Algar plays women who have learned to hit first, and she can show the fear that taught them. Her Dinah in The Virtues is a proper breakthrough; the roles since have kept her in the dark, and we would like to see her let out.
Fi1m perspective
Niamh Algar arrives in The Virtues the way she arrives in most things: ready for a fight. Dinah is hard on the outside and raw underneath, and Algar, who boxes, plays the hardness with her whole body and lets the rawness through in the gaps. Stephen Graham is the reason to watch Shane Meadows's series, and we said so. But Dinah stayed with us too. What got at us was the moment the guard drops: a woman who has practised being unhurt, caught being hurt, and Algar plays it without once asking for our sympathy. She makes the toughness look like a decision the character took years ago, and she shows what it cost.
She came up slowly. Small Irish television and film parts from 2011, a turn in Vikings (2015), and a first notable film lead as Olivia in Without Name (2017). Then 2019, and three at once: Dinah, and supporting parts in Pure and MotherFatherSon. The years since have been busy and, for the most part, dark. Calm with Horses (2020) put her in an Irish crime drama as Ursula. Raised by Wolves (2020 to 2022), Ridley Scott's science fiction series, put her in front of a much larger audience as Sue. Censor (2021) gave her a horror lead as Enid Baines, set against the video nasties. Wrath of Man (2021), The Wonder (2022), Culprits (2023) and Mary & George (2024) followed, with Malpractice and Playing Nice after those.
What works is the commitment. She does not hold anything back for the next job, and directors who want a woman standing her ground in a room full of men get one who looks as though she could actually do it. Meadows got the best of her so far by giving her time; The Virtues is slow and sometimes too oblique, which we found a fault in the series, but the slowness let Dinah build scene by scene rather than in a rush.
The criticism that follows her is not about the acting. It is about the casting: damaged women, violent men, trauma, then more trauma. She has said herself that "broken characters are the more rewarding ones, I find", and she is not wrong, but we have now watched the hard shell and the soft centre a good many times, and nobody has yet asked her for a joke.
Somebody should cast her in something light and see what happens. Until they do, start with The Virtues, watch what she does when she is not fighting, and you will understand why the fights keep being offered.
Biography
Niamh Algar is an Irish actress. Born on 28 June 1992 in Mullingar, County Westmeath, she is the youngest of five siblings. She studied design at the Dublin Institute of Technology before graduating from the Programme for Screen Acting at Bow Street Academy in Dublin.
Algar came to prominence with her role as Dinah in the 2019 Channel 4 series The Virtues, for which she won the IFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role – TV Drama. She has appeared in MotherFatherSon (2019), Pure (2019), Raised by Wolves (2020), Calm with Horses (2020), Censor (2021) and Wrath of Man (2021). She was named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit in 2019 and received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Calm with Horses.
