What’s it like for an actor to star in a humongously successful show – as a photograph? How does it feel to be a big part of a huge production, but barely even act – essentially to have your face be cast? It turns out that – whether you’re the employee of the month in the background of a sitcom or a deceased soldier in an Oscar-winning drama – it can have a variety of unforeseen consequences, from upset grandmas to bemused baristas.
“My mum was very weirded out,” says 14-year-old Emilia Holliday, who plays Katie, the murdered teen in Adolescence. She is only seen being stalked and stabbed in distant CCTV footage, has no lines, and her role is largely limited to a few photographs – including one that is framed and surrounded by flowers and balloons in an impromptu memorial, which wasn’t the easiest thing for her mother to see. Or in Holliday’s words: “She definitely felt a bit weird.”
