The Stolen Girl on Disney+: Cast list led by Holliday Grainger, Denise Gough, and Jim Sturgess

The Stolen Girl on Disney+: Cast list led by Holliday Grainger, Denise Gough, and Jim Sturgess

By Helen Fear | Fri Apr 04 2025

The Stolen Girl is THE thriller to watch on Disney+ this April, with a killer cast, and a plot writhing with twists and turns.

The new series is a "gripping original thriller" from the producers of Harlan Coben's Fool Me Once and Missing You. It's adapted by Catherine Moulton (Baptiste) from Alex Dahl's bestselling novel Playdate.

Even better, the cast is led by some of the our best actors - including Denise Gough, Holliday Grainger, and Ambika Mod.

Here's everything you need to know about the cast of psychological drama The Stolen Girl on Disney+, coming to our screens on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.

Denise Gough leads the cast as Elisa Blix, who unwittingly hands her child over to an abductor (Credit: Disney+)

The Stolen Girl cast stars Denise Gough as Elisa Blix

Irish actress Denise Gough leads the cast of new psychological drama The Stolen Girl as Elisa Blix. In the four-parter, an seemingly ordinary decision turns the world of mum-of-two Elisa upside down...

Wexford-born Denise, 45, is a respected actress who's been on our screens for 20 years, ever since she first appeared in a 2004 episode of Casualty as Susan Parish.

She worked as a jobbing actress for a few years, appearing in TV series such as Silent Witness, Waking the Dead, The Bill, Holby City, and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

In 2012, Denise portrayed Emily Hill in Titanic: Blood and Steel, which was at the time her most significant role to date. She went on to play Liz Fletcher in crime drama What Remains, Collette in Ruth Jones comedy Stella, and Dr Walden in the brilliant thriller The Fall starring Jamie Dornan.

Other notable roles include Fallon in Guerrilla, the leading role in revenge-thriller Paula, Connie Mortensen in Too Close, and Dianna Lafferty in Under the Banner of Heaven.

She is arguably most famous for portraying sinister Imperial Security Bureau officer Dedra Meero in Andor. It's a role she'll be reprising in the upcoming season 2. You wouldn't want to mess with Dedra, that's for sure...

More recently, Denise played Lena Campbell in the preposterous Netflix thriller Who Is Erin Carter? but don't hold that against her.

TV favourite Holliday Grainger portrays abductor Rebecca (Credit: Disney+)

Holliday Grainger portrays Rebecca Walsh/Nina Thibault

London-born actress Holliday Grainger, 37, plays abductor Rebecca Walsh in the cast of The Stolen Girl. Elisa's nine-year-old daughter Lucia goes on an overnight playdate with her new best friend Josie.

But, the next day, Lucia is missing, and Josie and mum Rebecca have vanished... What started out as her daughter's first sleepover has turned into an abduction.

Twin-mum Holliday Grainger is famous for playing Robin Ellacott in BBC One crime drama Strike, a role she's played since the first series in 2017.

She's also known for playing tenacious DCI Rachel Carey in The Capture, soon to return for a series 3.

Holliday's a former child star who has been on our screens since 1994, when she played Kirsty in the TV series All Quiet on the Preston Front. She was just five at the time, having been scouted for the BBC TV series.

Further early roles included Harriet in the TV movie The Missing Postman, Princess Kate in the kids' show Roger and the Rottentrolls, and the Older Lisa Bolton in Sparkhouse.

Between 2003 and 2005, Holliday portrayed Megan Boothe in Sarah Lancashire sitcom Where the Heart Is. At the time she was credited as Holly Grainger.

Other notable roles include Stacey Appleyard in Waterloo Road, Ruby in Demons, Sharon Bilkin in Above Suspicion, and Lucrezia Borgia in The Borgias. More recently, she's voicee Darcy Dunraven in Impact Winter, and appeared in the Robert Pattinson film Mickey 17.

She's been in plenty of other films, too, including Animals, Tell It to the Bees, My Cousin Rachel, and Great Expectations. In 2015, she played the title role in Lady Chatterley's Lover in which she alongside Bodyguard's Richard Madden, and Playing Nice's James Norton.

One day actress Ambika Mod portrays Selma in The Stolen Girl (Credit: Disney+)

Ambika Mod portrays Selma Desai

The brilliant Ambika Mod stars as Selma Desai, an investigative journalist for an outlet called Dash Voice. She becomes deeply invested in investigating the disappearance of a young girl, Lucia. Her ADHD can sometimes affect the way she works.

Of course, Hertfordshire-born Ambika previously played the leading role of Emma Morley in the Netflix adaptation of David Nicholls' One Day in 2024.

She is also famous for portraying the heartbreaking role of Shruti Acharya in This Is Going to Hurt in 2022 opposite Black Doves star Ben Whishaw. Shruti was a young junior doctor just starting in obstetrics and gynaecology. But the thankless pressures of the job soon led her to despair.

