Rosalie Craig

Kitty’s disorderly energy in Riot Women (2025) could easily become exhausting. Rosalie Craig keeps her warm enough to be worth spending time with, while allowing her to be awkward. We liked Kitty more than we expected to, because Craig finds humour in anger that could otherwise become wearing. She gives us reasons to care about this woman beyond the fact that the writing says she has been badly treated.

The stage established Craig’s reputation before this television lead. She led The Light Princess (2013) at the National Theatre, then played Bobbie in the gender-swapped West End revival of Company (2018). Singing and demanding musical parts have been central to her work, while television appearances accumulated alongside them. Her screen work included the recurring role of Virginia Wilson in 1899 (2022) before she played Kitty in Sally Wainwright’s drama. That makes Riot Women a useful starting point for watching her, though it is only one part of a career largely built elsewhere.

Wainwright’s series follows middle-aged women forming a punk band, and Craig and Joanna Scanlan give it its strongest reason to keep watching. As Beth, Scanlan makes the pressures of midlife feel substantial. Craig makes Kitty’s warmth count without smoothing her into agreeable company, and neither actor settles for demonstrating that her character is entitled to be angry. They leave room for embarrassment and humour, so the women remain interesting even when their grievances are clear. This is where the performances do more for the series than its speeches about how badly the women have been treated.

The writing is less sure of when to stop. It sometimes explains feelings that Craig and Scanlan have already made clear, and their good work cannot make that repetition disappear. This is a reservation about a series we recommend, not a reason to miss the performance. Start with Riot Women, and be prepared for the occasional explanation nobody needed.