Trailblazing female characters that changed the TV game

While there's plenty left to do in the TV landscape for female representation, there are some characters that we continue thinking about on a regular basis.

From newer series leads like Vinette Robinson's Carly in Boiling Point to the beloved Cristina Yang in Grey's Anatomy or Bella in I May Destroy You, there are so many examples of characters that keep us endlessly entertained and, crucially, emphasise just how much poorer television would be without female characters with purpose.

We'd be here for a very long while if we were to list every single wonderful woman who has graced our telly with their brilliance, but RadioTimes.com has gathered together some of the top hitters who demonstrate the breadth of what women have to offer.

With that, scroll on for some of the female characters that have changed the TV game.

Carly - Boiling Point

It's no easy feat leading an entire series off the back of the success of the original film, but in Boiling Point, Vinette Robinson's Carly Robinson is given a chance to shine in her own spotlight.

While there may have been fans of the film that were hoping to see more of Stephen Graham in the BBC four-parter, the focus on Carly was actually a refreshing portrayal of a Black female chef in a male-dominated industry.

A more receptive and understanding head chef, Carly's Point North restaurant goes through its own trials and tribulations - but as a leader of her own kitchen, Carly's very much in control, and it's wonderful to see.

Carly goes on her own journey of identity through the series, suffering from levels of imposter syndrome that many women can sympathise with, while also battling personal issues relating to relationships and her mother.

Sure, does Carly need a better work-life balance? Very much so. But in her character, we see how passion can be the driving force behind our career. Boiling Point doesn't provide us with clean-cut, picture perfect characters, but gives us a snapshot of reality and real issues impacting real people, demonstrating how even a seemingly level-headed Carly can be suffering behind-the-scenes too.

- Morgan Cormack, Drama Writer

Jaq - Top Boy

It's in the title of the acclaimed show, so of course there's a focus on the main male characters of Sully and Dushane in Top Boy. But really, as any Top Boy fan will tell you, Jasmine Jobson's Jaq is the real MVP in this series. A complete force to be reckoned with, Jaq is the entrusted senior member of the Summerhouse gang - and while some decisions of hers may leave you wincing, she really does call the shots.

Across the seasons, we see Jaq go from being near the top of the Top Boy food chain to being an indomitable leader, never failing to give her opinion or being scared of the consequences of her actions, even if season 5 saw her double-crossing allies and landing herself in some serious hot water. But amidst the drug deals, surprise deaths and confrontations, Jaq's arc as Lauren's sister and as Becks's girlfriend underline her as more than just a gang leader.

In combatting a violent homophobic attack in season 4, having to deal with her sister's abusive relationship and her resulting drug habit, Jaq faced a raft of problems throughout the series.

The most intriguing thing about Jaq, though, was that while she remained committed to her work, she eventually started to question - along with the viewer - her own place in that criminal world, and how she could use her skills elsewhere. Even so, I'm pretty sure Jaq pulled that fateful trigger in the show's closing moments, and if rumours of a spin-off are true, I'll be the first to tune in.

- Morgan Cormack, Drama Writer

Ellie - The Last of Us

As a series (and of course, a video game), The Last of Us has rightfully been bestowed with praise, accolades and more since it premiered last year, meaning we're all now just waiting patiently for season 2. As Ellie, Bella Ramsey comes into their own in this role as the complicated and blunt talking teenager who is a complicated joy to watch.

Discovering she could very well be the key to reverse engineering a vaccine that could save humankind is a lot for any person to wrap their head around, let alone a teenager, but Ellie takes everything in her stride. Ellie's evolution through season 1 is another example of never underestimating young female lead characters, with Ellie being able to hold a machine gun and deal with insurmountable amounts of grief that would upend any TV character.

Like any familial relationship, Ellie and Joel (Pedro Pascal) face many bumps in the road with the two initially not even liking each other enough to go on a cross-country journey together. But by the end, Ellie really steps up to look after Joel with episode 9, When We Are in Need, really cementing Ellie's determination - and the fact that she's one of the characters on TV who keeps us on the edge of our seats.