Previously she played Usher in Trying, and Samantha in The B@it. Ambika also starred in season 2 of critically-acclaimed Sky comedy I Hate Suzie. Ambika is currently appearing in the star-studded cast of 2025 film Black Bag, a spy thriller with Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. She plays Angela Childs.

She's a former stand-up comedian, who "fell into acting" after Covid setbacks. Ambika told The Guardian: "When Covid hit and my live comedy went away, I began to figure out what it was I wanted to do. I started doing acting classes, because I thought if I'm not working I might as well try to get better at that."

Excellent move, Ambika!

Jim Sturgess stars as Fred Blix in The Stolen Girl (Credit: Disney+)

Jim Sturgess stars as Fred Blix in The Stolen Girl cast

London-born Jim Sturgess, 46, portrays Elisa's husband Fred Blix in the cast of The Stolen Girl on Disney+. Fred is a successful criminal barrister, whose work brings him into contact with unsavoury criminal types... Their relationship is tested under the unbearable strain of their beloved daughter's abduction.

Actor and singer-songwriter Jim is perhaps most famous for his film roles, including the movie version of One Day in 2011. This was 13 years before his The Stolen Girl co-star Ambika went on to star in the TV adaptation.

Jim's also known for George Boleyn in Scarlett Johansson film The Other Boleyn Girl, Janusz in The Way Back, various roles in Cloud Atlas, and Alan Marchand in Rosemary's Baby horror prequel Apartment 7A.

His most famous TV roles include Dion Patras in 2016's David Schwimmer drama Feed the Beast, Callum Ferguson in Close the Enemy, and DCI Charlie Hicks in Hard Sun. More recently, he portrayed Matt Lisko in Home Before Dark, and Daniel in Mixtape.

Music-wise, Jim Sturgess has been writing and performing his own music since a teenager, and has been in bands including Saint Faith, Dilated Spies, and Tragic Toys.

Bronagh Waugh plays DI Shona Sinclair

Northern Irish actress Bronagh Waugh, 42, plays DI Shona Sinclair in The Stolen Girl. Senior Detective Inspector in the Manchester Metropolitan police force, she is the lead investigator in the search for Lucia.

Of course, Ridley fans will know it's not Bronagh's first time playing a detective. The actress starred as Ridley's inside woman and protégée DI Carol Farham in the ITV show which started in 2022, and it set to return with a season 2 any day now.

The actress came to fame portraying Cheryl Brady in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks, a role she played from 2009 to 2013. She's also known for playing Sally Ann Spector, the wife of serial killer Paul in The Fall, opposite 50 Shades of Grey actor Jamie Dornan.

Other notable roles include Jessica in Unforgotten, Stella Beckett in Viewpoint, Charlotte Proctor in Des, and Kathy Maguire, the mother of James, in the series 2 finale of Derry Girls.

More recently, mum-of-one Bronagh starred as Alison in ITV thriller Our House, prostitute Cara in The Suspect, and Debbie Clumson in Death in Paradise.

Michael Workeye portrays Kaleb Negasi

Actor Michael Workeye stars as Kaleb Negasi in the Disney+ thriller The Stolen Girl. Kaleb is Selma's boss, a senior editor at Dash Voice.

Michael is a relative newbie compared to some of his co-stars. After graduating from Arts Educational drama school, he played Ahmed in the 2020 BBC TV film Sitting in Limbo opposite Shetland star Patrick Robinson.

The hard-hitting drama followed a man's personal struggle to be accepted as a British Citizen during the Windrush immigration scandal.

Michael went on to play Zeke in one episode of the comedy Big Age, before winning the role of Ben in 2022's This Is Going to Hurt - which also starred his The Stolen Girl's colleague Ambika Mod.

More recently, Michael portrayed Archer in period drama My Lady Jane. 2025 looks very busy for the fledging actor, so watch out for appearances in Black Mirror season 6, Mark Gatiss crime drama Bookish, and Nicole Kidman drama Margo's Got Money Troubles.

Better than Charlie's Angels for sure! (Credit: Disney+)

Who else appears?

Forrest Bothwell stars as DC Daniel Coolidge in the cast of The Stolen Girl on Disney+. He's best known for playing George in World on Fire opposite Sean Bean, as well as Francie Ward in one episode of Netflix's The Gentlemen, and Jude in young adult drama A Kind of Spark.

More recently, he played the supporting role of Matt Spencer in Channel 5 thriller The Teacher.

Actress and director Lisa Bowerman portrays Maria Blix. She has a long-standing connection to Doctor Who, having made her first TV appearance as Karra in 1989. She has subsequently voiced multiple characters on the podcast series.

Other notable roles include Doctor O'Hara in soap Night & Day, Sandra Mute in Casualty, Jennifer Lingwood in Coronation Street, and Tilly in Gentrification. Lisa has also voiced Julianne Wright in The Archers.

Finlay Robertson stars as Douglas Brown. He's best known for playing Callum in NY-LON, Kevin in Life Begins, Karl Menford in How Not to Live Your Life, and Oggy in The Body Farm.