If you’ve been watching BBC crime dramas over the last few years, chances are you’ve already met Hannah Donaldson without quite knowing her name. She’s the sort of actor who slips into a role so cleanly that you forget you’re watching a performance at all. But behind the steady run of television credits is a much more interesting story: a Dundee-born stage actor who spent years grafting in supporting roles, building businesses on the side, and quietly raising a family in Glasgow with her partner, fellow actor Ryan Fletcher. This is a look at who she is, how she got here, and why the partnership at the centre of her life is just as worth talking about as the work itself.
Who Is Hannah Donaldson?
Hannah Donaldson is a Scottish actress whose career has been steadily climbing for well over a decade, mostly through stage work and an increasingly impressive list of television roles. She’s a Dundonian through and through, and that no-nonsense, get-on-with-it attitude comes across in nearly every interview she gives. While casual viewers might recognise her face before her name, anyone who follows Scottish drama closely knows she’s been one of the country’s most dependable character actors for years. She’s the kind of performer directors quietly fight over, because she brings depth to roles that could easily have been forgettable, and she does it without any fuss. If you’re new to her work, the short version is this: she’s an actor who earned her break the hard way and has the range to prove it.
From Dundee to Drama School: Hannah’s Early Years
Hannah’s path into acting started the way a lot of great Scottish careers do, with amateur dramatics and youth theatre rather than a privileged shortcut. She came up through the Scottish Youth Theatre before going on to train at what was then the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), one of the best drama schools in the UK. That grounding matters, because it shaped the way she approaches her craft. She didn’t arrive on a film set having only ever known cameras and call sheets. She learned the trade in rehearsal rooms and on stages, where there’s nowhere to hide and no second take. After graduating, she spent a formative year at Dundee Rep, the kind of repertory experience that teaches an actor to be quick, adaptable, and absolutely reliable. It’s a classic Scottish theatre apprenticeship, and it clearly stuck.
Cutting Her Teeth on Stage
Long before she became a familiar face on television, Hannah was building a serious reputation in the theatre world. She’s worked consistently on stage throughout her career, including a notable run with the National Theatre of Scotland in their production of Enemy, which is no small thing on a Scottish actor’s CV. More recently, she returned to her old stomping ground at Dundee Rep to join the cast of Make It Happen, a satirical production tackling the 2008 global financial crash and the role played by the Fred Goodwin-era Royal Bank of Scotland. The fact that she keeps coming back to the stage even as her screen career takes off tells you something about her values as a performer. Theatre is where she sharpened her instincts, and she clearly still treats it as home rather than a stepping stone she’s left behind. For a lot of actors, the moment television comes calling is the moment they wave goodbye to the stage. Hannah hasn’t done that, and her work is richer for it.
The Screen Roles That Made People Notice
When Hannah’s television career started gathering momentum, she did it in the way most working actors do: one solid supporting role at a time. Her screen credits read like a tour through the best of British and Scottish drama, including appearances in shows like Rebus, Crime, Shetland, Annika, The Loch, Case Histories, and even The Crown. That’s a remarkably varied list, and it shows she’s never been pigeonholed into one type of character. She can do tense, she can do warm, she can do morally complicated, and casting directors clearly trust her to handle whatever a script throws at her. For years, she was the kind of actor who could carry a scene without ever being the name on the poster, which is its own difficult art. Plenty of leads can’t actually do what a good supporting actor does, which is to make everyone around them better. Hannah quietly mastered that long before she got her own moment in the spotlight.
Granite Harbour: Hannah’s First Big TV Lead
The role that genuinely changed things for Hannah was Detective Sergeant Lara Bartlett in the BBC crime drama Granite Harbour, set in Aberdeen and shown on BBC Scotland, BBC One, and iPlayer. After years of auditioning for supporting parts and watching the lead roles go elsewhere, this was the moment she’d been waiting for, and she’s been refreshingly honest about how much it meant. She’s described going through round after round of auditions before finally being offered the part, and the relief and excitement of landing her first proper screen lead. What makes the role interesting is how she approached it. She talked about studying the way a real detective sergeant carries themselves, that quiet authority that makes a room go still when they walk in. There’s a self-deprecating humour to how she discusses it too, joking that she tries to walk into rooms with that same commanding energy at home and that it has absolutely no effect on her household. That mix of seriousness about the craft and lightness about herself is exactly what makes her so watchable.
