# Jessica Raine
**Jessica Raine** (born 1982) is an English actress best known for playing nurse-midwife [Jenny Lee](https://www.edgepedia.org/jenny-lee) in the first three series of the [BBC One](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-one) period drama *Call the Midwife*, and later for roles including Lady Rochford in *[Wolf Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/wolf-hall-tv-series)*, Lucy Chambers in *The Devil's Hour*, and Zoe in *Two Weeks in August*.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1982 in Eardisley, Herefordshire, England; raised on a farm near the village[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) |
| Training | Drama at the University of the West of England, Bristol; Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduated 2008[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) |
| Breakthrough role | Jenny Lee in *Call the Midwife*, series 1–3 (2012–2014)[2](https://callthemidwife.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_Raine) |
| Stage award | Manchester Evening News Award for Best Supporting Actress, for the revival of *Punk Rock*[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) |
| Recent lead role | Lucy Chambers in *The Devil's Hour* (2022– ), opposite Peter Capaldi[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) |
| Spouse | Actor Tom Goodman-Hill[3](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/jessica-raine/) |
## Early life and training
Raine was born in 1982 and brought up on a farm near the village of Eardisley in [Herefordshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/herefordshire), on the Welsh borders. Published sources disagree on the exact day: TV Insider gives May 14, 1982, while TVmaze and AlloCiné give May 20, 1982[3](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/jessica-raine/) • [1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) • [4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-430685/biographie/). She has described the childhood of a farmer's daughter as magical though at times bleak, with long walks alone and streams to play by.
She wanted to act from an early age; her father performed in amateur dramatics with the Eardisley Little Theatre, and at 13 she was cast as Tallulah in a school production of *Bugsy Malone*, a surprise to everyone including herself, since she was a shy child[2](https://callthemidwife.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_Raine) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2014/dec/28/jessica-raine-wolf-hall-call-the-midwife-interview). She studied theater at A-Level and photography at Hereford College of Arts, then read drama and cultural studies at the University of the West of England, Bristol[2](https://callthemidwife.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_Raine). After graduating she was turned down by every drama school she applied to, spent a year in Thailand teaching English as a second language, and was accepted by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art on a second attempt, graduating in 2008[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) • [2](https://callthemidwife.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_Raine).
## Stage career
Raine built her reputation in theater before television. Early roles included [Lesley Sharp](https://www.edgepedia.org/lesley-sharp)'s goth daughter in Simon Stephens's *Harper Regan* and [Tamsin Greig](https://www.edgepedia.org/tamsin-greig)'s 16-year-old daughter in David Hare's *Gethsemane*, both in 2008[2](https://callthemidwife.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_Raine) • [6](https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/jessica-raine-hollywood-has-uninteresting-roles-for-women_40134/). At the National Theatre she played the teenage wild-child Jasmine in Mike Bartlett's *Earthquakes in London* and Cleo Singer in Clifford Odets's *Rocket to the Moon* (2011), which she calls her breakout: from that role onward she stopped being offered teenagers[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2014/dec/28/jessica-raine-wolf-hall-call-the-midwife-interview). She also appeared in *Ghosts* and *Punk Rock*, winning the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter, and played the leading role in the Young Vic revival of the Jacobean tragedy *The Changeling*[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine). In 2016 she returned to the stage in Alistair McDowall's play *X*, set on a space station, in which she played Gilda, the unpopular second in command[6](https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/jessica-raine-hollywood-has-uninteresting-roles-for-women_40134/).
## Call the Midwife and television breakthrough
At the beginning of 2012 Raine took the lead role of Jenny Lee, a young nurse-midwife working in London's deprived East End in the late 1950s, in the BBC One series *Call the Midwife*[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine). She was trained in the medical techniques of the 1950s, including how to deliver a baby, for the part[2](https://callthemidwife.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_Raine). The series quickly became a major success, with around ten million weekly viewers following her character by 2013[7](https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/agent-broody-call-the-midwife-actress-jessica-raine-is-ready-to-deliver-8824640.html). On 9 March 2014 it was announced that she was leaving at the end of series 3 to pursue a career in film in the United States[2](https://callthemidwife.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_Raine).
