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A whirlwind of hot pink and blonde hair surrounds Australian actress Margot Robbie’s world right now, with her title role in the long-awaited film version of Barbie hitting cinemas.

But a fabulous life in plastic is a long way from one of Robbie’s earlier jobs. Between 2008 and 2011, Robbie had a regular role as Donna Freedman in the Australian soap opera Neighbours.

It’s not unusual for the stars of the biggest movies and TV shows to have a soap opera character on their CV. In many ways, it can be seen as an apprenticeship in acting in front of a camera, due to the speed with which continuing drama is made. ����tv Bitesize looks at some other big names who owe a lot to the world of soap.

Jude Law

On the cinema screen he’s played Captain Hook and Dr Watson, as well as roles in Captain Marvel and Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore. Scroll back more than 30 years, however, and you would have spotted Jude Law in another role in the short-lived ITV soap opera Families.

Law played Nathan Thompson in a show which was slightly unusual in that the action was split between stories set in the UK and Australia. In the first episode, screened in the spring of 1990, Nathan's dad Mike flew to Sydney in search of his first love, setting up the storylines which followed.

Sarah Lancashire

One of the most celebrated actresses in the UK, Lancashire has starred in ����tv hits including Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax, as well as the title role in the US series Julia.

In 1991, she began playing the role of Raquel Wolstenhulme, an employee of the fictional supermarket Bettabuy in Coronation Street. Aspiring model Raquel was soon a barmaid at the legendary Rovers Return pub where she became a firm favourite. Her character remained in the show until 1996 then returned one final time in the soap’s first ever episode to feature just two characters; Raquel and her husband Curly, played by Kevin Kennedy, in early January 2000.

Raquel was a kindly, naive soul, but Lancashire has gone on to play tougher, no-nonsense characters such as Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley and the headmistress Caroline in Last Tango in Halifax. Perhaps even more different to Raquel, Lancashire also played the wicked alien nanny Miss Foster in a 2008 episode of Doctor Who.

Ben Hardy

EastEnders' Peter Beale turns 30 at the end of 2023. In that time the character has been played by seven different actors.

Peter Number Six was the actor Ben Hardy, who played the son of Ian Beale between 2013 and 2015.

After a rather dramatic time in Albert Square, Hardy found himself in another high profile role when he eventually swapped Walford for Hollywood.

In 2016, he appeared as Angel (a character also known as Archangel) in the Marvel movie X-Men: Apocalypse, as well as the character's alter-ego, Warren Worthington III.

It was just the beginning of a successful movie career, with Hardy also playing Queen member Roger Taylor in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones

Both of these UK actors were nominated for Academy and Bafta awards in 2015 for their performances in the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything. Both have had roles in ����tv continuing dramas.

One of Redmayne’s first ever TV roles was as a guest actor in the daytime series Doctors. A different format to many other soaps, Doctors has what can be called a ‘story of the day’, involving a case or situation dealt with by one of the The Mill Health Centre team, alongside the ongoing storylines. In 2003, Redmayne appeared in one of these stories, playing a character called Rob Huntley in an episode called Crescendo.

Doctors is filmed and set in the Midlands, and another well-loved show made in those parts is ����tv Radio 4 drama The Archers. Broadcast for more than 70 years, the series set in the farming village of Ambridge is recorded in Birmingham. Felicity Jones played Emma Grundy in the show when she was younger, even working recording dates around studies for an English degree at the University of Oxford.

Alan Cumming

British soap operas are fertile ground for recruiting members of the X-Men. Alongside Ben Hardy, Alan Cumming - who played Nightcrawler in the movie series - also spent some time in the world of ongoing drama.

In 1986, he played an evil woodcutter called Jim Hunter in the Scottish series Take the High Road, which was on our screens from 1980 to 2003. Cumming may have gone on to roles in the Bond film Goldeneye and the Spice Girls movie Spiceworld, parts in Doctor Who and The Simpsons, but he has never forgotten his time on the soap. “I love the fact I’ve been in Take The High Road,” he said in a 2020 interview. “I had a really great laugh doing it. At the time I felt lucky to be in it and now I feel even luckier. It’s great to be part of a legacy like that.”

Iwan Rheon

Welsh language soap Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley) is such an institution, even the celebrated Michael Sheen has popped up in a small role, appearing as a doctor in three scenes in 2019.

Prior to this, Game of Thrones and Our Girl actor Iwan Rheon was a regular in the show, playing Macsen ‘Macs’ White between 2002 and 2004. He was 17 when he joined, and spoke of his time on the show in 2014, when the series celebrated its 40th anniversary: “For me, it was one of the most important parts of my career when I look back, because that was the beginning.”

His character had to deal with losing his mum at a young age, a storyline which cemented his early talent. He said: “I remember Bethan Jones, the producer at the time, said, ‘Right, Iwan, there’s a biggie coming here… if you do well here, you’ll get much more in the future. So I really went for it.”

This article was published in July 2023.