NEW KID ON THE BOX: Jo Woodcock

Her role as Lorraine in new nightly drama True Love (10.25pm, BBC1) is just the

latest for a young actress whose face is rapidly becoming familiar…

First impressions Though still only 23, Jo Woodcock has already racked up quite an impressive CV. Born in Pembury, Kent, she started acting in 2000. Small roles in TV shows such as The Bill, Marple and Casualty followed, and her turn as a young Estella in a stage production of Great Expectations at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, got her noticed. Who’s that girl? In 2007, casting directors really began paying attention, when she received widespread critical acclaim for her thoughtful performance as troubled teenager Alice in the ITV drama series Torn. The calls started to come thick and fast, and Jo appeared in shows such as Silent Witness, Waking The Dead and Poirot. Doesn’t she look like… The following year, Jo was to be seen in the BBC dramatisation of Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, playing Tess’s younger sister Liza-Lu, and in 2009, she popped up in the BBC’s All The Small Things. By now, people were starting to comment on her striking similarity to Billie Piper – who also stars in this week’s True Love (Tuesday’s episode) – which got her extra attention. Incidentally, the pair are not related… Taking off Also in 2009, Jo appeared in Oliver Parker’s big-screen adaptation of Dorian Gray, and ITV’s miniseries Collision. It was also the year she started work on the popular BBC series Land Girls, in which she plays Bea Holloway – series three aired last year. Expect to see plenty more of this talented young actress in the future…