Dope Girls cast and character guide: Who plays whom in the BBC One's historical drama?

BBC One's historical period drama Dope Girls, which premiered on February 22, 2025, is based on Mark Kohen's non-fiction book Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground.

Created by Polly Stenham and Alex Warren, the six-part drama series is set in early 20th-century Soho and follows the lives of the owner and dancers of an illicit nightclub. The show is set in the aftermath of the First World War, where women were forced to take charge and fell into the world of drugs, alcohol, and nightlife to make ends meet.

Here is the complete Dope Girls cast and character guide.

Dope Girls: Main cast and character guide

Here's who plays whom in the BBC One historical drama:

1) Julianne Nicholson as Kate Galloway

Kate Galloway, a clever young girl with the potential of being the first woman to attend a university in the UK, is a single mother (with a teenage daughter) after World War I ends. After she loses her job, she opens a nightclub and embraces the world of criminal activities.

Julianne Nicholson recently played the character of Sinatra in Hulu's political thriller Paradise. She is also known for her roles in Mare of Easttown, Boardwalk Empire, and Law & Order.

2) Umi Myers as Billie Cassidy

Billie is a Bohemian dancer who lives an extravagant lifestyle filled with alcohol and drugs with her friend Eddie Cobb. In Dope Girls, she becomes one of the dancers at the Soho nightclub because of her past connection with Kate.

Umi Myers has previously appeared in an episode of Silent Witness and Bob Marley: One Love.

3) Eliza Scanlen as Violet Davies

Next on the Dope Girls cast is Eliza Scanlen, who plays the character of Violet Davies, a new recruit in the Metropolitan Police Service. She gets entangled in an illegal and glamorous life after she is assigned to go undercover in the illicit Soho nightclubs.

Scanlen is best known for her role as Beth in Greta Gerwig's 2019 movie Little Women. She has also appeared in HBO's Sharp Objects and The Devil All the Time and Old.

4) Geraldine James as Isabella Salucci

Next up on the Dope Girls cast list is Geraldine James, who plays Isabella, the ruthless survivor and fearsome matriarch of the Salucci crime family. Tough as nails, Isabella is not a woman to toy with and has held her clan together for many years, even through the war.

Geraldine James is a veteran actress and has appeared in projects like BBC's Sherlock, Apple TV's Silo, Netflix's Anne with an E, and Prime Video's Utopia.

5) Ian Bonar as Sgt. Frank Turner

Bonar is the next addition to the Dope Girls cast and plays the character of Frank Turner, the police sergeant overseeing The Female Experiment. The experiment saw the wave of the first female police officers in the UK. Since Frank is a complicated man, he becomes an early enemy of Violet, his employee.

Bonar is best known for his performances in Black Mirror and Apple TV's Criminal Record.