- Morgan Cormack, Drama Writer

Dre - Swarm

In a totally polar performance from her role in Judas and the Black Messiah, Dominique Fishback leads Prime Video's Swarm as totally obsessed Dre, who would do anything for pop star Ni'Jah. The series is a frank look at the out-of-hand nature of stan culture, with many references to a particular megastar, but here we zone in on Dre, one character whose life is completely upended by thoughts of Ni'Jah.

While there are many great things about this series, Dre is a character that, of course, isn't completely understandable or even likeable. But in her characterisation, we get something we haven't seen on TV before – a Black female lead who isn't merely the side character, isn't amiable and is, actually, a serial killer.

In an age of shows obsessed with true crime and murder, it's glaringly obvious that those characterisations are exclusively white and male. Dre is an oddly refreshing subversion of the regular people we see in shows like these, bringing new meaning to a character that you can't understand yet feel deeply for, even if you're always fearful of what she'll do next. More messy female characters, please!

- Morgan Cormack, Drama Writer

Mary Villiers - Mary & George

While this Sky drama may have only landed on our screens this week, it's almost perfect timing for IWD, as Julianne Moore's Mary Villiers is the kind of duplicitous yet loveable character I personally can't get enough of. Turning tropes of female TV characters on their head, Mary is cold, unrepentant and hell-bent on bettering her family by any means necessary. It's a good thing, then, that she has a handsome son that she can mould to seduce the king.

Based on the true story of the Villiers' ascent to becoming one of the most powerful families in the Jacobean era, Moore brings such an electrifying quality to the role, which makes it hard to look away as Mary plays people much like they're pieces on a chess board. You may say villain, I may say icon.

However you interpret her character, the story and the history it brings to life, there's no denying that Mary embodies qualities that many would relate to – a desire for more, wanting a better life for her family and hoping to leave a legacy. And she does it all while balancing her own sexual relationships, serving serious looks and giving a new meaning to the side eye.

- Morgan Cormack, Drama Writer

Catherine Cawood - Happy Valley

In the male-dominated crime drama universe that continues to persevere, Sarah Lancashire's portrayal of Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley was a beacon of light for many women. Sure, her career and investigations dominated much of her day and waking moments, but you can't deny that Catherine was damn good at her job. Often battling through the hierarchy in her station and not having her opinions respected enough as a middle-aged uniformed officer, Catherine was several steps ahead of most of her team time and time again.

But outside of her job, Catherine encapsulated a tragic story of grief that kept her motivated to carry on with life, even though her heart continuously broke with memories of her dead daughter. There were many moments throughout the three seasons that would leave a lump in your throat, particularly in her final season's moments with grandson Ryan and sister Clare, as Catherine had to reckon with betrayal and disloyalty. Of course, Happy Valley fans want more of the show, but Catherine's end was one of those perfect bowtie moments that TV series and female characters often don't get.

- Morgan Cormack, Drama Writer

Arya Stark - Game of Thrones

There are plenty of women in Game of Thrones that resonate with viewers, but Maisie Williams's Arya Stark is one for the books. Her character arc is one of the most impressive in the entire series, going from pure innocence to having an insatiable need for revenge and blood.

And, you know what? Good on her. After seeing your father being beheaded, god only knows how we'd all react, but in this fantasy series, Arya's 'kill list' is precisely what keeps her going.

Training as a Faceless Man, seeking retribution for the Red Wedding, mending her relationship with sister Sansa and killing many of those on her list, Arya eventually helps brother Bran ascend the throne as king and bids farewell to her siblings, setting off on an adventure of her own. Really, Arya encapsulates the kind of emotional journey, sacrifice and loyalty that underpinned Game of Thrones, and proved that no woman in this fantasy universe should ever be underestimated because of their gender, stature or age.

- Morgan Cormack, Drama Writer

Annalise Keating - How to Get Away with Murder

Viola Davis is obviously known for a variety of acclaimed roles, and is one of few actors to hold the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) status. But it's her part as Annalise Keating in legal drama How to Get Away with Murder that I always come back to when thinking of Davis's sheer range as an actor.

Annalise is going through it in this series, let's be frank, but the defence attorney and legal professor achieves celebrity status among her cohort of students – and rightfully so. She's at the top of her career, so smart she runs rings around her colleagues and has comebacks and dramatic monologues for days.

