Mark Heap

Mark Heap (born 13 May 1957)^[1] is a British actor and comedian. Television credits include Ghost Train (1991), Smith & Jones (1997–1998), Brass Eye (1997–2001), Kiss Me Kate (1998), The Zig and Zag Show (1998), How Do You Want Me? (1998–1999), Stressed Eric (1998–2000), Green Wing (2004–2007), Spaced (1999–2001), The Strangerers (2000), Jam (2000), Doc Martin (2000), Happiness (2001–2003), Lark Rise to Candleford (2008–2011), Desperate Romantics (2009), Friday Night Dinner (2011–2020), Upstart Crow (2016–2018), and Benidorm (2017–2018).

Film credits include About a Boy (2002), Stardust (2007), The World's End (2013), Time Travel Is Dangerous (2024).

Early life

Heap was born in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India,^[2] to an English father and American mother, the youngest of four boys.^[1] When the family moved to the United Kingdom, they lived in Wales. He stayed there until he moved to northern England, where he lives now. He began acting in the 1970s as a member of the Medieval Players,^[3] a touring company performing medieval and early modern theatre, and featuring stilt-walking, juggling and puppetry.^[3] His brother Carl Heap, who is also an actor, was the artistic director of the company.^[3] After its demise, he became part of the street theatre duo The Two Marks (with Mark Saban).^[4]

Career

Television

Heap starred in the BBC sketch show Big Train, where he performed a barefoot gymnastics routine and other sketches between 1998 and 2002, alongside other burgeoning comedy stars Simon Pegg, Julia Davis, Kevin Eldon, Catherine Tate, Amelia Bullmore, Rebecca Front, Nick Frost and Tracy-Ann Oberman.^[5] He appeared as struggling artist Brian Topp in Spaced (1999–2001),^[6] and the pompous Dr. Alan Statham in Green Wing (2004–07).^[6]

Heap worked with Chris Morris, in Blue Jam, radio predecessor to Jam,^[2] and the documentary parody series Brass Eye.^[1] He voiced the lead character of Eric Feeble in the animated comedy Stressed Eric. Other recurring roles included: Terry Roche in Paul Whitehouse's comedy-drama Happiness and Derek Few in How Do You Want Me?^[1] He played Harry in the short-lived Rob Grant TV series The Strangerers, in 2000.^[2] He also guested in the second series of the BBC comedy Look Around You as Leonard Hatred.^[2]

He appeared as an unsuccessful businessman who became a bellboy, in the 2007 BBC One drama Hotel Babylon.^[2] Between 2008 and 2010, he appeared as head postman Thomas Brown, in 32 episodes of the BBC period drama Lark Rise to Candleford.^[1] He was the super villain Lightkiller, in an episode of the sitcom No Heroics.^[2] He also appeared as the father of Chris Miles in the Channel 4 programme Skins.^[2] Heap played the love interest of the main character in the second series of the BBC comedy Love Soup.^[2] He played the role of Charles Dickens in the 2009 BBC Two drama Desperate Romantics.^[2] He also played Jessica Hynes' husband in the one-off comedy written by Hynes and Julia Davis: Lizzie & Sarah.^[2]

In 2010, Heap appeared as Bob Stevens, the leader of a rambling group in the BBC Four series The Great Outdoors.^[2] He also appeared as a psychiatrist in Miranda Hart's BBC2 comedy Miranda.^[2] In October 2010, he appeared as Robin in the four-part BBC drama Single Father.^[2] From 2011 to 2020, Heap played eccentric neighbour Jim Bell in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner, alongside Simon Bird, Paul Ritter, Tom Rosenthal and Tamsin Greig.^[6] He also played Andrew Thorogood in the BBC Four comedy Holy Flying Circus,^[2] and Jonas in the eighth episode of E4's sci-fi comedy-drama Misfits in Series 3.^[2] He appeared as a misguided church minister during an outbreak of smallpox in the BBC series The Indian Doctor.^[2] In 2012, he joined the cast of the Sky1 original series Spy,^[2] for its second series commencing in October 2012, replacing Tom Goodman-Hill as Philip Quil, Judith's partner and Marcus' headteacher.^[2]

