Lydia West shot to fame playing Bethany in Russell T. Davies’ BBC series ‘Years and Years’ in 2019, opposite Rory Kinnear and T’Nia Miller who played her parents. Memorably her character decided to become transhuman in the hit dystopian sci-fi drama.
Her stand-out performance in this show led to Russell T. Davies casting her as Jill Baxter in the hugely popular and culturally important Channel 4 show ‘It’s a Sin’, a role which earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress. The show had a huge impact, garnering 12 BAFTA nominations and winning two.
This success led to her being chosen as a BAFTA Breakthrough Artist in 2021, a scheme which champions & mentors some of the leading young British talent of the future. Even before this recognition she had been chosen by Digital Spy in 2020 as one of their 30 Black British Stars of Tomorrow and was also included in Grazia’s Hotlist of Stars to Watch for 2021.
Since ‘It’s a Sin’ she has had leading roles in a number of major TV series, notably the 2024 Channel 4 comedy drama series 'Big Mood'. She starred as Eddie whose friendship with her best friend Maggie (Nicola Couglan) is put under pressure when Maggie's bi-polar disorder resurfaces. She also starred in spy thriller series 'Gray' which was released on Netflix in 2024, quickly jumping to number 2 in the Netflix rankings. She played a smart young CIA agent with a vendetta against a former agent (played by Patricia Clarkson) who she is forced to work with to uncover a mole in the ranks.
Prior to that she played Monique Thompson in ‘Suspicion’ for Apple TV+ (which starred Uma Thurman); Reilly Clayton, the female lead, in the Netflix comedy series ‘The Pentaverate’ alongside Mike Myers and Jeremy Irons; and Beth Davenport, the female lead, in the 4-part BBC drama ‘Inside Man’ from BAFTA and Emmy winning writer Steven Moffatt, which also starred David Tennant. She played Lucy, one of Dracula's victims, in the 2020 BBC/Netflix adaptation of 'Dracula'. She also had a major role in director Jim Strouse’s 2023 feature film ‘Love Again’ which starred Sam Heughan & Russell Tovey.
In 2023 she made her stage debut in the one-woman show ‘A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction’ at the Barbican. The Evening Standard praised her “vulnerability and likeability” whilst Time Out called her performance“terrific”.
Lydia is from London and naturally speaks with a neutral or London accent. Other accents in her repertoire include Irish (her grandparents are Irish), Caribbean (her father is from Montserrat) and RP. She also has an excellent American accent which she used in Love Again as well as a Canadian accent which she learnt for her role in The Pentaverate.
Age Range
Accents
Styles
Comedy, Warm, Smooth, Sassy, Natural Reads, Youthful, Energetic, Recognisable, Credible, Alluring, Husky
Credits
Big Mood (TV, 2024) – 'Eddie', Channel 4
Gray (TV, 2024) – 'Sara Beckham', Netflix
Coffee Wars (Film, 2023) – 'Bridget'
A Matter of Life and Death (Radio, 2023) – 'June', BBC Radio 4
Love Again (Film, 2023) – 'Lisa Scott', Sony Pictures
Suspicion (TV, 2022) – 'Monique Thompson', Apple TV+
Inside Man (TV, 2022) – 'Beth Davenport', BBC One
The Pentaverate (TV, 2022) – 'Reilly Clayton', Apple TV+
It's A Sin (TV, 2021) – 'Jill Baxter', Channel 4
People You May Know (Short film, 2021) – 'Rachel'
Dracula (TV, 2020) – 'Lucy Westenra', BBC One/Netflix
Years and Years (TV, 2019) – 'Bethany Bisme-Lyons', BBC One/HBO
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