There's no denying that Monica Dolan is a versatile actress. She recently starred as victim Jo Hamilton in the true-to-life drama series Mr Bates vs. The Post Office and as chilling crime family matriarch Ann Branson in Sherwood series 2.
Here's everything you need to know about the actress, including the other shows she has worked on.
How old is Monica Dolan?
Born in Middlesbrough on the 15th of March 1969, Monica Dolan is currently 55 years old.
Is Monica Dolan married?
From what we can gather, actress Monica Dolan does not have a partner and is not married, although she keeps her private life out of the spotlight. In an interview with The Guardian, she said that her biggest disappointment was "Not marrying the person I wanted to marry, but now I think it's probably good that I didn't."
Monica Dolan family
Monica Dolan was born to Irish parents and has two sisters and one brother. Sadly, in 2008, one of her sisters died of cancer and her brother passed in 2020.
Speaking about losing her brother, who was just 56, she told The Guardian: “It was COVID and pneumonia.”
“I really, really feel for my mum, because she’s outlived two of her children. She’s 86, and she’s absolutely incredible. She’s just so strong. I can’t imagine many people coping with it."
Monica Dolan movies and TV shows
Appropriate Adult (2011)
Monica Dolan played serial killer Rose West in Appropriate Adult on ITV, alongside Dominic West as Fred West, Rose's husband and fellow serial killer. Emily Watson led the show as Janet Leach, the appropriate adult present during Fred West's interviews with the police.
The show received multiple awards, and it was Monica Dolan's role of Rosemary West that won her the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress in 2012.
Call The Midwife (2012)
Fans of Call The Midwife may recognise Monica Dolan as twins Meg and Mave Carter from series 2. They were born when Sister Monica Joan was still well enough to practice midwifery but sadly their mother passed away after their death.
The twins are extremely close and even married the same man, and when Mave becomes pregnant, her sister is adamant that she isn't going to die in childbirth as their mother did, but relies on medieval methods of medicine.
Pride (2014)
In 2014, Monica Dolan played Joe's mother in Pride, a film about a group of gay activists who set out to help miners during the National Union of Mineworkers strike. The film was led by George Mackay as Joe and also starred the likes of Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Andrew Scott, Dominic West and Jessica Gunning.
W1A (2014-2020)
Although she has not had many reoccurring roles, Monica Dolan did star in W1A (the satirical mockumentary about the management of the BBC) as Tracey Pritchard for 15 episodes.
The comedy was a follow-up from the Olympic mockumentary Twenty-Twelve and boasts a cast of British talent including Hugh Bonneville, Nina Sosanya, Jessica Hynes, Sarah Parish, Jason Watkins, Hugh Skinner and David Tennant as the narrator.
Black Mirror (2019, 2023)
Monica Dolan has starred in two episodes of Black Mirror, one as CS Linda Grace in Smithereens (back in series 5), where Andrew Scott played a rideshare driver who takes an intern from a large social media company hostage, and the second time as Janet McCardle in Loch Henry, where Davis (Samuel Blenkin) and Pia (Myha'la Herrold) are making a true crime documentary in Scotland.
The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe (2019)
Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan play a real-life couple in the biographical crime drama The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe. The pair are facing bankruptcy, so John tries to fake his own death using his canoe, much to his wife Anne's dismay.
Speaking to press at a Q&A event for the show, Monica said: "I think and I hope that people will sort of yo-yo a bit with her (Anne) because you're seeing how she's feeling but there's the whole question of responsibility, and should she take responsibility. How much responsibility? Do you have choices that you don't see?"
If you missed its original release, you can watch The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe on ITVX.
The Change (2023)
Written and created by comedian Bridget Christie, The Change is about 50-year-old Linda (Christie) who has an existential crisis after starting the menopause and goes to live in a caravan and visit her old haunts in the Forest of Dean.
Monica Dolan plays Carmel, Susan Lynch plays Agnes and Tanya Moodie is Joy. Jim Howick, Omid Djalili, Liza Tarbuck and Paul Whitehouse also star in the series.
The show was renewed for a second series, so if you haven't watched The Change, catch up on Channel 4 now.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024)
In another real-life drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Monica Dolan plays Jo Hamilton, a subpostmistress who was wrongly accused of theft when the new electronic Horizon system showed false shortfalls on the account, which led her to pay it off with her own money, after thinking she'd made a mistake.
Monica told Radio Times that she'd love to see Jo and the other victims compensated.
She explained: "There are many many people who were putting their own money into the Post Office because their contract said they had to do that, and then just thought, 'My business isn't working, I'm gonna sell it at a loss. I'm gonna walk away'.
"So those people sold their businesses, lost their money, their money is still gone – and what's happened to them?"
Sherwood (2024)
BAFTA and RTS award-winning drama Sherwood is back for series 2 and Monica Dolan has joined the cast as Ann Branson, a criminal matriarch seeking revenge after her son was killed.
On first being offered the show, she said: "I read three episodes of the script, and I thought they were extraordinary. It was like reading a George Eliot novel in the way that it slices through society."
"I think that Ann Branson differs not just from other characters that I’ve played, but from many characters I’ve seen." she told the BBC.
"She has absolute self-confidence. I don't know if it's because she's had her husband’s support since she was so young, but she really trusts herself. There aren't many people, even in life, that have that self-belief and the knowledge and intuition of what to do next when they’re faced with something. Somebody said whilst we were filming a scene “who’d be a criminal, it’s so stressful” but Ann Branson is just able to stand up to that kind of stress. She’s always considering her next move, she’s very much a person that thinks ahead."
"Working with Stephen Dillane is the experience of a lifetime. He’s a very intuitive and generous screen partner. As for Lorraine Ashbourne, I fell completely in love with her. I knew that I was going to because I love watching her. She brings so much humour and humanity to everything that she does, and I think audiences can identify with the characters she plays so strongly."
Viewers have praised Monica for this villainous role, with one social media user putting: "Quite hard to digest that this absolutely menacing creature from #Sherwood was also the hapless wife in #TheThiefHisWifeandTheCanoe & a struggling post-mistress in #MrBatesvsthePostOffice."
Here's the official synopsis from the BBC: 'Set in the present day it introduces two new families that find themselves entangled with the Sparrows, entering a complex web of local gangs, old rivalries, revenge, and betrayal. Meanwhile, a newly appointed Sheriff of Nottingham is passionately fighting against a proposed new mine for the area, which brings the promise of much needed jobs and prosperity but also unwelcome reminders of the legacy that has mired the community for so long.'
Catch both series of the unmissable drama Sherwood on BBC iPlayer now.
Monica Dolan accent
From being Welsh in W1A to copying Rose West's Gloucester accent in Appropriate adult, Monica has mastered many voices over the years.
For Sherwood, she had to conquer the East Midlands accent. "I was very lucky because I worked with Jamie Matthewman, as many of us did. It's funny because the accent can be so in the middle. There are some sounds that sound London, there are some that sound Birmingham, there's some that sort of sound Yorkshire, but it's very easy to think to yourself “okay, I’ve got this now”, and then you’ve made the wrong sound."
Was Monica Dolan in Emmerdale?
No, Monica Dolan hasn't been in Emmerdale.
Arabella Horspool is a Commercial Content Writer for Yours at Bauer Media. She's a bookworm who is passionate about TV, film and theatre. She enjoys cooking, scrapbooking, playing board games and spending time with her pet dogs, tortoise and chickens.