Bel Powley, who played Bianca Dyke in ITV's Benidorm, is the daughter of actor Mark Powley, best known for playing P.C. Melvin in The Bill from 1987 to 1990. He also appeared in Coronation Street in 2001 as Rob Lucas and Emmerdale in 1999 as Liam Hammond.
Bel Powley's Benidorm role
Bel joined the cast of the ITV sitcom in 2014 as part of the Dyke family, alongside dad Clive (Perry Benson), mum Tonya (Hannah Waddingham) and brother Tiger (Danny Walters). During their stint, the family became firm favourites and had a rivalry with the Garveys at the Solana resort.
As Bianca, she turned her attention to fellow holiday-goer Martin Weedon (Nicholas Burns), thinking he was a wealthy businessman, only to end things after realising he wasn't.
Career before and after Benidorm
Benidorm was not Bel's first time on screen. She rose to fame playing Daisy Millar in CBBC's M.I. High from 2007 to 2008. Her other credits include Everything I Know about Love and the 2015 film The Diary of a Teenage Girl. She also played Claire Conway in The Morning Show from 2019 to 2025 and is currently portraying Petunia Dursley in the upcoming Harry Potter television series.
Speaking about her childhood, Bel told Hollywood Authentic: "I never even really wanted to be an actor. I was really academic. But my dad's an actor [Mark Powley], and my mum's a casting director [Janis Jaffa]. So it was always kind of in the family."
She added: "I went to a Saturday drama group called Youngblood Theatre Company, which was all improvisation-based, where I met a lot of my mates. A casting director came in once to cast a CBBC show called M.I. High about child spies, and I got the job."
Marriage to Douglas Booth
Bel is married to fellow actor Douglas Booth, known for Great Expectations, Romeo and Juliet and ITV's The Blame. They met at a chemistry read audition over 10 years ago. In 2016, they worked together on the film Mary Shelley and a romance blossomed.
Douglas proposed in July 2021 on Primrose Hill in London. In October 2023, they married at Petersham Nurseries in Richmond. Bel told Hollywood Authentic: "I woke up in the morning, and I was like, 'I just want to do it all over again, right now'" and added: "I think in 10 years' time, we'll get married again." Benidorm is available to watch on ITVX.
