Welsh actor Eve Myles said the quality of roles for women was a factor in her considering leaving the profession after a breakout hit.
Best known for her role as Gwen Cooper in Torchwood, before appearing in Victoria, Broadchurch and Keeping Faith, Eve Myles recently starred in BBC One hit The Guest alongside Gabrielle Creevy as well as Acorn TV’s crime drama series The Crow Girl.
In a wide-ranging conversation with BAFTA Chief Executive Officer Jane Millichip at the Wales Screen Summit 2025, Eve said she considered giving up acting to go to medical school following her success with Keeping Faith.
Asked if the quality of film and television roles was a factor, she said: “Yes, I think that was a factor in a way.
“When you play someone as strong as a Gwen Cooper, someone so recognisable, it’s quite difficult to come away from that or for other people to see you do anything differently. I think it’s definitely getting better, female-led drama.”
Eve said her latest role as Fran Sharp in the gripping, twisted thriller The Guest was “complex and challenging”, giving her a chance to wrestle with the character’s “monstrous” qualities.
“I have never had so many people at the school gates telling me I’m quite scared of you,” she said.
“And I knew that would be the case because she’s like the flip of a coin. She’s got this very childlike quality yet this monstrous power and strength and unfiltered need to come out on top.
“I try not to judge any character I play. From the word go I try to be open to all aspects of them as I possibly can. I have always tried to look at them in their worst ways. I always try to find the endearment, sometimes you can’t.
“However monstrous they are, there’s a reason they are the way that they are. She was particularly complex, difficult and challenging.”
An email from her agent, moments before an outing with her daughters, was the first introduction she said she had with the script, which she read cover to cover as soon as she could.
“I was 40 minutes away from taking my daughters to see Taylor Swift and my agent emailed and said you need to look at this ASAP,” she said.
“I saw three or four pages and I thought this is dynamite. Taylor Swift was wonderful but I don’t remember any of it because all I could think about was those first three or four pages I had read of The Guest.
“As soon as I got home I put the kids to bed and I read all of them. I stayed up until four in the morning and I read all of them. I rang my agent and I said this is a chemistry set. I need to know who is opposite me and when they said Gabs I said I’m in.”
Much of Eve’s later success came following her role as Gwen Cooper in Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood, a role written for her by Russell T Davis. She praised the writer-producer-showrunner following his Outstanding Contribution to Television at the BAFTA Cymru Awards 2025.
“Russell is one of these people that is all consuming,” she said.
“He’s over absolutely everything. He’s a showrunner extraordinaire. He’s professionally ten steps ahead of everybody but personally he’s wonderful. A great support and he’s magical. I don’t know how his brain works. It must be like 3D chess in there because his brain is extraordinary.”
