriller that aired over four consecutive nights in February 2021, Halfpenny starred as Jodie Walsh, a grief-stricken mother who comes to believe that her late son may still be alive. In her appraisal of the show for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan said of Halfpenny, "Her presence is always a sign that a programme will be an elevated production. Here, her inability to strike a false or melodramatic note is perfect for the [character]".^[36] Next, she played the supporting role of Doreen Hill in The Long Shadow, a seven-part miniseries—based on the crimes of serial killer Peter Sutcliffe—that aired on ITV1 between September and November 2023. Radio Times critic James Hibbs was effusive in his praise of the show's "strong" cast, calling them "real, fully rounded individuals" and adding, "Everyone brings their A-game in wholly different ways, [including] Halfpenny as the grieving mother of one of Sutcliffe's victims".^[37] Speaking of the research she undertook in preparation for playing Hill, Halfpenny said it was the lack of aftercare for the victims that shocked her most: "They were just left to deal with such tragic circumstances [and] in such a public arena, with seemingly no support ... It just really shocked me that they were just left alone, and how little power they had ... We talk so much now about support and therapy and what could we give them and how can we help them. [Back then] it was like, 'Oh, well, that's happened'. I thought it was heartbreaking".^[38]

Halfpenny's role in the 2024 adaptation of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, which debuted at the Royal Exchange, Manchester on 15 March, was met with praise; writing for The Daily Telegraph, critic Mark Brown believed her portrayal of working-class single mother Helen to be "suitably monstrous, but with an intelligent, underlying and brittle fragility".^[39] Her next project was Channel 5's The Cuckoo, in which she played the mysterious Sian, a lodger hiding a dark secret from the family she's living with. Emily Watkins of the i newspaper described the miniseries as "well-paced [and] acted", noting that Halfpenny's "flinty gaze" lent her character "a chilling intensity".^[40]

Film

Television

Voice work