## Screen roles after Call the Midwife
Raine's first screen appearances were a 2009 episode of *Garrow's Law* and a small role as Princess Isabel of Gloucester in [Ridley Scott](https://www.edgepedia.org/ridley-scott)'s *[Robin Hood](https://www.edgepedia.org/robin-hood-2010-film)* (2010)[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) • [4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-430685/biographie/). During her *Call the Midwife* years she appeared in the horror film *The Woman in Black* (2012) opposite [Daniel Radcliffe](https://www.edgepedia.org/daniel-radcliffe), played Emma Grayling in an episode of *Doctor Who* (2012), and portrayed producer Verity Lambert in the docudrama *An Adventure in Space and Time* (2013)[4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-430685/biographie/).
The period-drama roles kept coming. In 2015 she played Jules Sutter in the [Sky Atlantic](https://www.edgepedia.org/sky-atlantic) thriller *Fortitude*, Tuppence Beresford opposite [David Walliams](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-walliams) in the [Agatha Christie](https://www.edgepedia.org/agatha-christie) adaptation *Partners in Crime*, and Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn, in the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel's *Wolf Hall*[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) • [4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-430685/biographie/). In ITV's *Jericho* (2016), set in an 1870s Yorkshire railway-construction shanty town, she played Annie Quaintain, an impoverished widow taking in lodgers[8](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jan/06/jessica-raine-jericho-interview). Later credits include Emily Waters in *Informer* (2018), Julia in *Patrick Melrose* (2018), Genevieve Taylor in *Baptiste* (2019), Alison Laithwaite in *The Last Post* (2017), and Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII, in *Becoming Elizabeth* (2022)[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine).
**The Devil's Hour and current work.** Since 2022 Raine has starred as Lucy Chambers in the Amazon Prime Video thriller *The Devil's Hour*, opposite [Peter Capaldi](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-capaldi) as Gideon; the second series aired in October 2024, with the two actors describing a reluctant partnership between their characters[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) • [3](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/jessica-raine/). In 2026 she leads the eight-part BBC One relationship drama *Two Weeks in August* as Zoe, whose holiday reunion of friends on a remote Greek island turns dark when she discovers her husband is hiding a secret[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine) • [9](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3565962/news/).
## Personal life
Raine lives with, and is listed as married to, the actor [Tom Goodman-Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-goodman-hill)[3](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/jessica-raine/). The couple met when they starred together in Rupert Goold's production of *Earthquakes in London* at the National Theatre[7](https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/agent-broody-call-the-midwife-actress-jessica-raine-is-ready-to-deliver-8824640.html).
## References
1. [Jessica Raine, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/42858/jessica-raine)
2. [Jessica Raine, Call the Midwife Wiki](https://callthemidwife.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_Raine)
3. [Jessica Raine – Actress, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/jessica-raine/)
4. [Jessica Raine : Sa biographie, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-430685/biographie/)
5. [Jessica Raine: 'If I'd been born in Tudor times I'd have married a blacksmith', The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2014/dec/28/jessica-raine-wolf-hall-call-the-midwife-interview)
6. [Jessica Raine: 'Hollywood has uninteresting roles for women', What'sOnStage](https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/jessica-raine-hollywood-has-uninteresting-roles-for-women_40134/)
7. [Agent Broody: Call the Midwife actress Jessica Raine is ready to deliver, London Evening Standard](https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/agent-broody-call-the-midwife-actress-jessica-raine-is-ready-to-deliver-8824640.html)
8. [From Call the Midwife to Jericho: the unstoppable Jessica Raine, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jan/06/jessica-raine-jericho-interview)
9. [Jessica Raine – News, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3565962/news/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 2000s onward › Surnames Q to Se*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license