Holly Bourne’s much loved book series, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, is finally about to land on screens this year – much to the excitement of long-term fans.
And there’s a lot to look forward to. Though the book series was set in Connecticut, the series itself has been moved to the sleepy British town of Little Kilton, where five years previously, high school student Andie Bell was killed in a murder-suicide attack by her boyfriend Sal Singh.
Undeterred by the fact that the case appears to be closed, high school student Pip decides to do some digging of her own, and sets into motion a chain of events that will make her question everything.
The cast is stacked full of young British acting talent. Here’s who they are, and who they play.
Emma Myers as Pippa (Pip) Fitz-Amobi
Pip is a 17-year-old student who was 12 when the infamous murder-suicide happened. But was it as simple as the police seem to believe? Determined to uncover the truth, she starts looking into the case for her senior project… only to discover that she might be in serious danger.
Myers herself is best known for playing Enid Sinclair, Wednesday Addams’ roommate in the hit Netflix series Wednesday. An American actor, Myers was born in Florida in 2002 and began her career in 2010 with an appearance in crime show The Glades.
Zain Iqbal as Ravi Singh
Ravi is the younger brother of Sal. He strongly believes his brother didn’t kill Andie, and pairs up with Pip to try and solve the case – leading the two to develop feelings for each other.
Zain Iqbal is an acting newcomer: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is his first major TV role. “I’ve only been acting for four years. I moved to London two years ago just to make it happen,” he said at a recent Q&A. “I got the call, I was crying, literally crying.”
India Lillie Davies as Andie Bell
The police believe that pretty, popular high school senior Andie was killed by her boyfriend Sal five years ago. However, Pip isn’t so sure, and it’s her attempts to find out what really happened that lead her to start digging into the case.
India Lillie Davies is a British actor. She’s also fairly new to the world of acting – she appeared in an episode of BBC series Call the Midwife in 2021, and in an episode of Netflix hit Bridgerton as Sasha.
Rahul Pattni as Sal Singh
Sal was Andie’s boyfriend. After her death, he confessed that he’d killed her in a text to police before taking his own life. But did he really? Ravi, his younger brother, thinks he’s innocent.
Pattni is another fresh face. A UCL graduate, he’s not been acting long – in addition to appearing in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, he’s also appeared in 2024 short Two Lifetimes and longrunning medical series Casualty.
Asha Banks as Cara Ward
Cara is one of Pip’s best friends. She’s laid back and chaotic where Pip is organised and self-contained, and she’s also the daughter of teacher Elliot Ward, whom Pip sees as a father figure.
Asha Banks, who plays her, is an English actor. Born in 2003 in Hertfordshire, she began her career as a child actor in the West End, and made her film debut in 2022’s The Magic Flute, a German fantasy film also starring Iwan Rheon.
Yali Topol Margalith as Lauren Gibson
Lauren is Pip’s friend. “She strives to live her teenage years like she has seen in the movies, which, as we know, is not realistic,” Topol Margalith told Country and Townhouse magazine. “So she lives in constant fear of missing out on life. She was also born to be the ‘embarrassing aunt’. She is absolutely always unapologetically herself.”
The granddaughter of Israeli actor Topol, who won an Oscar for playing lead character Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, Topol Margalith trained as a musical theatre performer and did two stage productions before turning to TV. Her first major role was in Sky’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz, where she played Cilka. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is her second.
Jude Morgan-Collie as Connor Reynolds
Connor is one of Pip’s best friends. Easy going and care free, he nevertheless becomes tied up with Pip’s investigation, and takes on a more important role as the book series progresses.
Morgan-Collie is a British actor, who was born in 2004. Best known for playing Sam Jessop in the BBC sitcom Here We Go, he also appeared in Terminator: Dark Fate as a young John Connor in 2019.
Raiko Gohara as Zach Chen
Zach is Pip’s friend and neighbour, who also becomes involved in the case. Gohara himself is an actor and model based in London, and most recently, he’s been appearing George Takei’s stage show Allegiance at Charing Cross Theatre.
Yasmin Al-Khudhairi as Naomi Ward
Naomi is Cara’s older sister, as well as a former friend of Sal Singh’s. She agrees to be interviewed for Pip’s project about the murders. Al-Khudhairi is an English actor who was born in London. She made friends with writer and director Rishi Pelham at university, and subsequently was cast as Ayala in his 2019 independent dance film Hilda.
Since then she’s also appeared in Killing Eve, in the 2023 rom-com Rye Lane and as Princess Yadira in the third series of the Sky thriller Cobra.
Mathew Baynton as Elliot Ward
Elliot Ward is the father of Cara and Naomi. A single father ever since their mother Isobel died, he’s a teacher at the local school.
Baynton, who plays him, is an actor, comedian and musician. Born in 1980, he grew up in Essex and turned to acting young (he’s also related to sibling acting duo Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper). As an adult, he, and the other members of the Them There collective, are most famous for appearing in the longrunning children’s show Horrible Histories, which they left in 2014.
Since then, they have collaborated together to create Sky show Yonderland, and BBC sitcom Ghosts, which ended in 2023. Baynton also appeared opposite James Cordon in the BBC Two comedy thriller series The Wrong Mans in 2013.
Anna Maxwell Martin as Leanne Amobi
Leanne is Pip’s mother, who appears throughout the series. Maxwell Martin, who plays her, is another British acting veteran. Born in 1977, she’s received two British Academy Television Awards, for her work in Bleak House and in Channel 4’s Poppy Shakespeare.
She played DCS Patricia Carmichael in BBC One’s Line of Duty from 2019-21, Kelly Major in Sky’s Code 404, and until 2022, in BBC show Motherland, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA. She is currently on stage at the Old Vic in The Constituent, opposite James Corden.
