Bella Ramsey, 20, who shot to fame in The Worst Witch and Game of Thrones is now winning plaudits for her standout role in gritty BBC prison series Time 2

• Bella Ramsey has won praise for playing incarcerated heroin addict in Time 2
• READ MORE: Time viewers fiercely divided over BBC’s new drama starring Bella Ramsey as a heroin addict who gives birth in prison

The second instalment of BBC1 prison drama Time was broadcast last night, leaving viewers divided due to the traumatic nature of the subject matter.

Three-part series Time 2 followed the highly-rated first season of the drama, which starred Sean Bean, Stephen Graham, Michael Socha, and James Nelson-Joyce.

Series 2 moves to a women’s facility, and features an equally impressive cast, with Jodie Whittaker and Tamara Lawrance leading the charge.

Perhaps most interestingly, for drama enthusiasts, it also stars Bella Ramsey, a young actor boasting an impressive – and quickly growing – portfolio of exciting and varied work.

Nottingham-born Bella, 20, has spoken out on the current hot button topic of gender, revealing that she identifies as gender fluid, and that she finds it ‘exciting’ when referred to as ‘he’ – though she doesn’t particularly care about pronouns.

Bella Ramsey (pictured) plays Kelsey in BBC 1 drama Time 2, another role for which she has won plaudits from critics and viewers alike

FROM NOTTINGHAM TO HOLLYWOOD: Bella with Pedro Pascal at the The Last of Us Los Angeles Premiere 

Speaking to the New York Times, she added: ‘I guess my gender has always been very fluid. Someone would call me she or her and I wouldn’t think about it, but I knew that if someone called me he it was a bit exciting.’

The star said she ticks ‘non-binary’ if it is an option on a form, before adding: ‘I’m very much just a person.

‘Being gendered isn’t something that I particularly like, but in terms of pronouns, I really couldn’t care less.’

It is perhaps a testament to her outstanding talent then, that despite wading into the highly-charged debate around gender and pronouns, aside from a brief mention of pronouns, the conversation around Bella remains largely on her impressive work.

While all main performances on Time 2 impressed, it is Bella who largely seemed to capture the public’s attention in her role as Kelsey, a scam artist who is struggling with a drug addiction and is expecting a baby with her abusive boyfriend Adam.

The show, which is available to stream in its entirety on iPlayer, follows Kelsey’s pregnancy behind bars and shows her giving birth in the prison. 

In one heart wrenching scene, Kelsey’s partner Adam – played by Nicholas Nunn – tries to smuggle drugs into the prison during visiting hours.

After passing Kelsey a pill via a kiss, the new mother panics and hides the drug in her son’s babygro – prompting the security team to take him away indefinitely.

The young actor was nominated for two BAFTAS in 2018 and 2019 for her role as Mildred Hubble (pictured) in CBBC’s The Worst Witch. She won the award in 2019 

Begging the guard to believe her, Kelsey yells: ‘You like your job, don’t ya? TAKING BABIES OFF MOTHERS.’

The gut-wrenching scenes ends with Kelsey weeping in her cell. Bella’s performance struck a chord with viewers who have watched the whole series already.

Despite her tender years, this latest powerhouse performance follows a number of  impressive roles.

Notably, Bella recently starred as the lead, Ellie, in HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us – which is based on a video game of the same name – alongside Pedro Pascal, blowing viewers away with her impressive acting.  

The Last Of Us game was first released on the Playstation 3 in 2013, and took the gaming world by storm, selling 1.3 million units in its first week and over 17 million by 2018.

The game is set 20 years after a pandemic wiped out most of the world, centering on Ellie, who may be integral to curing the pandemic, and a smuggler named Joel.

Bella plays Ellie, a 14-year-old orphan, who struggles with learning she may have a big role to play in saving the world as she knows it. She stars alongside Pedro Pascal as Joel.  

The game is considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time, which lead to the sequel, The Last Of Us Part II, released in June 2020.

The sequel sold more than 4 million copies in its first weekend, making it one of the fastest-selling PS4 games.

Before this new HBO series came to fruition, the game was previously in development as a movie adaptation at Sony Pictures. It will be released on January 15.

The actor was just 14 when she first appeared in Game of Thrones’ sixth season as Lyanna Mormont (pictured)

Bella’s role in the TV adaptation wasn’t her first turn for HBO: her star has been firmly in the ascendance since she won the role of Lyanna Mormont in HBO’s uber successful fantasy series Game of Thrones in 2016.  

Bella was just 14 when she first appeared in Game of Thrones’ sixth season as Lyanna Mormont, a no-nonsense teenager in charge of the House Mormont, who proves to be fearless warrior and a loyal ally of Jon Snow. 