But it's in the quieter moments of the series that Annalise really does blaze trails, and one scene in particular - season 1 episode 4, to be precise - of Annalise removing her wig, make-up and false eyelashes is especially poignant as we see the lauded character drop her armour and prepare to confront her husband with a shocking revelation.

While there won't be any spoilers here, across the six seasons, we see Annalise combat a range of personal and professional fires, but remain determined in upholding her career status and protecting her students – even if it involves an unlikely murder cover-up.

- Morgan Cormack, Drama Writer

Cristina Yang - Grey's Anatomy

Before Sandra Oh achieved international acclaim for Killing Eve, it was her role as Cristina Yang in long-running medical drama Grey's Anatomy that cemented her as an acting talent to be reckoned with. But the role itself will go down in Grey's history. Not only was Cristina part of the heady glory days of the show, she was the real star when much of the focus was on Ellen Pompeo's Meredith.

As each other's "person", Cristina and Meredith's relationship underlined the importance of those female friendships we have in our lives that often serve as an emotional crutch, but Cristina herself captures so many facets in one TV character. She is no-nonsense, fiercely intelligent, goal-driven and blunt in a way that is so unapologetic, it's inspiring. You wouldn't catch Cristina sign off emails with "no worries if not" or apologising for taking up space, no sir.

Often like a tornado cascading through the halls of Seattle Grace (as the hospital was formerly known in the series), Cristina is also a career-driven character that doesn't lack emotional depth and wasn't written off as devoid of romantic relationships. But in choosing herself and her career over troublesome entanglements with doctors like Burke, Marlow or Hunt, she proved that you can still thrive as a character who hasn't been written as merely dependent on their male counterparts.

- Morgan Cormack, Drama Writer

Arabella Essiedu - I May Destroy You

Credited for changing the television landscape, the blistering, Emmy-winning BBC drama I May Destroy You dominated awards season on both sides of the Atlantic following its release, and owes a large portion of its success to its funny, watchable protagonist Arabella (“Bella”), played by the show’s creator Michaela Coel.

The extraordinary series follows the Twitter celebrity-turned-author, when she is forced to confront her ideas of sexual consent after being drugged and sexually assaulted in a London bar. The show’s brutal examination of trauma comes from a place of real-life inspiration: Coel herself was a victim of sexual assault while working on the second season of her hit E4 comedy, Chewing Gum. The surreal Groundhog Day scenario in the finale sees Arabella pass through various stages of facing her trauma, from grief to anger, all the way to a kind of acceptance. Ultimately, the series is as strange and daring as its heroine.

- Flora Carr, Drama Writer

13th Doctor - Doctor Who

When Jodie Whittaker became the 13^th person to play Doctor Who in 2017, it was a landmark moment for the franchise. She became the first ever female incarnation of the Time Lord, and even brought a non-gender specific costume into the fray.

Whittaker’s role was a ground-breaking move for the iconic BBC series – it broke the mould for sci-fi narratives, many of which have historically relegated women to the sidelines as major characters and as sidekicks to their male heroes. Her role also seems to have paved the way for greater diversity when it comes to the casting of the Fourteenth Doctor (if the rampant rumours about who could be the next Time Lord are anything to go by).

What’s more, the New Year special seemed to confirm that the Doctor and her companion Yaz (Mandip Gill) have feelings for one another, which was another great step in the right direction, even if it could have happened a little earlier on in their storyline arc.

- Molly Moss, Trends Writer

Fleabag - Fleabag

​​The forbidden, sexually charged relationship between Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag and the ‘Hot Priest’ may have proved one of the hottest pop culture talking points of 2019, but in reality, it’s the anti-heroine herself and her relationships with various women that make for the most interesting viewing.

Fleabag, whose real name we never learn, is a sexually active and complex, furious woman living in London and coping with profound grief, while also attempting to keep her guinea-pig themed cafe afloat. She has a love-hate relationship with her perfect sister Claire (played by Sian Clifford), whose darkly funny, tragicomic miscarriage scene with Fleabag felt ground-breaking and unflinchingly honest (and was in fact inspired by a true story). The women’s stepmother, played by Olivia Colman, is toxic and controlling. Kristin Scott Thomas’s businesswoman Belinda delivers a searing soliloquy on the potential magnificence of menopause, a possibility that perhaps had never occurred to either our protagonist or indeed its millions of viewers.

