Kelly Gough in Marcella
TV

Meet Kelly Gough, the actress behind Stacey in ITV’s Marcella

Kelly has had a varied career

| Updated:

Marcella on ITV continues tonight, but who is actress Kelly Gough who plays Stacey in the show?

The embattled undercover operative has assumed a new identity to help bring down the Maguire crime family.

However, with her mental state beginning to crumble it’s a race against time.

Part of that crime family is Stacey, played by Kelly.

So who is Kelly and where have you seen her before?

Kelly plays Stacey in Marcella
Kelly plays Stacey (Credit: ITV)

Where was Kelly Gough in Marcella born?

Kelly, 33, was born in Ennis, in County Clare, Ireland.

She was born into a large family and is one of 11 siblings, including her twin sister, Ciara.

Kelly said in an interview that her memories of childhood were all positive.

Read more: Marcella limp: What has Anna Friel said about her ‘funny walk’ in the ITV drama?

“My earliest memory is walking ‘The Bull Field’ with my Dad and my twin Ciara. We adore(d) him.

“I have a very distinctive memory of him on a stone wall — the sun is shining, he is brown as a nut and wearing a short-sleeved shirt and grey trousers.

“I love my parents to pieces, and the older I get the more I appreciate everything they have done and continue to do for me.”

Actress Denise Gough
Denise is Kelly’s sister (Credit: Alucard / SplashNews.com)

Who is the sister of Marcella star Kelly Gough?

One of Kelly’s 11 siblings is actress sister Denise.

Denise, 40, has starred in Stella with Ruth Jones, Paula with Tom Hughes, and Guerrilla.

When it comes to her twin sister Ciara, Kelly says that they have been known to play pranks on people.

“Once when she was working in a pharmacy,” she said, “a lady came in to pick up a prescription and started talking about the show [she was in].”

“Ciara pretended to be me and invented this whole back-story about how tough the acting world is and that’s why she worked at the pharmacy!”

Kelly Gough in Casualty
Kelly in Casualty (Credit: BBC)

What else have you seen Kelly in?

For such a young age, Kelly has appeared in a long list of theatre productions, TV shows and feature films.

Kelly first became a household name in her native Ireland thanks to the drama Raw.

She then appeared as Violette Spark in Casualty between 2019 and 2020.

The character was the sister of paramedic Ruby, and came to the ED looking for help because she was pregnant.

When Ruby turns her away, Violette gives birth but is soon discovered to be using drugs.

Other series Kelly has appeared in include BBC crime drama The Fall and series three of ITV’s Broadchurch.

Another place you might have seen Kelly in is Call The Midwife – she played Doreen Lunt, who gave birth to a baby but was later found to have Huntington’s disease.

Who is Kelly Gough in Marcella?
Kelly is a keen jogger (Credit: Pexels)

What does Kelly like to do in her spare time?

She told The Irish Examiner that she likes to lead a healthy lifestyle.

“I’m very health-conscious,” she said.

“I very rarely drink, don’t smoke and try to eat as healthily as I can.

Read more: Who plays Jack in Marcella and what else has actor Laurence Kinlan been in?

“I think that we greatly underestimate the effect our diet has on the quality of our lives, and I make a conscious effort to get as much as I can out of what I consume, be it mentally or physically.”

She says her idea of hell would be being bed-bound because she loves being active so much.

Casualty| Ruby tells Violette she’d be better off without her

Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think of this story.


Nancy Brown
Associate Editor

Related Topics