Nottingham’s Anjli Mohindra Talks Vigil, the Television Workshop and What’s Next for Her Career

Whether starring as Rani Chandra in popular Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures or supplying shocking twists as an unlikely villain in the BBC’s Bodyguard, chances are you’ll have seen Anjli Mohindra on your TV screen at some point over the last decade-and-a-bit. Since leaving Nottingham, the multi-talented actor has worked alongside the likes of Rob Lowe and Jodie Whittaker, featured in a movie by the award-winning Catherine Hardwicke, and lent her voice to the well-received Dragon Quest video game - making her one of the city’s most distinguished alumni in recent years. 

Yet speaking to Anjli, you get the sense that, despite a string of incredible achievements - gaining over forty credits across film, TV and gaming in an impressively short period of time - her Nottingham roots are almost the greatest source of her pride. While the 32-year-old was born in London, she was raised in West Bridgford, and her time in the East Midlands helped to shape her into the person she is now. “I love Nottingham,” she says with certainty. “The people are spot on. With it being a city, there’s lots going on and the place is pretty multicultural, meaning us Notts folk are open-minded. I love that we say ‘ta’ to the bus driver - I miss that in London.” 

Outside of her personal life, Nottingham also played a key role in her love for - and subsequent success in - the screen industry. During her time in the fancier part of town (“West Bridgford is a lovely place to have been brought up,” she admits), Anjli joined The Television Workshop, the local institution responsible for kickstarting the career of stars ranging from Samantha Morton to Vicky McClure, gaining guidance and training that played a huge role in developing her skills and improving her mindset. 

“The ethos of the Workshop is something I carry with me - to be a team player, to be disciplined and, above all, to be instinctive,” she explains. “I feel I owe not only my career to that place, but also the social network I found there. I made friends for life - some who have gone on to direct and write too. It lost most of its funding a few years ago but, thanks to some incredibly generous industry donors, there are now places available to people who might not otherwise be able to afford to go, but still have the talent.”

Channelling the spirit and instinctiveness that defines so many of the Workshop’s graduates, Anjli has gone from strength-to-strength since rocking up in small screen staple Coronation Street back in 2005. Recently, she bagged a role in Munich: The Edge of War, which ranked at number one on Netflix when it came out - “I loved working on that film. Christian Schwochow, the director, is a big fan of improvisation - something we did at TV Workshop a lot - so it was great to be able to stretch that muscle whilst building the character and layering the scenes” - and gripped viewers with her run on Vigil, one of the most talked-about TV series of last year. “It’s always a pleasant surprise when a show does that well,” Anjli admits. “All of the ingredients can be exciting, from the cast to the writing and production team, but there’s no guarantee the audience will take to it. So when that happened on Vigil we were all over the moon.” 

Even with the overwhelming popularity of these recent projects, though, Anjli believes the best is yet to come, with upcoming Sky series The Lazarus Project (currently listed as Extinction on IMDb) promising to have “all the ingredients going for it”. “Think James Bond meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” she teases. “It’s written by one of my favourite writers, Joe Barton, directed by an incredible human and artist in Marco Kreuzpaintner, and stars Paapa Essiedu, Tom Burke, Caroline Quentin and yours truly. I hope people enjoy it as much as we did making it.” 

Not content with a blossoming on-screen career, Anjli has also turned her hand to writing. After creating the COVID-set short film People Under the Moon in 2020, she agreed to pen a new series centred around Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, the goddaughter of Queen Victoria who was a well-known suffragette and campaigner for women's rights. Singh’s “gobsmacking” life caught the attention of Anjli, who jumped at the chance to adapt the activist’s powerful biography, written by journalist Anita Anand back in 2015. 

Pushing important political stories and messages is always at the forefront of the actor’s mind, with Anjli often taking to social media to hold the Government to account and promote women’s rights (“Thanks for noticing!” she says when I point this out). Possessing the true fighting spirit of us Notts lot, she is not one to take things quietly, a quality she both takes great pride in and actively channels into every aspect of her life - including her work in front of the camera. “I do try my best to factor those things in. I try to figure out early on what a show or film is trying to say and weigh that up against the character and the strength of the writing. As I continue to evolve and grow I hope to be doing more and more projects with a powerful message,” she muses, adding that she aims to emulate the approach of the “inimitable” Maxine Peake in this regard. 

As Anjli moves on to mirror her heroes and expand her horizons, one thing’s for certain - her love for Nottingham will remain as strong as ever. When asked what the future holds, she lists off exciting projects such as The Suspect, “a crime-thriller coming out on ITV”, and The Peripheral, “a post-apocalyptic sci-fi show coming to Amazon Prime”, but is quick to note that there will be “lots more writing in Notts cafés” too. Wherever she goes - be it on submarines, in outer space or across the Lincolnshire countryside - Anjli’s connection to our great city is sure to follow.

Munich: The Edge of War is now available to watch on Netflix

@AnjMohindra