Tamzin Outhwaite
Tamzin Outhwaite is an actor, born 1970.
Four years in Albert Square is enough to define most careers. Tamzin Outhwaite played Mel Owen in EastEnders from 1998 to 2002 and then spent the next twenty years proving the thing British television is usually reluctant to concede, which is that soap actors are actors.
She is from Ilford and a dancer as well as an actress, and the physical discipline shows in the way she holds a scene still. The post-soap run leaned on genre leads: the army drama Red Cap, the con-artist series Hustle, Rebecca Mitchell in Hotel Babylon from 2006, Sasha Miller in New Tricks. She returned to EastEnders for a second stint in 2018 and 2019, which is a harder thing to do well than to start.
Her later work has settled into British crime drama, where a lot of good actors of her generation ended up: The Tower, Murder, They Hope, Murder Before Evensong. The films have been smaller, a few scenes in Cassandra's Dream and Great Expectations, a substantial part in the thriller 7 Seconds. She presents and narrates too, which is its own steady trade and one that keeps a face familiar between drama commissions.
Movies (4)
TV (9)
Where to start with Tamzin Outhwaite
Hustle is the most enjoyable thing here and the easiest recommendation: a glossy, entirely unserious con series that knows precisely what it is, and her episode is a good demonstration of how much charm the format needs from its guests.
If you want the performance rather than the fun, The Tower is the one. It is sober, procedural crime television, and she works in a register with none of the decoration British drama normally applies.
Hotel Babylon is the peak of her leading-lady period and has aged into a pleasant time capsule of mid-2000s BBC gloss. EastEnders is the historical record, and her 1998 to 2002 run is the reason this page exists. Murder Before Evensong and Murder, They Hope are the cosy end of the crime shelf, and 7 Seconds is for anyone who enjoys an action film with far better actors than it deserves.