Laura Whitmore on taking on a role with bite in 'Apex Predator'

Ex Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore turns her attention to the stage in John Donnelly’s new play Apex Predator about vampirism and female empowerment.

Broadcaster, presenter, and media personality Laura Whitmore is used to being the one in the interviewer’s chair. “It’s weird being on this side,” she jokes in her gentle Irish lilt. “I’ll probably start asking you questions.”

Born in Dublin and married to the voice of Love Island Iain Stirling (with whom she shares one child), Whitmore has been grafting on screen since the age of 22 when she secured a gig with MTV. Since then, she has risen through the ranks on programmes such as This Morning, Strictly Come Dancing, and spin-off show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! NOW, but she really grabbed the nation’s attention when she joined her husband on Love Island as its presenter in 2020.

Three years after leaving the show, Whitmore is now spreading her theatrical wings, having made her West End debut in 2022 as Jenny in 2:22 A Ghost Story, following in the footsteps of Lily Allen and Giovanna Fletcher. Her next theatre project is John Donnelly’s new play Apex Predator, which opens in Whitmore’s stomping ground of north London at the Hampstead Theatre.

“I like genre-busting pieces,” she says of the play. “I like things that aren’t too safe and this isn’t safe. It’s a bit out there.” Whitmore stars as mysterious teacher Ana, who befriends Mia (played by Sophie Melville), the mum of a child at her school. With Mia’s life hanging by a thread as she struggles with becoming a mother for a second time, growing apart from her husband Tom, and supporting her son Alfie, she turns to Ana for a new and — in Whitmore’s words “unconventional” — way to take control of her life. Spoiler: it involves vampirism.

“As women we’re told you can’t go running at night because someone may attack you. Think of all the things you could do as a woman if we could take away fear and physical threat. That’s what Ana does. Yes, the play is supernatural, but John has created a sophisticated critique of how we all live.” Whitmore continues: “The vampires in Apex Predator are [transforming] for empowerment. It’s about survival.”

As for how she’s been getting into character, Whitmore says she’s been watching animal documentaries as well as the 1983 film The Hunger, starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon, to give her an idea of how vampires move. Her true crime podcast Murder They Wrote with husband Stirling has also come in handy, as they covered one story about a real couple in Germany who believed they were vampires and made sacrifices. “It is dark, but the world is dark,” she says.

Has it been scary moving more into the theatre space (she also toured the play Not Dead Enough alongside Shane Richie in 2016) when she’s known by most for her broadcasting career? “I think they’re interconnected. It’s not like I’ve gone from being a tree surgeon and then I’m suddenly going on stage,” she laughs. “There’s definitely a similarity between live television and theatre. You’re there in the moment and anything can happen with that audience. It’s exposing but in a brilliant way, because I think it’s important for all of us to be vulnerable.” Plus, she adds, “I’m very good at projecting, I don’t need a microphone!”

Whitmore offers another interesting perspective: “I think with every role I've played — even in presenting — whether it's a BBC broadcast, as a Love Island presenter, on the red carpet interviewing rock stars, or doing documentaries and talking to politicians or victims of horrible crime, they're all me, but they're all different. There are different versions of me, and that’s similar to playing a character.”

Her next project will be the UK tour of The Girl on the Train, a stage adaptation of Paula Hawkins’s thriller about a woman, Rachel, battling with alcoholism, blackouts, and a dangerous ex-husband. “I’m definitely drawn to roles where the woman isn’t just a bit on the side,” she says. “Mia and Ana are two very strong characters while Rachel starts out a bit of a mess and believes she’s the one with a problem — but she’s the one solving the problem.”

Whitmore continues: “As a woman, I think you’re told you need to know your place, be pretty, and look and behave a certain way. Don’t behave like an animal. Apex Predator shows it’s okay to be a little bit ugly. Maybe just don’t bite anyone!”

Book Apex Predator tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Laura Whitmore in rehearsals for Apex Predator. Inset: in rehearsals with Sophie Melville. (Photos by Ellie Kurttz)

This article first appeared in the April 2025 issue of London Theatre Magazine.