Lisa Dillon Stars in HAPPY NEW at Trafalgar Studio 2, Beg. Tonight

Lisa Dillon (BBC1's Cranford) will star in Brendan Cowell's play Happy New at Trafalgar Studio 2, beginning tonight, June 4. The play is set in Australia, and Dillon must learn to speak with an accent for the production.

In the play, two boys, Danny and Lyle, are abandoned by their mother in a chicken coop. Discovered after several months, the pair become media celebrities. Dillon will play Pru, a reporter who interviews the boys.

An accomplished stage actress, Dillon's credits include Iphigeneia at Aulis at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, The Master Builder at the Noel Coward Theatre in London, Othello with the RSC at Trafalgar Studios, Hedda Gabler at the Almeida and Duke of York's, Period of Adjustment at the Almeida, As You Like It at the Crucible, as well as The Cherry Orchard, The National Theatre's Present Laughter and The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, the West End Revival of Under the Blue Sky, When the Rain Stops Falling at the Almeida, Design for Living and A Flea in Her Ear at the Old Vic, the Almeida's The Knot of the Heart and the RSC's touring production of The Taming of the Shrew.

On television, Dillon is well known for her role as 'Mary Smith' in Cranford on BBC1, as well as Cambridge Spies, Hawking, The Jury and Dirk Gently. Her film credits include Bright Young Things.