Woman Crush Wednesday: Joanne Froggatt Shines in ‘Last Light’

Happy September, everybody! Though we’re leaving summer behind in favor of back to school shenanigans and the onset of autumn, one thing we’re continuing to celebrate loudly and proudly is Woman Crush Wednesday. This time around, we’re kicking off the new month by talking about an amazing, hard-working actress who has been killing it on screens big and small for 26 years and counting. Without further ado, give it up for your WCW, the fantastic Joanne Froggatt!

WHO’S THAT GAL: Joanne Froggatt

WHY WE’RE CRUSHING: Froggatt stars as Elena Yeats in Peacock Original drama-thriller Last Light, which premieres on the platform this Thursday, September 8. Based on Alex Scarrow’s 2007 apocalyptic novel of the same name, the limited series asks how far people will go to save the ones they love in unprecedented times of peril. Last Light follows petrochemist Andy Yeats (Matthew Fox), who sees his worst fears about the world’s dependence on oil come true while on a business trip to the Middle East. With him stranded there, wife Elena ( Froggatt) and their young son Sam (Taylor Fay) stuck in Paris, and his teenage daughter Laura (Alyth Ross) home alone in London, his family desperately attempts to protect one another despite the distance and dangers keeping them apart. Get in on all of the heart-pounding action by catching Froggatt and the rest of the talented cast of Last Light as soon as it drops this week, only on Peacock.

WHERE YOU’VE SEEN HER BEFORE: Froggatt’s professional onscreen career began in 1996 when she played Kelly Martin in an episode of British police procedural series The Bill. Just one year later, she began making a name for herself with the recurring role of Zoe Tattersall on long-running British soap opera Coronation Street, on which she appeared in over 100 episodes from 1997 to 1998. From there she continued to appear in British TV shows like Bad Girls, Other People’s Children, A Touch of Frost, Casualty, and Paradise Heights before having her feature film debut as Jacquie in 2002 comedy Miranda.

Froggatt continued to build up her filmography working on shows like Island at War, Missing, Life on Mars, See No Evil: The Moors Murders, Rebus, Moving On, Robin Hood, and Identity before landing the role for which she is best known. In 2010, the actress began playing Anna Smith (and later, Bates) on the hit historical drama series Downton Abbey, which she stayed on through the show’s end in 2015 . Froggatt’s Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated work on Downton took the actress’s career to the next level, working on series like True Love, The Secrets, Bob the Builder, and Dark Angel, as well as on films like 2010 drama In Our Name, 2013 dark comedy Filth, 2013 drama Still Life, 2016 drama Starfish, 2016 biographical drama A Street Cat Named Bob, 2017 dark comedy-thriller A Crooked Somebody, and 2017 romantic period drama Mary Shelley.

Most recently, Froggatt reprised her role as Anna Bates in Downton Abbey’s 2019 and 2022 feature films, and also spread her wings trying with recurring TV roles as Eadie Boulay in drama The Commons, Laura Nielson in thriller Liar, the titular role in thriller Angela Black, and Sarah Vincent in mystery crime-drama Sherwood. Though she has already amassed an incredibly diverse and impressive body of work, Froggatt shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon (woohoo!) and we can’t wait to see all of the wonderful and thought-provoking projects she continues to take on in the years ahead.

WHERE YOU’LL SEE HER AGAIN: Luckily, you won’t have to wait too much longer to see more from Froggatt. You can look forward to seeing her in two products currently in pre-production, playing lead roles in animated biographical drama film Banking on Mr. Toad and in comedy-drama series Love to Tell the Tale.

For even more from the actress in the meantime, be sure to follow her on Twitter and Instagram so that you never miss a moment from your world-class WCW!