Dope Girls: cast, plot, first looks and everything you need to know

Dope Girls on BBC1 (first look above) follows a 1920s London gang.

Dope Girls on BBC1 will definitely appeal to fans of Peaky Blinders, but this is a gang of hardened women and is set in 1920s London rather than violent male gangsters from Birmingham. The six-parter stars Mare of Easttown’s Julianne Nicholson and focuses on a forgotten time in history, where the streets of London’s Soho were home to female gangs running the clubs, drugs and moonshine. She plays Kate Galloway, a single mum who establishes a nightclub during the hedonistic time after World War One, embracing a life of crime in order to provide for her daughter. 

Dope Girls also stars Little Women’s Eliza Scanlen as Violet Davies, an undercover cop investigating the criminal world of underground nightclubs. 

Here’s everything you need to know about BBC1 drama series Dope Girls…

Dope Girls release date 

Dope Girls is a six-part drama starting on BBC1 and BBCiPlayer in 2024. When a release date is announced, we’ll update this page and also give details about the show's US channel and air date. 

Dope Girls plot 

Dope Girls looks at 1920s London’s underbelly of organised crime from the point of view of the female gangs running it at the time. It follows Kate Galloway (Julianne Nicholson), a single mum who opens a nightclub in Soho and steps into a life of criminal activity. Violet Davies (Eliza Scanlen) is one of the first wave of female cops for the MET, who is sent undercover to investigate London’s underground nightclub scene. There, she finds Billie Cassidy (Umi Myers), a bohemian dancer whose life is turned upside down by Kate’s arrival. 

Julianne Nicholson as Kate Galloway and Umi Myers as Billie Cassidy in Dope Girls. (Image credit: BBC)

Dope Girls cast — Julianne Nicholson as Kate Galloway

Julianne Nicholson plays single mum and nightclub owner Kate. She’s previously starred in The Others, Ally McBeal, Law & Order, Blonde, The Outsider and Mare of Easttown.

Julianne Nicholson as Kate Galloway in Dope Girls. (Image credit: BBC)

Eliza Scanlen as Violet

Eliza Scanlen plays undercover cop Violet. She has previously played Beth March in the film Little Women and starred in the 2018 series Sharp Objects. She’s also had roles in The First Lady, Fires, The Devil All the Time, Home and Away and Babyteeth. 

Eliza Scanlen as undercover cop Violet in Dope Girls. (Image credit: BBC)

Who else is starring in Dope Girls?

Dope Girls has a big cast. Umi Myers (Bob Marley: One Love) plays dancer Billie Cassidy, Geraldine James (Silo, Downton Abbey) also stars as Isabella, the leader of the criminal Salucci family, while Rory Fleck Bryne (This Is Going To Hurt) is Luca Salucci, Dustin Demri-Burns (Slow Horses) is Damaso Salucci, Eben Figueiredo (The Serial Killer’s Wife) is Matteo Rossi Salucci and Sebastian Croft (Heartstopper) is Silvio Salucci. Michael Duke (Get Up Stand Up) plays Eddie Cobb.

Other stars include Ian Bonar (I May Destroy You), Laura Checkley (Screw), Will Keen (His Dark Materials), Fiona Button (The Split), Harry Cadby (Everything Now), Nabhaan Rizwan (Informer), Priya Kansara (Polite Society) and Jordan Kouamé (Malpractice) round out the cast.

In Dope Girls, Geraldine James plays the leader of the criminal Salucci family, Isabella. (Image credit: BBC)

Micheal Duke as Eddie Cobb with Umi Myers as dancer Billie Cassidy. (Image credit: BBC)

Is there a trailer for Dope Girls? 

There's no trailer for Dope Girls yet, but when one drops we’ll post it up on here. 

Behind the scenes and more on Dope Girls

Dope Girls has been filmed in Wales in 2023 and 2024 and has been created and written by multi-award winning writer Polly Stenham (That Face, Julie, Neon Demon) and Alex Warren (Eleanor), and the drama has been developed and overseen by Bad Wolf and its Director of Content, Dan McCulloch and Chief Creative Officer, Ryan Rasmussen. 

As well as serving as lead writers on the series Polly Stenham and Alex Warren are Executive Producers alongside Kate Crowther and Jane Tranter from Bad Wolf, and Michael Lesslie for Storyteller Productions, with Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC. Other writers on the series include Matthew Barry, who is also Executive Producer, and writers Matthew Jacobs Morgan and Xiao Tang.

Shannon Murphy (Babyteeth, Killing Eve) is lead director with Miranda Bowen (Women In Love) directing later episodes. Directors of Photography include Annika Summerson and Carlos Catalan, while Sherree Philips (Babyteeth) is production designer.  Ado Yoshizaki Cassuto serves as producer. Casting is by Julie Harkin and Nathan Toth.

Dope Girls was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama. Sony Pictures Television will handle international distribution.

Dope Girls was filmed in Wales. (Image credit: BBC)