JODIE WHITTAKER has become one of Britain’s most celebrated actresses thanks to a string of roles as gritty women.

She has played countless characters highlighting injustice and dedicated her career to shining a light on their bravery.

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Jodie Whittaker has revealed she was sexually assaulted aged 22Credit: Getty

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The actress is now playing one of the toughest roles of her career in new drama Toxic TownCredit: Ben Blackall/Netflix

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Despite her fame Jodie has fought to retain her privacy, above with husband Christian ContrerasCredit: Getty – Contributor
In her new drama, Toxic Town, Jodie takes on one of her toughest jobs so far.

Dubbed the British Erin Brockovich, the series aims to uncover the true events behind the 2009 Corby toxic waste case.

It is regarded as the UK’s biggest environmental scandal, where dust from a former steelworks left children with serious limb defects.

Jodie, 42, who plays Susan McIntyre, one of the mums affected by the scandal, has said: “I find roles that maybe tap into politics, the female perspective, the class system. Injustice — I really am fired up by it.”

She has managed to channel her own difficult experiences into some of the roles she has taken on throughout her career.

‘Mum was furious’

Before her stint in Dr Who, Jodie spoke out about a assault she suffered at the age of 22.

She discussed it while speaking about a campaign she had worked on with the charity ActionAid to improve safety for women in cities.

Jodie, who has been an ambassador for the charity since 2013, told Stylist magazine: “One in three women are subject to sexual violence. It’s too big a statistic to ignore.

“I remember one summer on a train platform I had a dress on, and there was a drunk man with a pint glass. He walked past me and put his hand up my dress. I shouted at him and he threatened to glass me.

“A woman with a pram hit his ankles and chased him away. I was 22 and I didn’t tell the police.

Time’s Jodie Whittaker reveals how ‘shaking and crying’ for hours in gripping new BBC drama took its toll

“I’m not trying to compare, but my point is, how far does it have to go? If being on telly gets recognition for that, then that’s a massive plus.”

At the time Jodie, who is originally from Skelmanthorpe in West Yorkshire, was training to be an actress at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Since then she has become one of Britain’s most acclaimed stars.

In 2017, she was chosen as the first woman to play the Doctor, and has become well known for portraying a range of strong women who must overcome adversity.

In the BBC One medical drama Trust Me, she appeared as a whistle-blowing nurse.

Jodie played a grieving mother in ITV crime drama Broadchurch and the wife of a jealous husband in dystopian show Black Mirror.

Jodie has always had a determination to succeed.

Her father Adrian, a retired CEO, and mother, Yvonne, who worked as a childminder and teaching assistant, did everything they could to encourage her ambition, which is more than can be said for one careers adviser at her school.

Speaking about that person in a podcast, she recalled: “They said that acting was a ridiculous no- tion, in so much as it wasn’t se- cure. Nine out of ten don’t make it. I’m 15, shut up.

“I went home and my mum was furious. And they were, ‘Absolutely do not have a back-up plan’. That was my parents’ view — don’t have a back-up plan. I was brought up more that you are a cat with nine lives, and so with the first life you put the most into it ,when you’ve got the most amount of energy.

“And if that’s the one you really want and if it works out then it works out, but if doesn’t I’ve got enough about me to go, ‘OK I’d do this’.”

For a young Jodie, acting was her only career plan and she admits having “no other skills” to fall back on, claiming her only alternative was to work in a pub.

She said: “I was very much eggs all in one basket. So if it hadn’t have happened, if I hadn’t have got into drama school and all that, I think I’d probably be running a pub.

I’ve got a massive ego. I’m an actor, I’ve picked a job where you get clapped at the end

Jodie Whittaker

“I kind of think landlording, landladying is in the blood. My grandparents, my dad’s mum and dad, ran pubs all their life.

“My dad was brought up in a pub.

‘Never been happier’

“I’ve worked in one since I was allowed to and I’ve worked as a barmaid all though drama school.”

And luckily, when she did get a career break, she ignored suggestions about treating a frown line and having her moustache waxed to change her appearance.

She said: “Thank f*** I wasn’t that impressionable.  I think I was like, ‘No, I’m alright thanks’, but it is just hard.  I’ve never been asked to lose weight, but maybe because I’ve always been a beanpole, but I know that happens.”

Despite her talents, Jodie believes her success — and lack of significant gaps in her CV — is mostly down to luck.

She said: “I’ve been really jammy. I’m not in control of when the parts I’ve been right for have come in. I’ve got a massive ego. I’m an actor, I’ve picked a job where you get clapped at the end.

“But I’m no better than a lot of other people who might not have been seen for that job.

“I only got Broadchurch, in my opinion, because of the exact timing of when that audition was.”

It was that role as Beth Latimer from 2013 to 2017 that brought her widespread recognition. When that ended she made history as the first female star in the Doctor Who title role.

She said of that part: “I have never been happier in a job.

“As an adult who has wanted to be an actor since I was so little, I got to play the most beautiful role, with no rules, and I could play it however I wanted, and know it would then get handed on to even better, more qualified people.

“So it was a wonderful, wonderful time.”

When she left the show in 2022, Jodie cried her heart out “for about 20 minutes solid in front of 200 crew, trying to say thank you”.

Despite her fame, Jodie has always fought to retain her privacy.

She lives in London with Belize-born actor husband Christian Contreras and their two children, a daughter born in 2015 and a son born in 2022. She has never revealed their names in public.

She told the David Tennant Does A Podcast podcast: “To the outside world I think fame equals success and I think we know that’s not the case.

‘Really private’

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Jodie made history by starring as the first female star in the Doctor Who title roleCredit: Alamy
“They are very different beasts and they are not the same dream.

“Wanting to be a successful actor and wanting to be famous are completely different dreams and I only had one of those dreams.

“I’m really private and I’m very paranoid, I don’t like being looked at and I don’t like being listened to and I don’t like being of interest to anyone. In work, absolutely fine, out of work, I’m just like, ‘Argh!’ ”

I’m really private and I’m very paranoid, I don’t like being looked at and I don’t like being listened to and I don’t like being of interest to anyone

Jodie Whittaker

Ask Jodie what she does like though and her answer comes easy — friends, family and some good pub grub.

She has said: “What I love more than anything is having the time to catch up with friends.

“I think just being able to give your godkids a massive squeeze and to be in a group of friends and family and everyone’s running around and making noise and causing chaos. That’s just my absolute heaven.

“I am lucky to love where I live. I mean, every area of London is cool, but I really like the area I live in, so I like hanging out there.

“My dream scenario is going for early dinner at a really great local pub that we have really fun family dinners at.”