'We need more stories and more voices'

Rose Ayling-Ellis chats about playing the lead role in an ITV drama, the representation of disabilities on television and how everyone lip reads a little bit

- WORDS: LAURA CARRENO-MULLER

Ever since she won over the voting public and became the champion of Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 as the programme's first deaf contestant, Rose Ayling-Ellis has become a beacon for the deaf community in the entertainment industry.

It took years of hard work for her to be taken seriously in the acting world and along the way she had a variety of jobs where her disability saw her sidelined.

"I once worked at a supermarket. You're normally trained to work at a till, but they never gave me any training," she says. "I later found out everyone received it except me."

In another job at a clothing shop, Rose was kept in the basement to pack clothes, despite her clear desire to interact with customers.

Now a household name, Rose, 30, is leading ITV's Code Of Silence, a groundbreaking series in which she stars as Alison, a canteen worker at a police station whose life is turned upside down when she's asked to help with a criminal investigation. The police are tracking a dangerous gang and Alison must use her lip-reading skills to help them decipher their plans.

For fans who loved Rose in EastEnders and more recently Reunion, the show is a major evolution. "I've played small parts for a long time," she says. "It was really exciting to be playing a deaf lead. I couldn't not do it."