Real life of The Outlaws and Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning - Doctor Who role, coming out and her famous kiss

Jessica Gunning may appear to have been catapulted to fame due to her leading role in the Netflix psychological comedy-drama Baby Reindeer, but her acting career is both varied and impressive. The 38-year-old Yorkshire-born actress started her career on stage but has bagged many television roles, with her most recent being the role of Martha Scott in Baby Reindeer this year.

Jessica landed a role in Doctor Who, where she guest-starred in "Partners in Crime, the first episode of the fourth series, which broadcast in 2008. And most recently, the star has returned for BBC's The Outlaws, seeing her reprise the role of Diane Pemberley for the third series.

The new series, which follows a group of strangers from different walks of life forced together to complete a community payback sentence in Bristol, started on BBC on Thursday, May 30 and continues tonight (Thursday, May 6).

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Describing her character, Jessica said: “Diane is persistent, she’s ruthless, no-nonsense, she never misses a trick - or so she thinks! In a dream world she would become a police officer. She’s Cagney & Lacey’s number one fan.”

On reuniting with the cast for series three, Jessica adds: “It’s been lovely all being back together, and I felt very lucky that I was in the writers’ room this time as I co-wrote an episode with Stephen, episode five. It’s been really exciting to be a part of helping draft the storyline for series three and get to know the characters more than I did before.”

Jessica's personal life recently came into the spotlight after the longtime LGBTQ+ rights activist shared that she came out as gay to people in her life back in November 2022 when she was 36. Talking about coming out she said: “That was a mega, mega thing for me. I’m surrounded by gays, all my friends are gay, and so it wasn’t that I was repressing anything.

“It was just that I didn’t think I could be and I still can’t articulate it in the best way. But, yeah, I realised I was a big old gay, and I was like: ‘That’s what it’s been. That’s what it is.’ That was a massive moment where everything clicked and I made sense for myself then.”

Jessica said after telling her family the same Christmas she “slept for 10 hours that night”. She continued: ‘It’s been a little secret I guess I’ve been keeping from myself even. And not in a kind of hating way. I never felt I was repressing anything in a bad way or that any reaction would be bad.”

The actor said she used to “watch the L Word” and “should have even known” when she filmed Pride as she would “cry all the time”. She added: “I did a play [When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other] with Cate Blanchett where I got to kiss her every night on stage. Again, should have known then. All these signs from the universe! It took me 36 years but I did it.”

Jessica said the experience of coming out has been “very freeing and very grounding”. She added: “It’s actually really emotional. And some of my straight friends have actually said they envy people being able to come out because it feels like a celebration of who you are. And I think we’re coming into a time where we won’t ever need to really come out again. But when you do it is so exposing. But it’s also really lovely going: ‘this is my soul’.”

The Outlaws returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Thursday, May 30. Watch The Outlaws on BBC iPlayer