Rose Ayling-Ellis on raising deaf voices and new thriller Code of Silence: 'I'm underestimated a lot'

When Rose Ayling-Ellis steps on set, she will know her script inside and out. She will have done all the reading, research and character work to step into her latest alter ego’s shoes. And she will also be expecting to have to educate most people working on the production about deaf awareness. Because this is how it has always been. 

But times are changing. On her new project, ITV detective thriller Code of Silence, the ex-EastEnders star and Strictly Come Dancing winner not only steps up to take on the lead role in a primetime drama for the first time, she is also an executive producer. 

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“I’m not doing the producer job because I’m famous or whatever,” Ayling-Ellis tells Big Issue when she meets us in Central London. 

“I’m doing it because I’m deaf and I do all this extra work anyway. Every single project I do, I have to be the one saying, ‘Can we make sure we do this?’ I always get that responsibility. So I wanted to be involved from the beginning of the process and not leave it all until the first day on set.

“Awareness is starting to get better. We’re seeing more drama featuring deaf people and more deaf people in the crew. It has been slow, but we are progressing one small step at a time.”

Last time Big Issue met Rose Ayling-Ellis, in 2022, we scrawled on her hand and asked her to dance through Finsbury Park bus station for our cover shoot. During the interview, Ayling-Ellis spoke about being a role model and campaigning for the deaf community.

She wanted to use her platform as the reigning Strictly champ to make a big noise about a private members’ bill going through parliament that would give BSL (British Sign Language) official language status. 

But she also wanted to pursue big acting ambitions. Ayling-Ellis was full of plans and full of energy. So, just over three years later, how is she faring?

Well, the acting could not be going much better. 

“I feel lucky,” she says. “Because not everyone is in that position in the TV industry. It has been hit hard and a lot of people are out of work. But it took me 10 years to get to the point where I was getting lots of work.”

Read more:

• Deaf President Now! and the greatest civil rights movement you’ve probably never heard of
• Claudia Winkleman on Rose Ayling-Ellis, representation and the role of TV
• Being deaf is no tragedy – it’s one of my greatest strengths

For Code Of Silence, Ayling-Ellis delivers a compelling performance as Alison Woods, who goes from underestimated police canteen worker to undercover detective staking out a criminal gang using her lip reading skills. And she tapped into her own experience of being perpetually underestimated.

“I’ve been underestimated a lot. It’s something a lot of disabled people can relate to. But we are only limited because other people limit what they think we can do. We can do so much more, but it’s about people giving us the opportunity,” she says.

“I remember back in the day when I worked in the supermarket, as a gardener, at a dog school. Everyone thinks we should be so grateful for the job. But we never get promoted. Everyone just says, ‘You’re so lucky to have a job.’”

Code of Silence follows her acclaimed guest role in Doctor Who’s most terrifying episode of 2025, ‘The Well’. Her pride at scenes in which Aliss spoke with Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor in BSL is palpable – this was new ground for the show and for the actor. 

“Doctor Who was on my bucket list. I really wanted to be on it. I saw Russell T Davies at an awards ceremony and Claudia Winkleman forced me to speak to him. So it’s thanks to Claudia that I got the job!” says Ayling-Ellis.

“It was already written, so they changed it to make her a deaf character. But that’s great. I don’t want every character to be defined by their deafness. This was a real acting challenge – I had to work my imagination because a lot was CGI. But I’m comfortable with being uncomfortable now. My whole career has been about getting out of my comfort zone.”

Before that came BBC One series Reunion with Matthew Gurney, Anne-Marie Duff and Eddie Marsan, which won huge audiences and was a real step-change for representation of deafness in primetime drama.

“There was a deaf writer, a deaf producer, lots of deaf actors,” says Ayling-Ellis. “Reunion was the first time I just went to work, did my acting and went home. It made me so aware of all the extra work I usually do. I felt weird not doing it.”

With an Olivier Award nomination for playing Celia in As You Like It at Soho Place, Ayling-Ellis the actor is riding high. 

Her documentary, Rose Ayling-Ellis: Old Hands New Tricks – in which she taught BSL to a group of students ranging from 65 to 95 years old – was as moving as it was eye-opening. 

“I know how great BSL is and the potential benefit it can have,” she says. 

“There are only two care homes in the UK for deaf people who are BSL users: one near Derby, the other on the Isle of Wight. But people want to be near their families. If no one speaks BSL, it is so isolating. You can’t even ask for a cup of tea.

“Retirement homes teaching sign language would help so many people.”

Ayling-Ellis became the first celebrity to sign a bedtime story on CBeebies in 2022, was the BBC’s first deaf presenter of live sport at the Paralympics in 2024 – hosting with humour and skill and winning an RTS Award with co-host Clare Balding. And her kids’ book, Marvellous Messages, is out now. It features more time-travel, a pigeon sidekick and stories of people including deaf stunt performer Kitty O’Neill.

“She broke the world record for jumping off the highest building in Wonder Woman,” says Ayling-Ellis. “I wish I’d known about her growing up. We were told that in the past we would have been locked up in institutions or disowned.”

These days young deaf kids can look to Rose Ayling-Ellis MBE and her new rival as the most famous deaf person in the country, Jodie Ounsley, aka Gladiators star Fury. “She’s so lovely – and it’s great to see a strong, deaf woman as a Gladiator knocking people over,” Ayling-Ellis says.  

Ayling-Ellis has also been battling off screen – but there is a long way to go, she says, even after the British Sign Language (BSL) Act received Royal Ascent in 2022. “The bill was a bit empty. We got it, but there was nothing in it, so we have a lot of work to do… we need to talk about the lack of care homes, the need for better mental health provision and interpreters at doctors, hospitals, police stations.

“Doing all the acting jobs last year, I realised that’s what keeps me happy and energised. So I want to do more acting to give myself more energy for when I need to get back out campaigning.”

Because there is one big issue at the moment that may necessitate a return to the fray.

“My big issue at the moment is the cuts to disability benefit,” she says. “That’s such an important issue for so many people. There’s a lot of fear around. Rather than making cuts, they need to support disabled people better. 

“People making assessments need to have better disability awareness. I remember mine years ago – they wanted a telephone call to assess my need for Disability Living Allowance. I’m deaf. I can’t hear you on the phone. And if I’d talked through an interpreter, they would say I can live independently and I’d have got nothing.

“So I need to see what plans the government put in place before I figure out what I need to do. But I have a good team that support me on my mission. Because I think life should be a mission.”

Code of Silence airs on ITV1 on Sunday nights and is available on ITVX. 

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