Hayley Atwell is one of the most talented and bright young actresses working in the film industry right now. The British-American actress began her acting career in 2005 at the Sound Theater in London, and she went on to give many praise-worthy performances in her theater career but her big onscreen debut came in the shape of a BBC miniseries in 2006 titled The Line of Beauty. But even that wasn’t the point in her career when she was a known name around the world, the came when she first appeared as Peggy Carter in the MCU’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Atwell recently starred opposite the biggest movie star alive Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1. So, if you love Atwell’s performances here are the 10 best movies and shows starring Hayley Atwell that should be on your watchlist.
10. Cinderella (Starz & Prime Video Add-On)
Synopsis: The story of Cinderella follows young Ella (Lily James) whose merchant father remarries following the death of her mother. Eager to support her loving father, she finds herself at the mercy of her jealous and cruel new family.
9. The Line of Beauty (Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: Adapted by award-winning writer Andrew Davies from Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker Prize-winning novel, this three-part saga is set during the Thatcherite 1980s. A story of love, class, sex and money, The Line of Beauty crawls deep under the skin of Thatcher’s Britain, seen through the eyes and experiences of a young, gay man, from the euphoria of falling in love to the tragedy of AIDS. Framed by the two general elections which returned Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative government to power, the series unfurls through four extraordinary years of change and tragedy.
8. Christopher Robin (Disney+ & Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: Beloved characters come out of the Hundred Acre Wood and into the city for this big-hearted tale from Disney. What to do when all-grown-up Christopher Robin loses his way? Winnie The Pooh and friends embark on a new adventure in which they remind him-and you-how to laugh again, for “”sometimes doing nothing leads to the very best something””. Share the wonder and delight of this new film with your family.
7. The Pillars of the Earth (Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: A sweeping epic of good and evil, treachery and intrigue, violence and beauty with an exceptional all-star cast: Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Donald Sutherland and Academy Award®-Winner Eddie Redmayne. This sensuous, spirited and passionate story is set against a backdrop of war, religious strife and power struggles which tears lives and families apart. In that time, there rises a magnificent Cathedral in Kingsbridge Against this backdrop, love-stories entwine: Tom, the master builder, Aliena, the noblewoman, the sadistic Lord William, Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge, Jack, the artist in stone work and Ellen, the woman from the forest who casts a curse. At once, this is a sensuous and enduring love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age. Follett masterfully weaves these stories through the political turmoil of 12th century England, creating a relevant and viable world for today’s audience and for generations to come.
6. Testament of Youth (Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: Testament of Youth is a powerful story of love, war and remembrance, based on the First World War memoir by Vera Brittain, which has become the classic testimony of that war from a woman’s point of view. A searing journey from youthful hopes and dreams to the edge of despair and back again, it’s a film about young love, the futility of war and how to make sense of the darkest times.
5. Criminals: UK (Netflix)
Synopsis: Criminals is a police procedural with a unique premise, CRIMINAL takes place exclusively within the confines of a police interview suite. This stripped down, cat-and-mouse drama focuses on the intense mental conflict between the police detectives and the suspect in question.
4. Black Mirror: Be Right Back (Netflix)
Synopsis: Black Mirror is an anthology series that taps into our collective unease with the modern world, with each stand-alone episode a sharp, suspenseful tale exploring themes of contemporary techno-paranoia. Without questioning it, technology has transformed all aspects of our lives; in every home; on every desk; in every palm – a plasma screen; a monitor; a Smartphone – a Black Mirror reflecting our 21st Century existence back at us. The series is created and written by Charlie Brooker, and executive produced by Brooker and Annabel Jones.
3. Howard’s End (Starz & Prime Video Add-On)
Synopsis: Often considered E.M. Forster’s masterpiece, Howards End is the story of two independent and unconventional sisters and the men in their lives seeking love and meaning as they navigate an ever-changing world. Academy Award winning screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan brings a fresh take to this adaptation. Margaret Schlegel (Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger) is an intelligent, idealistic young woman who is courted by the older Henry Wilcox (Matthew Macfadyen, Succession), a self-made conservative businessman, after his wife Ruth Wilcox (Julia Ormond) dies unexpectedly and he becomes owner of Howards End.
Meanwhile Margaret’s passionate and capricious younger sister Helen Schlegel (Philippa Coulthard) takes up the cause of Leonard Bast (Joseph Quinn), a young bank clerk who falls on hard times at work and at home with his partner Jacky (Rosalind Eleazar). In the absence of their late parents, the sisters’ loving but interfering Aunt Juley (Tracey Ullman) tries to keep the young ladies and their brother Tibby (Alex Lawther) on the straight and narrow.
2. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 (Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan’s past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.
1. Marvel Cinematic Universe (Disney+)
Hayley Atwell plays the role of Peggy Carter in the MCU, the main love interest to Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans). She has appeared in multiple MCU projects including some where she differs from her original character. The role of Peggy Carter first appeared in the MCU in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger, after which she appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Endgame, What If…?, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While the character seems to be finished in the MCU after she got her happy ending in Endgame she could return in some new form of her character just like in the Doctor Strange sequel.
