Tip Toe Cast: Where You’ve Seen The New Drama’s Stars Before

Russell T Davies is back with a new hard-hitting Channel 4 series, which looks set to have the same impact as his groundbreaking shows It’s A Sin and Years And Years.

The five-part drama follows Leo and Clive, two neighbours in Manchester who have always managed to tolerate one another despite their many differences. However, they suddenly find themselves in an all-out war spurred on by the divided world they’re immersed in.

Given the past success of Russell’s shows, it’s no great surprise that Tip Toe’s cast features a mix of acclaimed British drama veterans who you might recognise for their past work, as well as some exciting upcoming TV stars.

Here’s a quick guide to where you have seen some of the stars of Tip Toe before…

Reality TV fans will likely recognise Scottish actor Alan Cumming for his Emmy-winning work as the host of the American version of The Traitors.

However, long before he entered the castle, he had a long and illustrious career on both stage and screen.

Alan began his TV career with a stint on the Scottish soap opera Take The High Road before going on to become an international household name.

Some of his best-known movies include projects as varied as the James Bond film GoldenEye, cult comedy Romy And Michele’s High School Reunion, 90s pop explosion Spice World and Stanley Kubrick’s final offering Eyes Wide Shut. No stranger to a franchise, Alan also played Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy and blue-skinned mutant Nightcrawler in the world of X-Men, a role he’ll reprise in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.

On TV, Alan was nominated for three Emmy Awards for his role as political manipulator Eli Gold in The Good Wife, starred as the Mayor in Apple TV+ musical series Schmigadoon! and hosted both the Tony Awards and Baftas.

A modern icon of the West End and Broadway, Alan is a two-time Tony and one-time Olivier award winner. Although he has played a string of eclectic roles, he is best known for his seminal work as the Emcee in Cabaret.

David Morrissey has been consistently appearing on our screens since the 1990s, although to many he’s best known for his work as Gordon Brown in 2003’s The Deal and for playing The Governor in The Walking Dead.

He also appeared in the crime drama Red Riding and the BBC series Sherwood, as well as playing Aimee Lou Wood’s hapless dad in the sitcom Daddy Issues.

On the big screen, he played John Lennon’s stepfather in the biopic Nowhere Boy, appeared in Steve McQueen’s Blitz and recently acted with Keira Knightley in The Woman in Cabin 10.

His next role is Beatles-related once more, as he’s expected to star in Sam Mendes’ biopics as Paul McCartney’s father.

Pooky found fame playing Dr Monica Brome in the first series of Cardiac Arrest, before playing John Thompson’s love interest Emma Keaton in Cold Feet.

She will also be recognisable to soap fans, as she played Diane Short in Family Affairs, before taking over the role of Rachel Branning in EastEnders.

Her other TV credits include the 2007 BBC drama True Dare Kiss, the Doctor Who spin-off Class and the comedy W1A.

Like many of her Tip Toe co-stars, she appeared in Waterloo Road, playing geography teacher Olga in series 10 of the school-set drama.

More recently, she acted in the BBC drama The A Word and its spinoff Ralph & Katie as Maurice’s music teacher, as well as co-starring with Leslie Manville in Moonflower Murder.

Playing troubled teen George in Tip Toe is definitely Jackson Connor’s biggest role to date.

However, you might have seen him in the BBC series Phoenix Rise, or the star-studded Apple TV+ drama Masters Of The Air, in which he made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance as a soldier.

A star on the rise, Joseph Evans can currently be seen treading the boards in the West End revival of David Hare’s Teeth N Smiles, as well as the adorable big-screen rom com Finding Emily.

He previously played Jackson Hodge, the father of Faye Windass’ child, in Coronation Street back in 2023 and, impressively, wrote an episode of Industry.

While you might not immediately recognise her name, you’ll definitely be familiar with Elizabeth Berrington’s work, as she’s one of the busiest character actors on British television, working across both comedy and drama.

Elizabeth first rose to prominence working with Mike Leigh in her on-screen debut in Naked, as well as his follow-up Secrets & Lies.

From there, she went on to appear alongside Tony Robinson in the 1997 comedy-drama My Wonderful Life, before landing roles in everything from the period drama Sanditon and the sci-fi drama The Nevers, to The Responder, The Syndicate and the feature-length episode of Black Mirror, Hated In The Nation.

As for her film career, Elizabeth appeared alongside her Tip Toe co-star David Morrissey in The Deal, playing Cherie Blair, in addition to her supporting roles in Nanny McPhee, In Bruges and the 2016 adaptation of Swallows And Amazons.

Her most recent roles on the small screen include Lost Boys And Fairies, Virdee, Frauds and the Nick Cave penned Sky dramedy The Death Of Bunny Munro – and while her CV is long and impressive, there’s every chance that, like us, you know her best for playing food tech teacher Ruby Fry in Waterloo Road.

Actor and drag performer Iz Hesketh is best known to TV fans for playing the groundbreaking Hollyoaks character Kitty Draper, as well as appearing as Valerian in the Disney+ drama Renegade Nell.

On stage, Iz has played Margot in Legally Blonde at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, and appeared in productions of both Head Over Heels and Fury And Elysium.

The drag daughter of Drag Race UK winner Tia Kofi, Iz also performs across the country as Seriah Sis, in addition to her acting career.

Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo is an actor who you’ll likely recognise for their role as Deputy Ritchie Santiago in Netflix show Wednesday.

Their other credits include minor roles in 2020 Alex Garland miniseries Devs, a 2023 episode of Top Boy and the 2025 Cameron Diaz comedy Back In Action.

Luyanda is a prolific video game voice actor, too, lending their dulcet tones to Legends of Runeterra, Baldur’s Gate III and Eternal Strands.

Paul Rhys’ most recent on-screen role came when he appeared briefly in Emerald Fennell’s controversial adaptation of Wuthering Heights as Heathcliff’s father, having also worked with the Oscar-winning filmmaker in Saltburn, where he played butler Duncan.

The British star made his film debut in 1986’s Absolute Beginners, before sharing the screen with Robert Downey Jr in the Oscar-nominated Chaplin, Johnny Depp in From Hell and Joaquin Phoenix in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon.

On the small screen, he had a supporting role in the BBC supernatural drama Being Human, played Vlad the Impaler in Da Vinci’s Demons and appeared as real-life military officer Sir John Conroy in ITV historical drama Victoria.

Charlie Condou is best known to TV fans for playing sonographer Marcus Dent in Coronation Street on-and-off between 2007 and 2014, as well as playing the lothario Ben Sherwood in Holby City.

More recently, Charlie had a guest role in The Madame Blanc Mysteries and played Gary Gabbastone in the Eurovision-themed Doctor Who episode The Interstellar Song Contest.

Denise Welch is a British TV icon making her first on-screen appearance in 1981’s Barriers, followed by her breakthrough role as Jean in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. From there, she went on to appear in Geordie staples Byker Grove and Spender, before being cast as Marsha Stubbs in Soldier, Soldier.

Her best-known acting roles include Natalie Barnes in Coronation Street, Steph Haydock in Waterloo Road and Mitzeee’s mother Trish Minniver in Hollyoaks. You may also know her for being a regular Loose Women panellist since 2005.

A reality TV favourite, Denise competed on Dancing On Ice in 2011 and won Celebrity Big Brother in 2012, and has more recently achieved full-blown “hun” status.

Oh, and if all this wasn’t exciting enough, she and her ex-husband Tim Healy are the parents of The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.

The first two episodes of Tip Toe are now streaming on Channel 4, with the rest of the series following next week.