Shirley Henderson

Shirley Henderson is often unhappy in bathrooms on screen. Her Jude is tearful in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001); Moaning Myrtle wails in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). We value the way those voices let the distress register even when the parts are comic. The unhappiness matters, even in a part that might have been no more than a funny noise.

Her early breakthrough came through Hamish Macbeth (1995–97) on television and Trainspotting (1996), in which she played Gail. In Topsy-Turvy (1999), she played Leonora Braham and sang as part of Mike Leigh's ensemble. Her six-film collaboration with director Michael Winterbottom has made use of her improvisational skill. We would like to see that adaptability treated as just as important as the immediately recognisable sound she makes, rather than another invitation to cast her as someone eccentric.

Elio (2025) puts that sound in an especially odd body: Henderson voices Ooooo, a computer that is essentially a talking puddle. We enjoyed the first sight of the Communiverse because Harley Jessup's translucent walls and floating platforms give its improbable inhabitants somewhere worth looking at. The pleasure fades as the setting keeps repeating itself, with the same pinks and greens wherever we look. Henderson's casting makes sense, but the film needs more than unusual creatures to sustain interest in a familiar story told in a hurry.

She also voices the Anzellans in The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026), a pleasant, tidy film that feels like two television episodes joined together. It is not much of a reason to seek out her work. Dept. Q (2025), in which she plays Claire Marsh, is a better prospect, with Matthew Goode and a well-matched ensemble making the mystery worth following. Start there for the humour and the company, provided a slack middle stretch will not spoil the evening.