Mandip Gill

REAL WORLD: portrays Padma Kholi.

Gill was born 5 January 1988 in Leeds[1] to a westernised Indian Sikh family who ran a newsagents shop. Once old enough, she helped there at weekends. Her family speak Punjabi and she has a working understanding of the language. Gill performed for her family from a young age and received 50p for each session. She is the youngest of six sisters and has a younger brother too. She grew up surrounded by driven female role models and was given a strong work ethic.

Her training was at Park Lane College, central Leeds where she studied Performing Arts. She then went on to graduate from the University of Central Lancashire, Preston in 2009 with a BA (Hons) in Acting, immediately securing auditions via a Manchester-based agent. She worked in theatre for two years before obtaining a screen role, and afterwards moved to London for the greater opportunities. By her own admission, she cannot sing and struggles with accents. Series regular Sagar Radia tweeted that Gill and fellow guest star Mish Boyko "nailed it" in Episode 2[2].

Her most widely known role was as a series regular in the soap opera Hollyoaks as Phoebe Jackson McQueen (2012-15, 242 episodes) and now as Doctor Who companion PC Yasmin Khan from series 11 (2018) onwards[3], including narration of the audiobook for #65 Combat Magicks. She has become close friends with lead Jodie Whittaker.

Gill appeared in one episode of comedy Cuckoo (3.07 "The Holiday"), followed by daytime drama Doctors for a five episode story arc as a pregnant homeless woman Shazia Amin in 2016 (18.25-29). Continuing the medical theme was a small part in Casualty as Nasreen Mahsud (31.37, 2017).Then came the supporting role of Talia for all six episodes of miniseries Loves, Lies and Records after her recurring part as young widowed mother Padma Kholi. She also has film credits to her name. The acclaimed short Rwd/Fwd (2016) and contemporary feature films The Flood (2019) and Five Dates (2020) now on streaming services. Mandip was the second guest for the new podcast series Rule Not the Exception on the episode "Killing It With Kindness", in which she talks about her upbringing and auditioning for a "mystery" BBC part (58min, 9 Feb 2020). It is hosted by main cast members Amrita Acharia and Sagar Radia. The podcast is available on several further platforms.

Next up is a short film On Air doing the festival circuit and a new TV series Suspicion for AppleTV.

Appearances: Episode 1.02 and Episode 1.06.

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Agents: Independent Talent and Sue Terry Voices.