Lauren Lyle is a two-time BAFTA Scotland award winning actress, who’s experience spans film, television, and stage. Next up for Lauren is BBC Scotland/Sky New Zealand psychological drama The Ridge which will be released in October. Shot on location in New Zealand, Lauren takes the lead role of addict Mia who is fleeing addiction and leaving a professional life in tatters; she accepts a wedding invitation from her estranged sister in New Zealand – only to find the would-be bride dead upon arrival.
Lauren most recently reprised her role of the titular character in the second season of ITV’s critically acclaimed Karen Pirie based on the Inspector Karen Pirie novels by Val McDermid which follows a young detective-sergeant who is put in charge of solving a forty-year-old cold case, the kidnapping of an Oil Heiress’s son. Previously, in 2023, Lauren received two BAFTA Scotland awards, Best Actress in Television and the Audience Award for favorite Scot on Screen for her performance in season one of the show.
2025 has been a busy year as Lauren starred in the television drama series The Bombing of Pan Am 103, a BBC and Netflix (US) co-production. The series, also starring Connor Swindells and Peter Mullan, follows Britain’s worst terrorist attack in 1988 and aired earlier this year in May. Additionally, Lauren could be seen alongside Jodie Whittaker and Aimee Lou Wood in the Netflix series Toxic Town playing Dani Holliday. The four-part limited series tells the real-life Corby Toxic Waste Case story that dominated headlines in the UK. The series received rave reviews when it released in February of this year.
Last year, Lauren appeared in the critically acclaimed film, The Outrun, which premiered as part of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival lineup and was followed by a screening at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film – starring Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu and Stephen Dillane – was nominated in nine categories at BIFA, including ‘Best British Independent Film’.
Lauren is a series regular and fan favourite, playing Marsali MacKimmie Fraser in the BAFTA winning, Golden Globe and Emmy nominated series Outlander alongside Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan. Outlander is a historical drama television series based on the Outlander novel series by Diana Gabaldon. The series follows Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is transported back in time to 1743, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world in which her life is threatened. In 2021, Lyle also appeared in the BBC crime TV drama Vigil as Jade Antoniak, which is set on a ballistic missile submarine. Other television credits include Broken and Holby City.
In 2018, audiences saw Lauren star in the film adaptation of Fiona Shaw’s novel Tell It to the Bees, opposite Anna Paquin and Holliday Grainger, and Lily Rose Thomas’ debut short film Girls Who Drink. Other film credits include Something in the Water and Mercy Falls.
Lauren made her theatre debut in 2014 starring in the critically acclaimed production of The Crucible at the Old Vic Theatre. Her stage work includes several productions with the national Youth Theatre’s rep program in 2015, performing in three plays during the season, Wuthering Heights, Consensual and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.