Fleabag blazes a trail, not only in the existence of its main character, but as an excavation of female desire, bodies, ambitions, anger, sisters, and its myriad on-screen female relationships. Rather than shying away from topics like miscarriage or menopause, the series confronts them head on.

- Flora Carr, Drama Writer

Blanca Rodriguez-Evangelista - Pose

Not only is MJ Rodriguez trailblazing a path for trans actors everywhere, having recently become the first trans woman to take home a Golden Globe for best actress, but her character is an icon that queer, trans, and cisgender people can all relate to. As the mother of the House of Evangelista, Blanca supports and builds up the LGBTQ+ people in her care to ensure that they can overcome the stigma and homophobia they face in society.

Blanca’s character, and Rodriguez’ amazing portrayal, makes the audience feel deep empathy for what LGBTQ+ people went through during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and what many continue to face today. Blanca wants to make sure that her ‘children’ have the love and support they need to achieve everything she couldn’t because of the world she was born in – it’s not so different from the world many queer and trans people live in now. We are forced to confront the fact that today’s world is often not so different from 30/40 years ago, which is incredibly important. For queer people, having this powerful and strong female character face discrimination head on is incredibly empowering and makes us believe we can too.

- Michele Theil

The women of Killing Eve

The first season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s spy thriller Killing Eve landed on our screens back in 2018 – and challenged the rules of the genre.

Waller-Bridge’s script, which is based on the series of novellas by Luke Jennings, reimagined several of the main male characters as female. But it refused to simply swap out the roles. Instead, it’s deliberately crafted from a female perspective with a feminist sensibility.

In a TV landscape where women are usually foils to the male characters in charge, Jodie Comer’s unapologetic hitwoman Villanelle, Sandra Oh’s darkly comic MI6 agent Eve and Fiona Shaw’s no-nonsense MI6 operative Carolyn altered the way women in spy dramas are supposed to behave, offering us complex and dangerous female characters who are at times downright unlikeable, and who definitely aren’t defined by their relationship to men.

- Molly Moss, Trends Writer

Samantha Jones - Sex and the City

Sex and the City’s many missteps have been discussed at length in recent years following a collective re-evaluation of the celebrated sitcom, and rightly so. But for all its faults, there’s no denying that the four women at its core, particularly Samantha Jones, paved the way for so many female characters that followed, and impacted how both women and men thought about women right here in the real world.

To her enemies, Samantha was self-centred, abrasive, crude and spent far too much time rabbiting on about sex and men. In fact, one of the central criticisms levelled at the series is how much of the dialogue is dedicated to the latter. To those of us who admired Samantha, however, she was a revolutionary who certainly had all of those characteristics and then some.

The most engaging, authentic female characters are two, three, four, five things all at the same time because that mirrors the reality of being a flesh and blood human being. There’s also the flip side to that condemnation of Samantha: was she as self-centred as some claimed her to be, or was it just jarring for her critics to watch a woman choosing herself, time and time again?

Samantha Jones wasn’t perfect, and that’s exactly why she remains as beloved today as she was two decades ago.

- Abby Robinson, Drama Editor

Jessica Jones - Jessica Jones

It took far too long for compelling female-led superhero stories to arrive in live-action, but Marvel and Netflix’s Jessica Jones went some way to making up for lost time. Krysten Ritter embodies the title role, playing the one-time vigilante turned alcoholic private investigator as she works through trauma endured while caught in the grip of mind-controlling abuser, Kilgrave (David Tennant).

The trailblazing show paved the way for an explosion in comic book adaptations starring women – even pre-dating 2017 blockbuster Wonder Woman – by telling a story that rang true with viewers around the world. Like most of the Marvel/Netflix collaborations, the show suffered from diminishing returns in later seasons, but the power of that stunning debut can still be felt to this day.

