Richard Mark Bonnar (born 19 November 1968) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Max in Guilt, Duncan Hunter in Shetland, Bruno Jenkins in Casualty, Detective Finney in Psychoville, DCC Mike Dryden in Line of Duty, Colin Osborne in Unforgotten, Blackbeard in Assasin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Townsend in Battlefield 1 and Field in Summer of Rockets.

Mark Bonnar
Born
Richard Mark Bonnar[1][2]

(1968-11-19) 19 November 1968 (age 55)
OccupationActor
Years active2001–present
Spouse
(m. 2007)
Children2

Career edit

On television, Bonnar has appeared as Peter Mayhew in BBC One's New Blood and Chris in the Channel 4 comedy Catastrophe, a role which he reprised in the following series. He also portrays the Rev. Adam Collingbourne in ITV's Home Fires, John Halliday in Undercover, as well as regular Duncan Hunter in Shetland for BBC One. Other television credits include Vera, Grantchester, Case Histories, The Paradise, Doctor Who, Psychoville, Taggart, Phoneshop and Paradox. In 2005, he portrayed regular Bruno Jenkins in the BBC One series Casualty. In 2018, he portrayed Dr Neil Sommer in the Channel 4 series Humans.

His theatre performances include Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi at the Old Vic, London in 2012,[3] Philistines at the Lyttelton, National Theatre in May 2007, Phil in Mammals in a national tour in 2006, David in A Girl in a Car with a Man at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in December 2004, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Salisbury Playhouse in September 2004, Cyrano de Bergerac at the National Theatre in 2004 and Parade at the Donmar Warehouse in September 2007.

Bonnar provided the voice and motion capture for Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch in the 2013 video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.[4] He also provides the voice and motion capture for Townsend in the 2016 game Battlefield 1. He also features in the Doctor Who series Doom Coalition from Big Finish Productions, where he portrays the Eleven, a villainous Time Lord who retains the personalities of his past incarnations in his mind.

Bonnar also voices Twigs and Box in the CBeebies series Tree Fu Tom.[5]

Personal life edit

Bonnar was born in Edinburgh to environmental artist Stan[6] and his wife Rosi. Stan's job as town artist for the Scottish New Towns meant the family moved around and Mark spent his childhood in Stonehouse, South Lanarkshire, attending Townhead Primary School in Stonehouse.[7] Bonnar has presented a BBC documentary on the new towns titled Meet You at the Hippos.[8]

By 1981 the family had moved to Edinburgh and Mark attended Leith Academy. Mark attended school with future Guilt co-star Jamie Sives.[9] He married actress Lucy Gaskell on 28 December 2007. Their first child, Martha, was born in July 2011, and their second, Samuel, in June 2015.[10]

Filmography edit

Year Title Role Notes
2001 Rebus DI Jim Margolies Episode: "Dead Souls"
2002 Wire in the Blood Stevie McTeer Episodes: "The Mermaids Singing: Parts 1 & 2"
2003 Loving You DC Colin Morris TV film
Taggart Dr. Phillip Gardner Episode: "An Eye for an Eye"
2005 Afterlife Ben Varcoe Episode: "Misdirection"
Casualty@Holby City Bruno Jenkins Episodes: "Teacher's Pet" & "Crash and Burn"
2005–2006 Casualty 32 episodes
2007 The Trial of Tony Blair Tommy TV film
Nuclear Secrets Penkovsky Mini-series: Episode: "The Spy from Moscow"
The Bill Ray Moore 8 episodes
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries DC Ed Harvey Episode: "Know Thine Enemy"
Britz Richard Two-part TV drama
2009 Paradox DS Ben Holt Mini-series
2010 PhoneShop Don Episode: "Salesman of the Month"
Taggart DCI Atkins Episode: "Ends of Justice"
2011 Doctor Who Jimmy / Jimmy's duplicate Episodes: "The Rebel Flesh" & "The Almost People"
Psychoville Detective Finney 6 episodes
2012 Playhouse Presents Gerry McCluskey Series 1: Episode: "The Minor Character"
Twenty Twelve Ben Farrell Episode: "Clarence House"
The Paradise Peter Adler 2 episodes
2013 Silent Witness Piers Christie Episodes: "Trust: Parts 1 & 2"
Case Histories Andy Marshall Series 2: Episode: "Nobody's Darling"
Thirst John Valentine Short
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch Video game (Voice and motion capture)
2013–present Shetland Duncan Hunter 23 episodes
2014 Line of Duty DCC Dryden Series 2: 6 episodes
Law & Order: UK Mark Glendon Episode: "Hard Stop"
X Moor Fox Film
Grantchester Dr. Robinson Episode: "Episode 3"
Camera Trap Iain Film
2015 Midsomer Murders William Carnavon Episode: "A Vintage Murder"
All the Ordinary Angels Mr. Taylor Film
Vera Danny Pryor Episode: "Muddy Waters"
Home Fires Reverend Adam Collingborne 3 episodes
Sunset Song Reverend Gibbon Film
Sword Coast Legends Izhkin Video game (Voice)
Jekyll & Hyde Lord Protheroe Mini-Series: 5 episodes
The Other Side of Home Paul Short
2015–2019 Catastrophe Chris 20 episodes
2016 Billionaire Ransom (aka Take Down) Lawrence Close Film
Undercover John Halliday Mini-series: 5 episodes
New Blood Peter Mayhew Case 1: 3 episodes; Case 2: 2 episodes
Battlefield 1 Townsend Video game (Voice)
2016–2017 Porridge Officer Meekie TV film and mini-series
2017 Unforgotten Barrister Colin Osborne Series 2 - BAFTA Scotland winner for this role
Apple Tree Yard Gary Carmichael Mini-series
Mission Galapagos Narrator Full series (For International Version)
Eric, Ernie and Me Eric Morecambe TV film
Edmund the Magnificent Nate Short
2018 Urban Myths Billy Series 2: Episode: "Agatha Christie"
Humans Dr. Neil Sommer Series 3: 7 episodes
Say My Name Dec Film
2019 The Kid Who Would Be King Mr. Jeffreys Film
Summer of Rockets Field Mini-series: 6 episodes
Defending the Guilty Miles 3 episodes
2019–2023 Guilt Max Mini-series: 12 episodes
2020 Quiz Paul Smith Mini-series
Zog and the Flying Doctors The Unicorn (voice) Short film[11]
Assassin's Creed Valhalla Ceolwulf II of Mercia Video game (Voice)
2021 Meet Me at the Hippos Presenter Documentary
Operation Mincemeat Jock Horsfall Film
2022 Litvinenko Clive Timmons Main role
2023 Calamity James Dad Short film
Napoleon Jean-Andoche Junot Film
2023–present The Rig Alwyn Evans Main role
2023–present World on Fire Sir James Danemere Main role
2023 Murder is Easy Reverend Humbleby Two-part drama[12]