The War Between the Land and the Sea
One of Hannah’s most prominent recent roles came in The War Between the Land and the Sea, the 2025 series set in the wider Doctor Who universe, where she played Captain Louise Mackie. Stepping into a project with that kind of profile and devoted fanbase is a different beast entirely from the grounded crime dramas she’d been known for, and it put her in front of a much bigger international audience. It’s also a sign of where her career is heading. Genre television on that scale tends to open doors, and landing a captain’s role in a high-profile sci-fi series is the sort of credit that sticks with audiences and casting directors alike. It’s a long way from the rehearsal rooms of Dundee Rep, and yet it’s clearly the same actor underneath, bringing the same discipline and presence to a wildly different kind of story. If anything, it proves she can move between gritty realism and big-budget spectacle without missing a beat.
Hannah Donaldson and Ryan Fletcher: A Real-Life Acting Partnership
Now for the part of the story that genuinely sets Hannah apart, because she isn’t navigating this unpredictable industry alone. Her partner is Ryan Fletcher, a Scottish actor in his own right who has built a serious career on stage and screen. Ryan grew up in Blantyre and made his name with the National Theatre of Scotland, including a stint in the acclaimed production Black Watch, before moving into high-profile screen work. He’s appeared in Pennyworth, the Batman prequel made for HBO Max, and has been part of the Outlander world too, filming the prequel series Blood of My Blood. Having two working actors under one roof could easily be a recipe for chaos, but by all accounts it’s the opposite. Hannah and Ryan genuinely function as a creative team, and they’ve turned what could be a stressful double dose of freelance uncertainty into something that actually works in their favour.
The practical side of that partnership is honestly lovely to read about. The pair record audition self-tapes for each other at home, and they’ve ended up doing the same for their friends too. Hannah has laughingly described it as turning into a bit of a factory, churning out tapes for pals because the whole community helps each other out. That’s the reality of modern acting that most people never see, and it’s a reminder that for all the glamour of a BBC drama, the day-to-day life of two working actors is a lot of admin, a lot of hustle, and a lot of leaning on the people closest to you. The fact that they’ve built that support system into their relationship says a great deal about both of them.
Life Beyond the Camera: Food Trucks, Pantos and a Dog Called Roxy
Here’s where the story gets really refreshing, because Hannah and Ryan have never put all their eggs in the acting basket. Freelance performing is famously unstable, so the couple has spread their bets across several genuinely down-to-earth side ventures. They run a mobile food truck, they produce their own Christmas show, and they’ve co-created a pantomime together. That panto, Jock and the Blantyre Beanstalk, was born during a quiet patch between jobs, started when their son was just three months old and being carried around in a sling. It became a proper local hit, with two sold-out shows before the pandemic interrupted things, featuring a cast that included Outlander’s Keith Fleming as the Dame and Ryan himself playing the villain, Fleshcreeper. It’s the kind of resourcefulness that defines them as a couple. When the work dries up, they make their own.
And then there’s the part that ties the whole picture of their home life together: Roxy, the family dog. Roxy is very much part of the household, padding around the stylish Glasgow flat that Hannah and Ryan share with their young son. By all accounts the home itself is a warm, welcoming space that looks like something out of an interiors magazine, which is no accident, because Hannah has a real flair for design and has spoken about how much she enjoys it. It paints a picture of a grounded, creative, slightly chaotic-in-the-best-way family unit. Two actors, one kid, a dog called Roxy, a food truck, a Christmas show, and a flat full of lamps and good taste. It’s about as far from the stereotype of aloof celebrity as you can get, and it’s a big part of why people warm to her so quickly.
