Despite not playing a central role in the third and final series of cult gothic drama Penny Dreadful, Jessica Barden made a powerful impact portraying brutalised prostitute Justine - a devoted acolyte to Billie Piper's fearsome Lily Frankenstein.

With an undeniably strong screen presence, the baby-faced 24 year old has steadily been accumulating an impressive list of roles since appearing in Coronation Street when she was just 13 (playing Kayleigh Morton for an 18-month stint). Last year the Yorkshire native was seen in Yorgos Lanthimos's acclaimed English language debut The Lobster, opposite Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz, as well as Thomas Vinterberg's big budget adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd, featuring Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts. 2016 has proved equally fruitful, aside from Penny Dreadful, Barden has been seen in US series Outcast and Channel 4's one-off hard-hitting social drama Ellen, a role which won her praise from Radio Times, who said: 'There's no doubt Barden’s is a name we’ll hear more of in the coming years'.