The Stolen Girl: Denise Gough’s journey from theatre acclaim to a haunting lead role
The Stolen Girl arrived on a major streaming platform last year and has since been picked up by a UK broadcaster, winning new viewers with its tense five-part story. Denise Gough leads the series as Elisa Blix, and her layered performance is central to why the drama has continued to attract attention.
The Stolen Girl: premise, format and where it’s showing
The Stolen Girl is a five-episode thriller written by Catherine Moulton and based on the novel Playdate by Alex Dahl. The plot follows Elisa Blix, a mother whose daughter is excited about her first sleepover at a new friend Josie’s house despite Elisa’s initial reservations. After meeting Josie’s mother Rebecca, Elisa feels reassured and allows the sleepover. The next day, when Elisa arrives to collect her daughter, Josie’s family—and Elisa’s little girl—have vanished. The drama first gripped viewers on a major streaming platform last year and is now airing on a UK broadcaster, with episodes scheduled on Wednesdays at 9pm on that broadcaster and the full series available to stream on the broadcaster’s streaming service.
Cast highlights and supporting players in The Stolen Girl
Denise Gough stars in the lead role as Elisa Blix. Other named cast members include Holliday Grainger as Rebecca Walsh, Bronagh Waugh as DI Shona Sinclair and Michael Workéyè as Kabel Negate. The ensemble also features Ambika Mod and Jim Sturgess; Ambika Mod is noted for the role of Em on television opposite Leo Woodall, and Jim Sturgess played Dex opposite Anne Hathaway in the 2011 movie adaptation of One Day. The combination of established and familiar faces is a deliberate part of the series’ appeal.
Denise Gough’s screen credits and recognition
On screen, Denise Gough has a broad list of credits that helped bring her to this leading role. She earned widespread praise for playing the villain Dedra Meero in the Star Wars series Andor, a performance that contributed to a Peabody Award in 2023. She played the title role in a 2017 drama called Paula, and she appeared as Dr Alison Walden in two episodes of The Fall. Gough was nominated for a BAFTA for her work in the 2021 three-parter Too Close. Her television résumé also includes appearances on Casualty, The Bill, Silent Witness, Holby City, Stella and the drama Apple Tree Yard.
On film, she has been seen alongside Claire Foy in H Is For Hawk and has additional credits that include Colette, The Other Lamb, Monday and Martyrs Lane. She also has a yet-to-be-confirmed role in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.
Stage career and recent theatre milestones
Gough’s theatre work has been central to her reputation. She won major awards on the London stage and received critical acclaim for her role in People, Places and Things, which played at the National Theatre and helped elevate her profile in 2016. She has won an Olivier Award and a Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for that role, and for Angels in America—staged in both the UK and the US—she earned a Tony nomination and an additional Olivier Award. In 2024 she reprised the role of Emma in People, Places and Things, and she is currently on London’s West End starring alongside Billy Cruddup in the play High Noon. She trained at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in Wandsworth, graduating in 2003.
The personal background behind Denise Gough’s performance
Denise Gough’s early life and family context appear repeatedly in profiles of the actress. One account describes her as raised in a bustling household in County Clare as one of ten children living with their mother. Another account identifies her as the seventh of eleven siblings, born on February 28, 1980 in Wexford and raised in Ennis, County Clare, and notes that her mother was pregnant for nine-and-a-half years. Her father is described as having worked as a fisheries head and an electrician, while her mother worked as a marriage counsellor. Neither parent had a background in the entertainment industry.
The household is remembered as immaculate and organised, with children given jobs, and her mother made curtains, stitched clothing and created outfits for pre-loved toys. Her mother trained as a marriage counsellor and recognised limits to emotional provision in the family, with episodes of being brushed aside for seeking attention. Gough left school at 15 and pursued drama for what she has described as the pure love of it.
Personal challenges from her teenage years are part of her public story: she has spoken about an early obsession with smoking and boys and about an experience at 14 with a 21-year-old who would collect her from school. She later understood that the relationship was grooming and has described coming to that recognition only after getting a lot of help. Contemporary coverage notes she is now aged 45.
Why The Stolen Girl matters for Gough’s career
The Stolen Girl places Denise Gough at the centre of a compact, five-episode mystery that has found audiences across platforms and broadcasters. The role of Elisa Blix draws on Gough’s capacity for intense, grounded performance built over stage triumphs and a growing list of screen credits. For viewers following her trajectory—from award-winning theatre work to prominent television parts—this series consolidates her status as a lead actor who brings both theatrical weight and screen versatility to complex, emotionally driven material.
