Darren Boyd
Born
Darren John Boyd

(1971-01-30) 30 January 1971 (age 53)
Hastings, Sussex, England
OccupationActor
Years active1998–present
Spouse
Amanda Ashy Boyd
​
​
(m. 2004; div. 2017)​
Children2

Darren John Boyd (born 30 January 1971) is a British actor who starred in the Sky 1 series Spy, for which he won BAFTA TV Award for Best Male Comedy Performance.[1] His work in television and film spans comedy and drama.

Early life

Boyd was born in Hastings, Sussex.[2] He was drawn to acting at the age of 16, in local theatre productions.[3]

Career

Television

Boyd co-starred in the BBC comedy Kiss Me Kate (1998),[3] which ran for three years. This led to starring roles in British comedies such as Hippies (1999), and worked with Simon Pegg in Smack the Pony (1999).[3] In 2001, he worked with Victoria Pile on a new series Los Dos Bros, an off-beat sitcom exploring physical comedy and the relationship between Boyd and Cavan Clerkin as the titular (half-)brothers. Boyd was co-creator and co-writer. The show won a silver rose at Montreux in 2002. During this time Boyd starred alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the NBC series,Watching Ellie.[2]

Boyd returned to the UK in 2005 and took on characters such as Dr. Jake Leaf in the second series of Green Wing (2006), and as Jonathan in Steve Coogan's Saxondale. In 2009, he appeared in the two-part adaptation of May Contain Nuts, based on John O'Farrell's best-selling novel, Personal Affairs for BBC Three and Royal Wedding (2010),[2] which follows the 1981 Royal Wedding through the perspective of events held in a small Welsh mining village, written by BAFTA winner Abi Morgan and starring Jodie Whittaker.[2]

Boyd starred as Bib in the BBC series Whites and co-starred in the BBC Four drama Dirk Gently playing Dirk Gently's business partner Richard MacDuff. The BBC announced in June 2011 that Boyd would play the role of John Cleese in Holy Flying Circus,[4] a 90-minute dramatisation of the controversy that arose when Monty Python's Life of Brian was released in 1979.[4]

From 2011–2013, Boyd starred in the Sky 1 series Spy[5] which won him BAFTA Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance.[1][6] He also starred in two ITV dramas, Case Sensitive, a series adapted from Sophie Hannah's novel Point of Rescue alongside Olivia Williams and three-part drama The Guilty.[2]

In 2014, Boyd was reunited with his Watching Ellie costar Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a guest appearance on her HBO series Veep in the episode "Special Relationship".[2]

Boyd was part of the ensemble cast of Sky Atlantic drama series Fortitude,[2] which premiered simultaneously in the UK and US in early 2015 playing Markus Huseklepp. Following Fortitude, Boyd briefly returned to comedy in the lead role of Matthew Bunting in the ITV situation comedy The Delivery Man.[2]

In 2016, he returned to television with two dramatic roles. He appeared opposite Idris Elba in the fourth series of Luther,[2] and James Nesbitt in Stan Lee's Lucky Man.[4]

In early 2018, Boyd played Frank Haleton in the British BBC drama series Killing Eve.[2] In late 2019, Boyd provided the voice of Mr. Brown in The Adventures of Paddington which began airing on the Nick Jr. Channel in early 2020.[2]

He played Supt. Dave Minty in the 2020 BBC drama, The Salisbury Poisonings.[7]

Notable cameos include an evangelical vicar in Rev. and an ex-athlete named Dave Wellbeck in BBC's Olympics mockumentary Twenty Twelve.[2]

In 2021, Boyd starred alongside Christopher Walken in the BBC series The Outlaws.[8]

Film

Feature films in which Boyd has appeared include High Heels and Low Lifes (2002), Imagine Me & You (2005), Magicians (2007),[2] Chris Morris' Four Lions (2010), The World's End (2013),[2] Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013), Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor (2017) and The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019).[8]

Radio

Boyd starred as a reluctant arms dealer in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom Safety Catch.[9] He also co-starred in ElvenQuest, another Radio 4 sitcom, as Vidar the Elf Lord. In 2018, he appeared as a major suspect in the Radio 4 drama, A Small Town Murder.


Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2001 High Heels and Low Lifes Ray
2005 Imagine Me & You Cooper
2007 Magicians Otto Johnson
2010 Four Lions Sniper
2011 Spoon Daniel Spoon
2011 Holy Flying Circus John Cleese
2012 Asylum Seekers Mike Short film
2013 The World's End Shane Hawkins
2013 Underdogs Amadeo (voice) UK version
2013 Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa Detective Sergeant Martin Finch American title: Alan Partridge
2014 The Longest Drive Man Short film
2016 Bridget Jones's Baby Jeremy
2017 Journey Beyond Sodor Theo (voice) UK & US versions
2019 The Personal History of David Copperfield Edward Murdstone

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1998–2000 Kiss Me Kate Craig Chapman 22 episodes
1999–2003 Smack the Pony Various characters 26 episodes
1999 Hippies Hugo Yemp 6 episodes
2002–2003 Watching Ellie Ben 16 episodes
2003 Little Robots Additional Voices (voice) Unknown episodes
2006 Green Wing Jake Leaf 5 episodes
2008 Little Dorrit Tite Barnacle Junior 4 episodes
2010 Whites Bib 6 episodes
2010–2012 Dirk Gently Richard MacDuff 4 episodes
2011 Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge Daniel Langford 3 episodes
2011 Twenty Twelve Dave Wellbeck Episode: "Raising The Bar"
2011–2012 Spy Tim Elliot Lead Role
2015–2018 Fortitude Markus Husekleppe 18 episodes
2015 The Delivery Man Matthew Bunting 6 episodes
2015 Luther DCI Theo Bloom Series 4 Episode 1
2016–2018 Stan Lee’s Lucky Man Detective Sergeant Steve Orwell Series 1–3
2016 National Treasure Hamish Episode: "#1.4"
2018 Killing Eve Frank Haleton 5 episodes
2019 Flack Jeremy Episode: "Brooke"
2020–present The Adventures of Paddington Mr. Brown (voice)
2020–present Trying Scott
2020 The Salisbury Poisonings Supt. Dave Minty TV series
2021–present The Outlaws John 2 series filming back to back
TBA We Might Regret This Abe In production[10]

Awards and recognition

References

  1. ^ a b c "2012 Television Awards Winners Announced". 27 May 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Darren Boyd Credits". tvguide.com. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Jane Graham (22 February 2017). "Darren Boyd: 'I always felt like an imposter in the comedy world'". bigissue.com.
  4. ^ a b c Dowell, Ben (21 June 2011). "BBC to dramatise unholy row over Monty Python's Life of Brian". Guardian.co.uk. London.
  5. ^ "Sky orders new MI5 spy sitcom". The British Comedy Guide. 10 May 2011.
  6. ^ "2012 Television Male Performance in a Comedy Programme | BAFTA Awards".
  7. ^ "Meet the cast of The Salisbury Poisonings". Radio Times. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  8. ^ a b David Craig (30 May 2022). "Meet the Cast of the Outlaws". radiotimes.com.
  9. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Safety Catch".
  10. ^ Goldbart, Max (29 November 2023). "We Might Regret This': Producers Say BBC Show Starring & Written By Disabled Performer Can Reach "Very Top Table Of Creativity"". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  11. ^ "The British Comedy Awards - Past Winners". Retrieved 21 February 2013.

External links