- David Craig, Writer

Sophia Burset - Orange Is the New Black

The TV landscape looked markedly different when Orange is the New Black first premiered in 2013, certainly in terms of transgender representation. Laverne Cox played Sophie Burset, a black transgender inmate who fought for basic human rights such as access to healthcare in prison and stood up to bigotry from fellow inmates. Despite her unpleasant situation, Sophia was a refreshing and complex character, both falling into and subverting stereotypes surrounding transgender people.

Cox wasn’t the first trans actor to play a trans role on TV, but she was the first to be nominated for an Emmy (for her performance in Orange Is the New Black) in 2014. Her mainstream role had a huge impact on transgender visibility on TV, arguably paving the way for the nuanced and complex portrayal of trans character we’re seeing today in shows such as Sense8, Pose and Euphoria.

- Molly Moss, Trends Writer

Clarissa Mullery - Silent Witness

The TV landscape, while continuing to evolve for the better, has yet to achieve parity when it comes to disability representation, with disabled talent painfully absent from our screens. BBC drama Silent Witness is one of a handful of shows in British TV history which has contributed positively to the conversation with the casting of Liz Carr.

Carr has arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, which has seen her use a wheelchair since the age of seven, but that’s just one facet of forensic examiner Clarissa Mullery. She’s not framed as a sad sap who relies on the benevolence of others to get by, nor is she framed as an inspiration, ploughing on in the face of adversity. No, Clarissa is just a woman who has a job to do, and she does it.

Disability was, undoubtedly, part of her makeup – to pretend otherwise would be bizarre – but it doesn’t define her. She shares the very best – knows her own mind – and worst – a little too sharp, on occasion – traits with the other women on this list, which is why she quickly became a crowd favourite and why Silent Witness fans continue to mourn her absence.

- Abby Robinson, Drama Editor

Leslie Knope - Parks and Recreation

Leslie Knope’s journey from local government grunt to Governor of Indiana in Parks & Recreation makes for one of the most hilarious and heart-warming watches on TV. The dedicated public servant, played by Amy Poehler, is hard-working, loyal and optimistic – all three to a fault. But the fact that she’s flawed is precisely why Leslie is so compelling. Not only is she “a massive, runaway steamroller”, as best friend Ann Perkins puts it, but Leslie’s relentlessness often puts her at odds with literally everyone in the hometown she loves so fiercely. Still, that doesn’t stop her from working tirelessly to improve it.

Despite her firm commitment to her job and her loved ones, Leslie is no stranger to failure. In fact, some of her biggest career milestones are fraught with it. But she always picks herself up and dusts herself off.

Leslie proves that a female character doesn’t need to wield a weapon to be strong. On the contrary, Leslie’s preferred method for taking down her enemies involves an unwavering passion for helping others, a trusty support network and a bucketload of waffles. Not as swift as a sword, but perhaps more impactful in the long run.

- Lidia Molina Whyte

Geraldine Granger - The Vicar of Dibley

Although many viewers may now think of The Vicar of Dibley as cosy, inoffensive viewing, it was released just a couple of years after the Church of England permitted the ordination of women. Female vicars were still a complete, even controversial, novelty. Enter Dawn French’s Geraldine Granger, who dons both dog collars and yellow raincoats with similar aplomb. She’s a ray of sunshine, but her snobbish new parishioners in the sleepy English village of Dibley are less than impressed. “You were expecting a bloke – beard, Bible, bad breath,” Geraldine quips during the pilot. “And instead you got a babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom.”

The sinfully delightful series (created by Richard Curtis) first aired back in 1994 and remains a joyful showcase of appalling knitwear and paisley waistcoats. But it largely (and surprisingly, for an almost 30-year-old series) still holds up, examining issues such as sexism and body positivity. And at its heart is Geraldine, the vicar with a filthy sense of humour and a heart of gold.

- Flora Carr, Drama Writer

Buffy Summers - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The beloved '90s show still has a large and dedicated cult fanbase 25 years later. In fact, today is the 25th anniversary of Buffy’s first ever episode, when we were introduced to this blonde cheerleader who could have easily been stereotyped into a damsel in distress with an LA accent, but had these kick-ass skills and a sense of courage we could all admire and aspire to.