Two Freelancers Under One Roof
It’s worth sitting with the reality of what Hannah and Ryan have built, because two freelancers sharing a household is a high-wire act that most people would find terrifying. There’s no guaranteed salary, no clear sense of when the next job is coming in, and the constant possibility that both of them could be out of work at the same time. Hannah has spoken candidly about how, from the outside, their lives can look far busier than they actually feel from the inside, with one partner filming a major series while the other waits for the next call. Rather than letting that uncertainty drive them apart, they’ve used it to build something genuinely sturdy. The side businesses aren’t just a quirky footnote, they’re a deliberate strategy to keep the family afloat during the quieter times, and they aren’t going anywhere. It’s a model of how to survive a creative career with your sanity and your relationship intact, and frankly more people in the arts could learn from it.
What’s Next for Hannah Donaldson?
Hannah Donaldson is at a fascinating point in her career, the moment where years of patient, consistent work finally tip over into wider recognition. With a lead role in Granite Harbour under her belt and a high-profile turn in The War Between the Land and the Sea, she’s no longer the actor audiences half-recognise. She’s becoming a name in her own right. What’s exciting is that she’s reached this point without abandoning the things that made her good in the first place, the theatre work, the community spirit, the willingness to graft. If the last few years are anything to go by, she’ll keep moving between gritty Scottish drama, prestige television, and the stage, all while running a food truck and a panto on the side. Whatever comes next, it’s a safe bet she’ll approach it with the same mix of seriousness and humour that’s carried her this far. And Ryan, their son, and Roxy will almost certainly be right there with her.
FAQs
Who is Hannah Donaldson’s partner?
Hannah Donaldson’s partner is Ryan Fletcher, a Scottish actor who grew up in Blantyre and built his early reputation with the National Theatre of Scotland in productions like Black Watch. He’s since worked on bigger screen projects, including Pennyworth for HBO Max and the Outlander prequel Blood of My Blood. The two are both working actors and frequently support each other’s careers, even recording audition self-tapes for one another at home.
What is Hannah Donaldson best known for?
Hannah is best known for playing Detective Sergeant Lara Bartlett in the BBC crime drama Granite Harbour, her first major screen lead after years of strong supporting roles. She also played Captain Louise Mackie in the 2025 Doctor Who universe series The War Between the Land and the Sea, and has appeared in a string of well-regarded shows including Rebus, Crime, Shetland, and Annika.
Do Hannah Donaldson and Ryan Fletcher have children?
Yes, Hannah Donaldson and Ryan Fletcher have a young son together. He was of nursery-school age in the early 2020s and was just three months old when the couple first started producing their pantomime, Jock and the Blantyre Beanstalk. The family lives together in Glasgow, and the couple are fairly private about their child’s personal details.
What is the name of Hannah Donaldson’s dog?
Hannah Donaldson’s dog is called Roxy. Roxy is part of the family home that Hannah shares with her partner Ryan Fletcher and their son in Glasgow, and the dog has featured in interviews and photoshoots about Hannah’s life away from the screen.
Does Hannah Donaldson do anything besides acting?
Absolutely. Alongside acting, Hannah and Ryan Fletcher run several side ventures to ride out the unpredictable nature of freelance performing. These include a mobile food truck, a self-produced Christmas show, and a pantomime they created together. Hannah also has a strong interest in interior design, which shows in the much-admired Glasgow flat the family calls home.
Conclusion
Hannah Donaldson’s story is a refreshing antidote to the overnight-success myth. She’s an actor who put in the years, learned her craft properly on the stage, and built a career one reliable performance at a time before finally getting the lead roles she deserved. But the most compelling thing about her isn’t just the acting, it’s the whole life she’s built around it. Together with Ryan Fletcher, their son, and a dog called Roxy, she’s created a home and a working partnership that turns the chaos of two freelance careers into something genuinely sustainable. Food trucks, pantomimes, self-tapes at the kitchen table, prestige drama, and big-budget sci-fi all sit side by side in her world, and she handles the lot with the same grounded humour. As her profile keeps rising, she remains exactly what she’s always been: a hard-working Scottish actor with real talent, a great partner beside her, and absolutely no intention of forgetting where she came from.
