Katherine Kelly is back on screens in Paramount+'s The Crow Girl Season 2, playing the deeply layered role of Sophia Craven. The latest outing explores the traumatic experiences of Sophia's childhood and reveals their profound effect on her adult life.
Kelly, 46, admitted she had no idea of the huge twist her character was subject to, after it came to light Sophia was in fact the unstable murder suspect Victoria Burkeman, living with multiple personalities.
The South Yorkshire star has had plenty of notable roles across her career, having studied at the renowned RADA alongside a number of other big names. Here is all you need to know about the star, who is dating Line of Duty actor Tony Pitts, and her most iconic roles.
Becky McDonald in Coronation Street
She achieved widespread recognition through her role as Becky McDonald in Coronation Street in 2006, and played the role for six years until 2012. Over 12 million viewers witnessed Becky's explosive departure, which saw her crash her former husband Steve's (Simon Gregson) wedding reception. In the striking finale, she revealed his new bride Tracy (Kate Ford) had been deceiving him about Becky being responsible for her miscarriage, before jetting off to Barbados.
After she left, she said she had "no regrets" about her decision, telling PA: "I don't regret leaving at all. I haven't had a chance, I haven't had a moment to even think about it. The door is completely left wide open and I'd be happy to step through it at any point. I had a glorious time there and I'd love to go back but I was ready for a change."
DI Jodie Shackleton in Happy Valley
In 2016 Kelly starred in Happy Valley as DI Jodie Shackleton, a part that was written for her by series creator Sally Wainwright. Speaking to TV Times about the role, she explained how it made her feel at home, sharing: "Sally wrote the role for me and I played upper-class characters for the majority of last year so it’s nice to play somebody middle class and to do something in my own accent again, I never get to do that."
She added: "Jodie is very studious; she originally trained as a lawyer so she knows the legal system and is good at making sure they get convictions and she is a calm interviewer, she doesn’t throw her weight around. She is quite geeky, too, even though she’ll have a cigarette out on the fire escape."
Jo Conran in In Flight
The Channel 4 crime thriller In Flight saw Kelly leading the cast as flight attendant Jo Conran, who finds her life turned upside down when she is blackmailed into drug smuggling after her son is arrested. She spoke to Radio Times about the complexity of the role, sharing: "Jo wakes up every morning and she doesn’t know if her son’s dead or alive. She then has to put her front-of-house face on and smile her way through the day. To be that polished and then to feel that edgy and raw was so appealing to me."
She continued: "As it goes on, she becomes more adept at what she’s doing, but there’s never a point where you feel like she’s on top, like she’s in control of what’s happening. She’s constantly failing upwards. She messes it up, then she fixes it. She messes it up and then she fixes it."
Katrina in How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge)
Katherine Kelly starred as Alan Partridge’s (Steve Coogan) detached new girlfriend, Katrina, in the 2025 BBC mockumentary series How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge). Co-writer Neil Gibbons described the character as "an awful, awful woman", adding: "As the series goes on, you do see Alan struggling with what – on paper – is clearly a good deal for him souring quite badly."
Coogan said the show was keen to introduce a female character who would be able to easily deflect Alan's misogynistic tendencies, adding: "We wanted someone who 'wore the trousers' and who he was obviously attracted to, but she was mercurial to him [and] he couldn't quite understand who she was."
Sophia Craven in The Crow Girl
Paramount+ has just released Season 2 of The Crow Girl with Kelly reprising her role as Sophia Craven - a psychotherapist who is really a murder suspect with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Speaking on ITV's This Morning ahead of Season 2, the actress explained how, after the shocking reveal at the end of Season 1, the audience now has the upper hand when it comes to her character.
She said: "It's all genuine, she doesn't know she is Victoria, but now the audience know she is Victoria. So that's the difference now, the audience are ahead of Sophia. So now you are waiting for the moment that Sophia finds out that she is Victoria and then the moment Jeanette then finds out."
The Crow Girl Season 2 airs on Paramount+.
