Holliday Grainger

Holliday Grainger

A child actress in many notable British television series since the age of 6, Holliday (often credited as Holly) Grainger broke into a more adult market as the female lead in the U.K. romantic drama "The Scouting Book For Boys" (2009). She then went on to specialize in period costume dramas, with some of her higher profile roles including Lucrezia Borgia in Neil Jordan's three-season television series "The Borgias" (Showtime 2011-13), a part in a film version of "Jane Eyre" (2011), Estella in Mike Newell's adaptation of "Great Expectations" (2011), and an appearance opposite Keira Knightley and Jude Law in Joe Wright's adaptation of "Anna Karenina" (2012). Born in Didsbury, a suburb of the northern English city of Manchester, Grainger earned her first youthful television role on the situation comedy "All Quiet On The Preston Front" (BBC 1994-97). For the next decade and a half, she worked regularly in television, often showing up in iconic U.K. series including medical soap "Casualty" (BBC 1986-), crime drama "Dalziel and Pascoe" (BBC 1996-2007) and family drama "Where The Heart Is" (BBC 1997-2006). Her American breakthrough came with her leading role as criminal mastermind Bonnie Parker in the historical mini-series "Bonnie and Clyde" (History 2013).

WIKIPEDIA

MERLIN · S1, E7

The Gates of Avalon

When Arthur becomes besotted with a mysterious girl, he stands to lose more than just his heart. Morgana has a terrible nightmare showing Arthur's death at the hands of a strange but beautiful girl. She does not fully understand what it is about, but the intensity of the dream scares her. While hunting in the forest, Merlin and Arthur come across a girl, Sophia, and her father, Aulfric, under attack from bandits. The prince wades in and, with a little covert magical help from Merlin, successfully sees off the vagabonds. Seeing the rescued couple are shaken, Arthur offers them refuge in Camelot. It becomes apparent that Arthur is quite taken with the beautiful Sophia, but when Morgana sees her she is far from happy – this is the girl from her nightmare; Arthur must not trust her. Morgana tells Gaius of her dream and, wary, he sneaks into the guest chambers where he finds Aulfric's staff, which has ancient scripture carved into it. Before he can investigate further, Aulfric returns. Gaius makes his excuses to an angry Aulfric and leaves, but not before he notices a red flicker in the stranger's eyes...Convinced that the guests are up to no good, Gaius confides his suspicions in Merlin. The young warlock follows Aulfric to a lake where their concerns are verified: Merlin's powers allow him to see a gathering of magical people hovering over the water. Aulfric converses with them, begging passage back to Avalon, the land of eternal life, from which he and his daughter have been banished. The elders refuse – Aulfric can never return. His daughter's passage may only be bought with the life of a mortal prince – so Aulfric promises to bring Arthur as payment. A stunned Merlin rushes back to Camelot to tell Gaius what he saw. The pair work out that Sophia and Aulfric must be Sidhe, a magical people with the gift of enchantment. Merlin knows he must warn Arthur. But it might be too late...