2009
The year brings Romola the chance to shine in a starring role, but is still one of many names in Stephen Poliakoff's return to the silver screen with 1939 after a 10 year absence. The tense pre-WWII drama reunites her with her I Capture the Castle costar Billy Nighy, incidently, playing her father once more. Romola is joined by Julie Christie, Jeremy Northam, Christopher Lee, and David Tennant and a smattering of young British talent - Charlie Cox, Eddie Redmayne, Juno Temple.

For any fan who missed Romola in King Lear  in the world tour of the production, there are DVDs available to purchase. But if you're not in a hurry to buy the DVD, the show aired on PBS in its Great Performances series and the website offers the play in episodes.

In October, Romola will return to the small screen in a new BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, playing Emma Woodhouse. It will air in four parts as a miniseries on BBC1.
 

2008
January ended the nine month world tour of the RSC's King Lear and The Seagull, it's last performance taking place at the New London Theatre. King Lear was filmed for a special TV broadcast and aired in December on the BBC network and is offered as a DVD to purchase on Amazon.co.uk.

Little attention was paid to Romola's performance in Atonement, going instead to James McAvoy and Keira Knightley for their passionate love story and Joe Wright's direction. Angel 's opening in the UK gave Romola a short burst of publicity, even if the film received mixed reviews.

Romola joined the cast of Richard Eyre's film adaptation of the short story The Other Man. It was written by Bernard Schlink and is about a man who is convinced his wife cheated on him and seeks him out. Romola plays the man's daughter.

Romola once again lent her voice to a BBC Radio 4 drama, a Life of Chekhov, Irene Nemirovsky’s biography of playwright Anton Chekhov. It was adapted by Michael Hastings who directed Romola in her first stage production four years ago in Calico. It was serialized over a week period in November.

2007
Atonement released in UK cinemas in September to great reviews and garnered some critical acclaim, taking Best Picture at the Golden Globes awards show and getting seven Academy Award nominations. No honors for Romola. Romola herself was preoccupied with the world tour of King Lear and The Seagull. She played Cordelia in Lear and Nina in The Seagull.

Excerpt from article prior to Wellington performance:
Romola Garai, who plays Cordelia in King Lear, took time out from a snowballing film career including Amazing Grace, Vanity Fair and Woody Allen's Scoop to join the tour.
She said she considered working with the RSC the highlight of her career so far.
"I'm certainly not famous in the UK, or anywhere, and ... it's a fantastic honour. To play these roles was something I was extremely proud to even get an audition for."

Her film Angel also screened at several festivals, Toronto Film Festival, the 42nd Karlovvy Vary Festival and the Time BFI London Film Festival. US fans finally got to see Kenneth Branagh's film version of Shakespeare's As You Like It on HBO; Romola played Celia in the production alongside Bryce Dallas Howard's Rosalind.

Yet another film was released this year, Amazing Grace directed by Michael Apted and starring Ioan Gruffudd. The release coincided with the 200th anniversary of Britain's abolition of slavery. The film centered on William Wilberforce who, while in Parliament, urged the British to end the transatlantic slave trade.