Raquel Cassidy

Raquel Cassidy is an English actress. She played the role of Phyllis Baxter in the television series Downton Abbey (2013–2015), winning a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. She has reprised the role for both the 2019 feature film of the same name and its 2022 and 2025 sequels.

She has played leading roles in other television series including Teachers, Party Animals, Moving Wallpaper, Lead Balloon, The Worst Witch and The Good Karma Hospital.

Early life and education Born to a Spanish mother and an English father, she was the third child and only daughter born to the couple. Born and brought up in Fleet, Hampshire, she was educated at Farnborough Hill Convent, and then Girton College, Cambridge, where she studied modern languages. She later began a PhD in biological anthropology, but abandoned it to pursue a career in acting.

Career In an early role, Cassidy played Lola Chaves in an episode of The Bill, speaking predominantly in Spanish. In 2001, she took the role of Susan Gately in Teachers, returning for the second series in 2002. She has also played the Home Office Junior Minister Jo Porter in Party Animals, Cassie Turner in The Worst Week of My Life, Nancy Weeks in Moving Wallpaper and Mel in Lead Balloon.

In 2013, Cassidy joined the cast of Downton Abbey, playing the role of rehabilitated thief and lady's maid Phyllis Baxter for the show's final three series. She reprised the role for the show's 2019 feature film, also called Downton Abbey, its 2022 sequel, Downton Abbey: A New Era, and its 2025 conclusion, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.

She has subsequently played the role of Miss Hardbroom in four series of the 2017 television revival of The Worst Witch. In 2022, she appeared in series 4 of The Good Karma Hospital as Frankie Martin. In 2023, she played Maria Swanson in an episode of British crime drama series The Chelsea Detective.

Filmography Film

Television

Selected radio Year Title Role 2008 Spending My Inheritance Jo 2015 Ed Reardon's Week Suzan

Theatre Year Title Role Theatre 1997 Twelfth Night Viola Royal Court Theatre1998 Othello Desdemona National tour Threesome Ruth Old Red Lion Theatre 2002 Possible Worlds Joyce Tron Theatre 2004 Macbeth Lady Macbeth Almeida Theatre