Nichola Burley

Nichola Burley is an English actress. She has appeared in Born Equal, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Goldplated, Death Comes to Pemberley, Donkey Punch and StreetDance 3D.

Nichola Burley
Burley at the premiere of StreetDance 3D in 2010
Born	Nichola Burley Leeds, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2005–present

Early life and education

Nichola Burley was born in Leeds, England.^[1] She attended Intake High School, Bramley, where she studied performing arts.^[1]

Career

Burley's acting career began in 2005 when she appeared as Michelle in the Dominic Savage film Love + Hate.^[2] She has had guest roles in The Ghost Squad, in November 2005, and Shameless in February 2006. In September 2006, Channel 4 show Goldplated debuted with Burley appearing in the ensemble cast.^[3] Due to low ratings, a second season was never commissioned.^[4]

In November 2006, she played Zoe, in Savage's improvised, one-off BBC drama Born Equal. The BBC described the show as one which "addresses social inequality in Britain today". Directed and written by Savage again, the film also starred Robert Carlyle, Anne-Marie Duff and Colin Firth. As part of her research for the show she travelled to meet young runaways in London.^{[citation needed]}

She has also starred as Cathy McAleer in BBC Three show Drop Dead Gorgeous throughout its first series in 2006 and its second in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, she appeared in the dance film StreetDance 3D in the lead role alongside George Sampson, Diversity and Flawless.^{[citation needed]} She portrays Isabella Linton in a 2011 film adaptation of Wuthering Heights.^{[citation needed]} She appeared as Witney Whitehead in the BBC drama Candy Cabs which began on 5 April 2011.^{[citation needed]} She also starred in one episode of crime drama Lewis on ITV1.^{[when?][citation needed]}

Her stage credits include the title role in Bollywood Jane at the West Yorkshire Playhouse throughout June 2007,^[5] and Constanza in a Sheffield revival of Peter Schaffer's Amadeus.^{[when?][citation needed]}

She plays Sophie Brodenham in the 2025 BBC One crime series Virdee.^[6]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Love + Hate	Michelle
2008	Donkey Punch	Tammi
2009	Kicks	Jasmine
2010	StreetDance 3D	Carly
	SoulBoy	Jane Rogers
	Edge	Sophie
2011	Wuthering Heights	Isabella Linton
	R	Val	Short films
	Guarding Angel	Angel
	Supermarket Girl	Michelle
2012	Payback Season	Lisa Lovell
	Jump	Greta Feeney
	Twenty8k	Andrea Patterson
2013	For Those in Peril	Jane
2014	Catch Me Daddy	Vicky
2016	The Rack Pack	Lynn Higgins
2018	Bite	Valerie	Short film
2019	Lynn + Lucy	Lucy
2024	Edge of Summer	Debbie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	The Ghost Squad	Natalie	Episode 3: "Heroes"
2006	Shameless	Chloe	Series 3; episode 6: "In with the Maguires"
	Goldplated	Donna	Episodes 1–8
	Born Equal	Zoe	Television film
2006–2007	Drop Dead Gorgeous	Cathy McAleer	Series 1 & 2; episodes 1–4
2008	Spooks: Code 9	Lizzie	Episode 3
2009	Inspector George Gently	Fawn Granger	Series 2; episode 2: "Gently in the Night"
	The Fixer	Savanna Ford	Series 2; episodes 1 & 2
2011	Lewis	Karen Wilde	Series 5; episode 3: "The Mind Has Mountains"
	Candy Cabs	Whitney Whiteburn	Episodes 1–3
	Scott & Bailey	Hannah Conway	Series 1; episode 3: "Personal"
2013	The Syndicate	Bethany	Series 2; episodes 3–5
	Southcliffe	Sarah Gould	Mini-series; episodes 2 & 3: "Light Falls" & "Sorrow's Child"
	Death Comes to Pemberley	Louisa Bidwell	Mini-series; episodes 1–3
2015	No Offence	Elizabeth	Series 1; episode 5
	Downton Abbey	Rita Bevan	Series 6; episode 1
2019	Wild Bill	Charlene	Mini-series; episode 5: "You're Stupid Enough to Say That to a Copper?"
2021	Behind Her Eyes	Sophie	Mini-series; episodes 1, 3 & 5
2023	The Gold	Brenda Noye	Series 1; episodes 1–4 & 6
2024	Protection	Gemma Brandice	Mini-series; episodes 1–3, 5 & 6
2025	Virdee	Sophie Brodenham	Episodes 3–6