Audio work edit

Date Title Role Director Station
November 1997October 2005 Westway Denny Hampton BBC World Service
22 March 2006 A Tiny Light in the Darkness Daniel Lu Kemp BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
14 August 2007 Cut to the Heart[13] Pete Kirsty Williams BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
6 July 2008 Piper Alpha[14] Toby Swift BBC Radio 3 Drama on 3
13 January 2015 Doctor Who: The English Way of Death[15] Porteus Nicholas Briggs None, Big Finish Productions
12 October 2015 – present Doctor Who: Doom Coalition[16] The Eleven Various None, Big Finish Productions
Doctor Who: Ravenous[16]
26 January 2016 A History of Paper[17] Him Kirsty Williams BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
January 2019 – March 2021 For The Love of Leo Leo Fabiani Marilyn Imrie, Michael Chaplin, Catherine Bailey BBC Radio 4
13 September 2019 – present Space 1999[18] Commander John Koenig Nicholas Briggs None, Big Finish Productions
November 2021 – November 2022 UNIT: Nemesis The Eleven Ken Bentley None, Big Finish Productions

Awards and nominations edit

Year Award Category Work Result Ref
2014 British Academy Scotland Awards (BAFTA Scotland) Best Actor in Television Line of Duty Nominated [19]
2015 British Academy Scotland Awards (BAFTA Scotland) Best Actor in Television Catastrophe Nominated [19]
2017 British Academy Scotland Awards (BAFTA Scotland) Best Actor in Television Unforgotten Won [19]
2018 Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) Awards Best Actor Unforgotten, Eric, Ernie and Me, Catastrophe Won [20]
2022 British Academy Scotland Awards (BAFTA Scotland) Best Actor in Film Operation Mincemeat Pending [21]

References edit

  1. ^ "Statutory registers - Births". Scotland's People. National Records of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon.
  2. ^ "Richard Mark BONNAR - Personal Appointments". Companies House. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  3. ^ Coveney, Michael (29 March 2012). "The Duchess of Malfi". The Stage. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  4. ^ Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag on YouTube
  5. ^ "Series 5, Box of Tricks: Credits". BBC Online. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  6. ^ BBC Scotland - Meet You at the Hippos, 2021 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00124rq
  7. ^ Stan Bonnar. "Stan Bonnar Website".
  8. ^ The Herald https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/bestofscotland/19738926.meet-hippos-mark-bonnars-documentary-scotlands-new-towns-public-art/
  9. ^ Dalgetty, Lee (28 May 2023). "Guilt stars Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives talk Edinburgh school days and 'bittersweet' final season". Edinburgh Live. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  10. ^ Bill Gibb (11 January 2017). "Mark Bonnar on Unforgotten and stepping into the shoes of a legend for Porridge remake". Sunday Post.
  11. ^ "Zog and the Flying Doctors". BBC. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Casting revealed for Murder is Easy, based on the classic mystery by Agatha Christie". bbc.co.uk/mediacentre. 10 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  13. ^ BBC – Afternoon Play – Cut to the Heart
  14. ^ BBC – Drama on 3 – Piper Alpha
  15. ^ "4. THE ENGLISH WAY OF DEATH (STANDARD EDITION)". Big Finish Productions. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  16. ^ a b "DOCTOR WHO - RAVENOUS". Big Finish Productions. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  17. ^ BBC – Afternoon Play – A History of Paper
  18. ^ "Space 1999". Big Finish Productions. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  19. ^ a b c "British Academy Scotland Awards: Winners in 2017". BAFTA Scotland. 5 November 2017.
  20. ^ Clover, Julian (16 March 2018). "Awards 2018". Broadcasting Press Guild.
  21. ^ "BAFTA Scotland Awards 2022: Full Nominations List". www.bafta.org. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.

External links edit