Viewers immediately fell in love with her in the role, and she became a fan favourite up until her character’s death in season eight – she currently has 795,000 followers on her Instagram account. 

Bella had such an impact on the show that she revealed last week that fans still rant to her about its controversial ending, which aired in 2019. 

Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live, she said: ‘People like to ask me what I thought of the ending. And I ask them back, ‘What did you think of it?”  

‘I don’t have an opinion. I just let them either hate on it or talk about how great it was — mostly hate on the ending for like 10 minutes, and then I just sit there and listen and then say, ‘Goodbye, nice to meet you,’ and then that’s it.

‘Generally, the consensus is that it wasn’t great… It seemed fine to me,’ she added. 

Working for prestige company HBO was somewhat of a far cry from the actor’s first foray into her craft, professionally speaking.

She started acting from the age of four after joining a local Stagecoach group with her sister.

She initially in a local theatre group called The Idols and she then joined Nottingham’s Television Workshop and was cast in Game of Thrones at the age of 11.

However she admitted she never even thought of making acting a full time career. 

She said: ‘I didn’t go into the Workshop wanting to have a career in acting. It wasn’t something I was chasing. I’m very grateful it happened like it did.

‘I didn’t imagine this [career] was ever possible. I didn’t even consider it. It would have blown my little brain to smithereens.’

Bella attended King’s Interhigh’s online school, because she ‘didn’t enjoy mainstream secondary school and wasn’t happy’ and also because of her acting career, she admitted on the institution’s website in 2021. 

‘I think it allows people to be who they truly are and it leaves room for people to do the non-academic things they love,’ she added. 

Bella’s first main role came in 2017, when she was cast as Mildred Hubble in The Worst Witch on CBBC.

While she is relatively private about her personal life, the young actor says she has the support of her family and friends

The BBC adaptation, based on the 1974 novel by Jill Murphy, followed schoolgirl Mildred, who discovers she is a witch and is admitted to a special school where she learns more about her power.   

The show, which is also available to stream on Netflix, was a huge hit with younger audiences, and kept Bella as its main character for three series from 2017 to 2020, when she was replaced by Lydia Page after stepping down from the role. 

Sharing the news with fans at the time, she wrote on Instagram: ‘It was completely my decision to say goodbye for reasons I can’t really go into but to everyone reading this, please prioritise your mental health and do what’s right for you.’ 

Her role as Mildred earned her three BAFTA nominations. 

In 2018, she was nominated both for Best Breakthrough Talent and Best Young Performer. While she didn’t win that year, she bagged herself the award in 2019 in the Best Young Performer category. 

She also won the award for Children’s Animation, which she shared with Luke Pearson, Stephanie Simpson, and Kurt Mueller, for her voice work in the Netflix animated series Hilda, where she plays the main character. 

In 2017, she also had a small role on the BBC’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, alongside Dafne Keen. 

In 2019, she had her first taste of the big screen with a small role as Lorna Luft in the biographical movie base on the life of Judy Garland – known as ‘Judy’, which earned Renée Zellweger an Academy Award for Best Actress. 

Bella is now collecting award nominations of her own, being among this year’s nominees for Best Young Performer at this year’s Critics Choice Awards for her role as Lady Catherine/ Birdy in Catherine Called Birdy. 

The feature, written and directed by Lena Dunham, follows a 14-year-old girl in Medieval England as she navigates through life. 

While she didn’t win the award – which went to Gabriel LaBelle for his role as Samuel ‘Sammy’ Fabelman in The Fabelmans – Bella’s star is in the ascendance. 

While the pressure of this success must be immense, it appears that Bella can rely on support from her family.

Although the young actor keeps her Instagram about her work, sharing glimpses of life on set and rarely opening up about her personal life, she has however spoken of how supportive her family have been of her acting career. 

Asked how her family and friends reacted to her landing the lead role in The Worst Witch in 2016, the budding actress told the BBC: ‘They are all very proud and supportive. 

According to Bella (pictured at the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles in January) she has ambitions to direct her own film

‘When we got the phone call I was with my mum, sister, cousin and auntie, there was a lot of screaming and excited jumping, you could have filled a bathtub with the proud teardrops!’

When it comes to the future, Bella is fiercely ambitious, and has suggested she’d like to try out her talent behind the camera, and is keen to direct a film she has written.

Speaking to The A.V. Club she said: ‘I’ve written a film that I’m hoping to make and direct this year, if it all goes to plan. I’ve always been watching what other people do at their jobs, especially the directors. 

‘And sort of picking out things that I want to do if I was directing. Or things that I would do differently. 

‘And so, yeah, I feel like I’m in a place where I would love to have the opportunity to be behind the camera as well.’

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