Jenna Coleman: from Emmerdale star to television queen!

Jenna Coleman is a shining light of British television, having starred in hugely popular shows including Doctor Who and Victoria.

But she started her acting career in Emmerdale playing vicar Ashley Thomas’s troublesome niece, Jasmine. Jasmine has recently returned to Classic Emmerdale wanting to stay for good.

But actress Jenna ended up staying for four years before moving on to bigger things. Here’s everything we know about Jenna.

Jenna Coleman as Ember Manning in The Jetty — Jenna starred as Ember Manning in The Jetty (Credit: BBC)

Jenna’s early years

Jenna was born in Blackpool, with excellent soapy credentials – apparently her grandmother suggested the name Jenna after the character Jenna Wade in Dallas!

Jenna-Louise, as she was known back then, took part in all sorts of drama productions growing up, including a professional production of Summer Holiday at Blackpool Opera House.

Jenna was planning to go to York University to study English, but she changed her plans, because she’d been offered the part of Jasmine in Emmerdale.

Jenna Coleman as Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale — Jenna arrived in the village in 2005 as Jasmine (Credit: ITV/Shutterstock)

Jasmine in Emmerdale

Jasmine was the troubled and troublesome niece of Ashley Thomas. She stayed with Ashley and Laurel for a short while, then after she was expelled from boarding school, she returned to the village for good.

Things were never boring with Jasmine around! She and Debbie Dingle fell in love. But Cain Dingle also seduced teenaged Jasmine – urgh – and she got pregnant (though she had a termination).

Jasmine’s journalism career

When she left school, Jasmine was determined to become a journalist and started investigating Tom King’s murder. She didn’t find the killer – who was Tom’s son, Carl – but she did help suspect Jamie Hope clear his name.

Later Jasmine started looking into local crime family the Macfarlanes. She got to know a police officer Shayne Doyle, who was helping her. She even started a romance with Shane. But he was not a good person. Turned out he was in cahoots with the Macfarlanes. When Jasmine started asking too many awkward questions, he attacked her. She fought back and accidentally killed the crooked cop!

With the help of Eli and Debbie, Jasmine got rid of the body. But in the end, Jasmine admitted what she’d done and she went to prison.

After Emmerdale

Jenna joined Waterloo Road for a short while in 2009, playing ‘hard girl’ Lindsay James.

But it wasn’t a straightforward journey after that. Instead, Jenna went six months without acting work. She moved to Hollywood and though she won a small role in Captain America: The First Avenger, things were tricky.

Big break!

After a fair amount of disappointment, Jenna was asked to return to the UK to join the cast of Titanic, a four-part drama written by Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes.

And after that, the jobs kept coming! Jenna starred in the adaptation of PD James’ story Death Comes to Pemberley, among others.

Doctor Who!

In 2012 it was confirmed that Jenna was to play Clara Oswald, the companion of the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith. She was very popular with Doctor Who fans, and went on to be the companion when Peter Capaldi took on the role.

Jenna Coleman as Victoria and Tom Hughes as Albert — Victoria, which starred Jenna as the young queen, ran for three series (Credit: ITV/Shutterstock)

Jenna as Queen!

After Doctor Who, Jenna played the young Queen Victoria in the historical drama Victoria. The show ran for three series. Since then Jenna’s been in shows including The Cry, The Serpent, Wilderness and Sandman. Most recently she starred in detective drama The Jetty.

She’s also appeared on stage in the West End.

Jenna’s personal life

Jenna was in a relationship with Game of Thrones star Richard Madden for several years and then dated Tom Hughes, her Victoria co-star. In 2020, she met her current partner Jamie Childs, and this summer Jenna announced she is pregnant with their first baby.