| Birth name | Darren John Boyd |
|---|---|
| Birth place | Hastings, Sussex, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1998–present |
Darren John Boyd is an English actor. He starred in the Sky One series Spy, for which he won the 2012 BAFTA TV Award for Best Male Comedy Performance. His work in television and film spans comedy and drama.
Early life
Boyd was born in Hastings, Sussex,[1] and began acting at the age of 16, in local theatre productions.[2]
Career
Television
Boyd co-starred in the BBC comedy Kiss Me Kate (1998),[2] which ran for three years and led to starring roles in British comedies including Hippies (1999), with Simon Pegg, and Smack the Pony (1999).[2] In 2001, Boyd was co-creator and co-writer with Victoria Pile on Los Dos Bros, an off-beat sitcom exploring physical comedy and the relationship between Boyd and Cavan Clerkin as the titular half brothers. 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.[1]
Boyd returned to the UK in 2005, and took roles including Dr. Jake Leaf in the second series of Green Wing (2006) and 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 novel Personal Affairs for BBC Three, and Royal Wedding (2010),[1] which follows the 1981 Royal Wedding through the perspective of events in a Welsh mining village, written by Abi Morgan and starring Jodie Whittaker.[1]
Boyd starred as Bib in the 2010 BBC sitcom Whites, and co-starred in the BBC Four drama Dirk Gently playing Dirk Gently's business partner Richard MacDuff from 2010 to 2012. In 2011 Boyd played John Cleese in Holy Flying Circus, a 90-minute dramatisation of the controversy over the 1979 release of Monty Python's Life of Brian.[3]
From 2011 to 2013, Boyd starred in the Sky One series Spy,[4] which won him BAFTA Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance,[5][6] and 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.[1]
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".[1]
Boyd played Markus Huseklepp as part of the ensemble cast of Sky Atlantic drama series Fortitude,[1] which premiered in 2015. He briefly returned to comedy in the lead role of Matthew Bunting in the ITV sitcom The Delivery Man.[1]
In 2016, he appeared in dramatic roles opposite Idris Elba in the fourth series of Luther,[1] and opposite James Nesbitt in Stan Lee's Lucky Man.[3]
In 2018, Boyd played Frank Haleton in the British BBC drama series Killing Eve.[1] In 2019, Boyd provided the voice of Mr. Brown in The Adventures of Paddington which aired on the Nick Jr. Channel in 2020.[1]
He played Supt. Dave Minty in the fact-based 2020 BBC drama The Salisbury Poisonings.[7]
Cameos include an evangelical vicar in Rev. and ex-athlete Dave Wellbeck in BBC Olympics mockumentary Twenty Twelve.[1]
In 2021, Boyd appeared in the BBC series The Outlaws.[8]
Film
Boyd has appeared in feature films including High Heels and Low Lifes (2002), Imagine Me & You (2005), Magicians (2007),[1] Chris Morris' Four Lions (2010), The World's End (2013),[1] 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 co-starred in ElvenQuest, another Radio 4 sitcom, as Vidar the Elf Lord. In 2018, he appeared as a 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 | |
| Holy Flying Circus | John Cleese | ||
| 2012 | Asylum Seekers | Mike | Short film |
| 2013 | The World's End | Shane Hawkins | |
| Underdogs | Amadeo (voice) | UK version | |
| 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 and U.S. 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 | Hippies | Hugo Yemp | 6 episodes |
| 1999–2003 | Smack the Pony | Various characters | 26 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 |
| Twenty Twelve | Dave Wellbeck | Episode: "Raising The Bar" | |
| 2011–2012 | Spy | Tim Elliot | Lead role |
| 2014 | Warren United | Warren Kingsley (voice) | 6 episodes |
| 2014 | Veep | Peter Mitchell | Season 3, episode 7 |
| 2015 | The Delivery Man | Matthew Bunting | 6 episodes |
| Luther | DCI Theo Bloom | Series 4, episode 1 | |
| 2015–2018 | Fortitude | Markus Husekleppe | 18 episodes |
| 2016 | National Treasure | Hamish | Episode: "#1.4" |
| 2016–2018 | Stan Lee’s Lucky Man | Detective Sergeant Steve Orwell | Series 1–3 |
| 2018 | Killing Eve | Frank Haleton | 5 episodes |
| 2019 | Flack | Jeremy | Episode: "Brooke" |
| 2020 | The Salisbury Poisonings | Supt. Dave Minty | TV series |
| 2020 | Soulmates | Peter | Episode 1 |
| 2020–2025 | The Adventures of Paddington | Mr. Brown (voice) | |
| 2020–present | Trying | Scott | 24 episodes |
| 2021–2024 | The Outlaws | John | 17 episodes |
| 2024–present | We Might Regret This | Abe | 10 episodes[10] |
| 2025 | Down Cemetery Road | C. | 8 episodes |
Awards and recognition
- Los Dos Bros was winner of a Silver Rose for Best Sitcom at the Montreux Festival in 2002.
- Boyd won the Best TV Comedy Actor award at The British Comedy Awards in 2011.[11]
- Nominated for Best Actor in a comedy at the Royal Television Society Awards, 2012.
- Boyd won the British Academy Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2012.[5]
References
- ^ "Darren Boyd Credits". tvguide.com. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ Jane Graham (22 February 2017). "Darren Boyd: 'I always felt like an imposter in the comedy world'". bigissue.com
- ^ Dowell, Ben (21 June 2011). "BBC to dramatise unholy row over Monty Python's Life of Brian". Guardian.co.uk
- ^ "Sky orders new MI5 spy sitcom". The British Comedy Guide. 10 May 2011.
- ^ "2012 Television Awards Winners Announced". 27 May 2012. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
- ^ "2012 Television Male Performance in a Comedy Programme | BAFTA Awards"
- ^ "Meet the cast of The Salisbury Poisonings". Radio Times. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ David Craig (30 May 2022). "Meet the Cast of the Outlaws". radiotimes.com
- ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Safety Catch"
- ^ "BBC iPlayer". Retrieved 17 September 2024.
- ^ "The British Comedy Awards - Past Winners". Retrieved 21 February 2013.