The cast of the BBC’s Dear England adaptation is a combination of actors who played their roles on stage and reprising them, as well as those coming to the material new.
Of course, Joseph Fiennes is reprising his role as Gareth Southgate, while John Hodgkinson, Adam Hugill, Josh Barrow and Lewis Shepherd also appeared in the play, before now starring in the four-part BBC drama.
One of the major figures who is played by a new actor is Pippa Grange. The role was originated by Gina McKee and has been played by Dervla Kirwan, Liz White and Samantha Womack in different runs, and now, the role is being played by Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker on screen.
Whittaker spoke with Radio Times exclusively alongside Fiennes, and revealed that she didn’t actually get to meet the real-life Grange, a psychologist who was brought in as head of people and team development at The Football Association by Southgate between 2017 and 2019.
However, it turns out this actually wasn’t a hindrance to Whittaker, as it helped to take the pressure off.
“I didn’t meet Pippa, and I was lucky because there was a lot less of a pressure, in that sense, on it,” Whittaker explained. “If I was to have turned around and said, ‘This is how they are, this is how…’. There’s not a lot to go on to say ‘That’s not exactly how that person is.’ So in a way, there’s a lot more freedom for me.
“But what was helpful is that she does have a public persona. So I was lucky enough, like Joe, to be able to listen to things, and particularly because she’s from the North, but has lived in Australia for a really long time, and the influence on her voice is it has this very Australian kind of lilt to it, which is so brilliant to be able to hear in long form, because they’ve written this extraordinary book.
“So, as an actor, it’s like an absolute gift. But I didn’t have the pressure of mannerisms, and especially didn’t have the pressure of how do I transfer this from stage to screen, because I wasn’t the person that played it on stage. I was lucky to just watch it and cry.”
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Speaking of the play, Whittaker admitted that while she did see it and thought it was “fantastic”, she actually didn’t see Fiennes in the role, but Gwilym Lee, who played Southgate at the National Theatre revival and in Salford in 2025.
“Don’t tell Joe, he was brilliant,” Whittaker joked.
Dear England chart’s Southgate’s tenure as England manager from 2016 to 2024, and has been adapted by James Graham, who also wrote the play.
Dear England will begin on BBC One and iPlayer at 9pm on Sunday 24 May 2026.
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