Buffy wasn’t exactly a superhero in the traditional sense, she was just stronger than your average girl. But she was a hero to thousands of young girls who felt like they couldn’t both be strong and vulnerable, or badass and feminine. She wasn’t the biggest or strongest person in the room in many fights, but she emerged as the victor because she believed in herself and in what she was fighting for – all while wearing an amazing outfit, trying to date, and pass her school exams. There was nothing that Buffy couldn’t do, and even though she had to deal with so much pain, death, and trauma, she showed how resilient she could be in overcoming those tragedies but never forgetting about the impact they had on her. Let’s be honest, we all wanted to be Buffy.

- Michele Theil

Ahsoka Tano - Star wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian

Fans of The Mandalorian know Ahsoka Tano as a badass, double lightsaber wielder who has a mysterious connection to the Jedi Order. But what we’ve seen of Rosario Dawson’s live-action incarnation so far is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the beloved Clone Wars and Rebels character. One whose arc is probably the most compelling in the Star Wars franchise to date.

Much like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke and Anakin Skywalker before her, Ahsoka starts out as a rather naïve padawan who often makes questionable choices. However, it doesn’t take long for her to grow into a skilled warrior respected by her peers. And when her faith in the Jedi Order wavers, she successfully does what they couldn’t: walk away and forge a new path.

So, though she’s technically not a Jedi, Ahsoka embodies everything a Jedi should be. She’s brave, compassionate and level-headed. She fights for those who can’t and challenges those who abuse their power, including the Jedi themselves. And, perhaps most importantly, she understands that not everything is black and white, or rather dark and light. In a galaxy defined by such things, there’s nothing more trailblazing than that.

- Lidia Molina Whyte

Elizabeth Jennings - The Americans

The classic American wife and mother is an image that most of us can probably conjure with ease, even if raised outside of the United States. The mythical apron-wearing, apple pie-making domestic goddess burned into our collective memory from decades of questionable media was turned on its head by gripping Cold War thriller The Americans, which painted an unassuming suburban couple as deadly KGB spies on an undercover mission.

While co-star Matthew Rhys was undoubtedly excellent, many would agree that Keri Russell stole the show with her phenomenal performance as Elizabeth Jennings (known in her past life as Nadezhda Popova). Over six seasons, we came to understand exactly how this merciless operative was forged, making it all the more heartbreaking to watch her soul be chipped away by one gut-wrenching order after the other.

- David Craig, Writer

Devi Vishwakumar - Never Have I Ever

Never Have I Ever might be considered a ‘teen drama’ but it deals with very poignant and interesting concepts, such as grief, coming-of-age, friendship, and family. No one is more representative of this than its main character Devi, who is the perfect anti-hero. She is not without flaws, and constantly makes mistakes, but that’s what makes her great.

Devi embodies what it’s like to deal with family, friends, popularity, relationships, body image, and more during your school days – all while suffering through a moment of intense grief. For young people who have not lost a parent, Devi’s grief manifests in ways that might seem strange or inappropriate. But it is such an individual circumstance that there is no ‘right’ way to grieve, only what feels right to the person going through it.

Plus, women of colour are often stereotyped and expected to be ‘perfect’. The way Devi lives her life offers a great sense of representation for all women of colour everywhere. She is messy, but that’s okay, because we are all a little messy sometimes. Devi’s depth and strength as a ‘difficult’ protagonist is what makes her a trailblazing character, even as a teen.

- Michele Theil

Maria Bamford - Lady Dynamite

American comedian Maria Bamford spearheads an accessible discussion of mental health with Netflix sitcom Lady Dynamite, which is loosely based on her experience living with bipolar II and obsessive compulsive disorder. Developed by herself alongside South Park alum Pam Brady and Arrested Development’s Mitch Hurwitz, the show makes for mesmerising viewing with its distinctive brand of surreal humour.

But look between the moments of absurd fun and you find an inspiring story of a person who overcomes severe adversity, with lessons to be learnt around the importance of self-care and stable support networks. Inevitably, Bamford’s style of comedy won’t be for everyone, but her originality is unquestionable and her ambition to raise awareness of sensitive issues should be applauded.

- David Craig, Writer

Looking for something else to watch? Check out more of our Drama, Comedy and Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.

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