He appeared in the spin-off episode of Outnumbered,^[2] the Christmas special episode, aired on 24 December 2012 in which he portrayed Norris, for this single episode.^[2] He played the owner of a pet crematorium in Sue Perkins's 2013 comedy Heading Out.^[2] He had a leading role in BBC Radio 4's adaptation of Gogol's Dead Souls.^[2] He appeared as Robert Greene in three series of Upstart Crow (2016–18),^[2] a BBC Two sitcom about Shakespeare, written by Ben Elton.^[1] He also appeared as Dr. John Hall in the stage show based on the programme.^[1]

From 2017 to 2018, Heap appeared in the sitcom Benidorm,^[1] playing the character Malcolm Barrett, the controlling and manipulative boyfriend of Pauline Maltby.^[1] In 2019, he appeared in Acorn TV's Queens of Mystery alongside Olivia Vinall.^[2]

In 2020, Heap appeared in Intelligence,^[2] and played headmaster and husband in ITV's The Trouble with Maggie Cole.^[2]

Film

In 1983, Heap made a brief appearance as a torch-juggler in the James Bond film Octopussy. He played Duncan, Rik Mayall's hapless personal assistant, in Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis (1997).^[2] He played a school teacher in the 2002 film About a Boy.^[2] He made a cameo appearance with Kevin Eldon in Tim Burton's 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.^[2] He played supporting roles in Confetti (2006), Tunnel of Love (2004), Stardust (2007).^[2] In 2008, he co-starred in the surreal sci-fi B-movie spoof Captain Eager and the Mark of Voth, and was a publican in The World's End.^[2]

Other acting

In 1993, Heap played villain Hans Schultze in the "Double Identity" episode of Crimewatch File. Schultze was the German alter ego of Englishman John Calton who led a gang of kidnappers robbing banks and a supermarket, and holding families hostage.

In 2008, Heap played the role of Widmerpool in a Radio 4 serialisation of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time. He played Eliza's husband in 2006 Radio 4 play The Eliza Stories and appeared as Marmite the Dwarf in the short-lived Radio 4 sitcom The Sofa of Time. He starred in the music video for Four Tet's single "Smile Around the Face" in 2005, contributed a multitude of character voices in the audiobook "Do Ants Have Arseholes?". In 2012, he starred as Martin in the Radio 4 play Cordite for Breakfast, a comedy about Napoleonic-era battle re-enactments.^[7] In March 2013, he appeared as Rincewind in a 4-part Radio 4 adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Eric. He also played the angel Aziraphale in the 2014 BBC radio adaption of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens.^[8] He also was the lead in a series of radio advertisements for telecommunications company TalkTalk.^[9]

Filmography

Film

Television

Video Games

References

1. ^ "Mark Heap - Biography". Hello!. 8 October 2009. Archived 28 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
2. ^ "Mark Heap Credits". TV Guide. Archived 29 July 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
3. ^ Heap, Carl (12 June 2014). "Finding the method in medieval theatre's madness". The Guardian. Archived 9 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
4. ^ Love, Catherine (2 April 2014). "Mark Heap: Mr Zany buttons up". The Guardian. Archived 24 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
5. ^ Victoria Gooch (April 25, 2012). "Big Train: a cult comedy that proved an early platform for top talent". The Guardian. Archived 14 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
6. ^ Francesca Shillcock (April 10, 2020). "All you need to know about Friday Night Dinner star Mark Heap". Hello!. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022.
7. ^ "Cordite for Breakfast". BBC Radio 4. 10 July 2012. Archived 26 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
8. ^ Brown, Brigid (5 September 2014). "BBC Radio Brings Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens to Life". BBC America. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021.
9. ^ Johnston, Rich (18 June 2024). "Terry's Story, a series of radio ads for TalkTalk, starring Mark Heap, written by Rich Johnston". YouTube
10. ^ "Zapped Series 3 Guest Stars". British Comedy Guide. Archived 26 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
11. ^ Roberts, Hannah. "New BBC sitcom starring Dawn French begins filming in the West Country". Evening Standard. Retrieved 10 March 2025.

External links

• Mark Heap at IMDb
• Agency profile