Kate Phillips: Actress Behind Peaky Blinders and Downton Abbey

You know the face even if the name takes a beat: Kate Phillips is the actress behind Linda Shelby in Peaky Blinders and Princess Mary in Downton Abbey. Before those roles, she trained at the University of Leeds and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, a route The Sunday Post (Scottish newspaper) traces in an early profile.

Known for: Peaky Blinders, Downton Abbey, Miss Scarlet and the Duke ·
Nationality: British ·
Peaky Blinders role: Linda Shelby ·
Downton Abbey role: Princess Mary ·
Current lead role: Eliza Scarlet in Miss Scarlet and the Duke ·
Height: Not publicly confirmed

Six facts, one pattern: the public record is strong on her roles and deliberately quiet on the private side.

Who did Kate Phillips play in Downton Abbey?

In the 2019 Downton Abbey film, Phillips plays Princess Mary. PBS Masterpiece identifies the role in its cast guide. Princess Mary is not Lady Mary Crawley; that character belongs to Michelle Dockery.

Who was Princess Mary in Downton Abbey?

• Princess Mary is a royal character who interacts with the Crawley family during the film’s plot.
• The character is separate from Lady Mary Crawley, played by Michelle Dockery.

Who is the highest paid actor in Downton Abbey?

• No official salary data appears in the verified materials used for this guide.
• Any “highest paid” figure circulating online should be treated as unconfirmed.

The pattern: Downton Abbey feeds the same mix-up because two of its most-discussed female characters share a first name. Phillips plays the royal Mary; Michelle Dockery plays the Crawley Mary.

The implication: the role is distinct from the better-known Mary, yet the shared name keeps Phillips in the search results.

What part did Kate Phillips play in Peaky Blinders?

Kate Phillips plays Linda Shelby, Arthur Shelby’s wife, in Peaky Blinders. PBS Masterpiece connects her to the role in the same cast guide that lists the Downton Abbey credit.

Who is the gypsy girl in Peaky Blinders?

• The “gypsy girl” label in Peaky Blinders belongs to a separate Romani storyline, not to Linda Shelby.
• Linda’s role is tied to Arthur Shelby and the family business, not to that heritage plot.

Is Tom Hardy’s wife in Peaky Blinders?

• Charlotte Riley, who is married to Tom Hardy, appears in Peaky Blinders as May Carleton.
• May is a different character from Linda, but the two actresses are sometimes tangled together in “which actress is married to whom” searches.

The catch: Linda Shelby is often the answer to “who is the actress in Peaky Blinders?”, but she is not the show’s only female character and not the source of every gypsy-girl reference.

The pattern: Linda Shelby is the role that drives the most searches, but her character is often confused with others due to the show’s ensemble.

Is Kate Phillips married?

No top-tier source confirms that Kate Phillips is married, and no reliable profile names a husband. Her agency biography stays strictly professional.

Does Kate Phillips have any children?

• No authoritative source used in this guide confirms that Phillips has children.
• Social media claims naming specific children should be treated as unverified.

Who is Kate Phillips’s husband?

• No spouse is listed in the career profiles reviewed for this guide.
• The accurate public answer is “not confirmed,” not a name.

What this means: the absence of a husband in the record is not a rumor; it is the current state of verified information.

The implication: the public record deliberately stops at her professional biography, and any name offered as a husband is speculation.

How tall is actress Kate Phillips?

There is no official height for Kate Phillips in the sources used for this guide. A precise number online is an estimate, not a documented fact.

What nationality is Kate Phillips?

• Kate Phillips is a British actress working mainly in British television and film.
• Her nationality is not in dispute in the source materials reviewed here.

How old is Miss Scarlet in Miss Scarlet and the Duke?

• Miss Scarlet and the Duke never states Eliza Scarlet’s exact age.
• The show emphasizes her professional identity as a female detective in Victorian London.

The implication: height and exact age are not documented in the professional record. A number that looks precise is likely a guess.

Which actresses are named Kate?

Part of the Kate Phillips search problem is first-name collision. Working actresses named Kate include Kate Winslet, Kate Beckinsale, Kate Mara, Kate Hudson and Kate McKinnon. None of them is the Kate Phillips who played Linda Shelby.

Kate Phillips vs. other actresses named Kate

• Kate Winslet, Kate Beckinsale, Kate Mara, Kate Hudson and Kate McKinnon all have long, separate filmographies.
• Kate Phillips is the actress associated with Peaky Blinders, the 2019 Downton Abbey film, and Miss Scarlet and the Duke.

Was Kate Phillips in Poldark?

• No Poldark credit appears in the source profiles used in this guide.
• If a database snippet implies otherwise, check the character name; the mix-up is common when multiple actresses share the first name Kate.

Was Kate Phillips in The Crown?

• Kate Phillips appeared in The Crown as Venetia Scott, Winston Churchill’s secretary.
• The exact episode list varies by database, so verify the episode before using it as a bio detail.

Why this matters: the Kate Phillips search is rarely about one person. It is a cluster of actresses sharing a first name, plus one very searchable period-drama résumé.

What is Kate Phillips doing now?

Phillips’s most visible current role is Eliza Scarlet in Miss Scarlet and the Duke, the Victorian detective drama that gives her a lead part rather than a supporting one. Her film list also includes The Alienist, which Norwich Film Festival mentions in its Phillips biography.

Is Miss Scarlet and the Duke still running?

• The clearest production signal in the verified record is her executive producer credit on the show’s final season.
• Exactly when that final season reaches screens is not confirmed in the sources used here.

What was Kate Phillips in Hijack?

• Hijack is a 2023 thriller series; audience databases list it among Phillips’s credits, but the source profiles used here do not name the role.
• The safe label is “recent TV credit, role unverified.”

The trade-off: Phillips has built a dependable career in period drama, but the absence of a verified personal profile means her professional roles carry more weight than the usual celebrity biography.

Confirmed facts vs. what’s still unclear

The public record is lopsided: roles are confirmed, personal details are not.

• Kate Phillips is a British actress with professional credits in television, film and theatre.
• She played Linda Shelby in Peaky Blinders and Princess Mary in the 2019 Downton Abbey film.
• She leads Miss Scarlet and the Duke as Eliza Scarlet.

What remains open to verification:

• Marital status, husband and children.
• Exact height and birth date.
• Eliza Scarlet’s exact age in the series.
• The highest paid actor in Downton Abbey.
• The precise details of her credited role in The Crown.

What the sources say

The series presents Eliza Scarlet as a female detective in Victorian London, and the interview material around it treats that premise as the show’s core hook.

Willow and Thatch (period-drama outlet)

Her agency biography lists an executive producer credit on the final season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke.

Independent Talent Group (her agency)

The takeaway

Kate Phillips is not a mystery; she is an actress with a clear, well-documented career and a deliberately private personal life. For anyone searching “Kate Phillips husband” or “Kate Phillips height,” the honest answer is the same: not confirmed. For a fan of period drama, the choice is simpler — follow the work, because the work keeps arriving.

Frequently asked questions