Adrian Dunbar

Last updated

Adrian Dunbar
Adrian Dunbar - Actor (cropped).jpg
Dunbar in 2014
Born (1958-08-01) 1 August 1958 (age 66)
NationalityIrish
Alma mater Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupations
  • Actor
  • screenwriter
  • director
  • singer
Years active1980–present
Notable work Ashes to Ashes (2009)
Line of Duty (2012–2021)
Spouse
Anna Nygh
(m. 1986)

Adrian Dunbar (born 1 August 1958) is an Irish actor, director, and singer, known for his television and theatre work. He co-wrote and starred in the 1991 film Hear My Song , nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the BAFTA awards. [1]

Contents

Dunbar is best known for playing Superintendent Ted Hastings in all six series of the hit BBC crime drama Line of Duty (2012–21). He has also appeared as Alan Cox in The Jump , Martin Summers in Ashes to Ashes , Richard Plantagenet in The Hollow Crown , and Father Flaherty in Broken . Since 2022, Dunbar has starred in the lead role of Alex Ridley in the ITV detective series Ridley .

Notable film work includes My Left Foot (1989), The Crying Game (1992), and deleted scenes in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999), whilst TV guest appearances include Inspector Morse , Cracker , A Touch of Frost , Silk , Scott & Bailey , Silent Witness and Inside No. 9 .

Early life

Dunbar was born and brought up in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland, the eldest of seven siblings. He has two brothers, John and Roy, who live in Birmingham. Raised in a Catholic family, he was educated at St Joseph's College, Enniskillen, before attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. [2]

Career

Dunbar has appeared in such notable films as My Left Foot , The Crying Game and The General . He has also had leading roles in the films Triggermen, Shooters, How Harry Became A Tree (with Colm Meaney), Richard III and Widows' Peak .

On television he starred in the first episode of Cracker , playing an innocent murder suspect with amnesia, and also the last episode of A Touch of Frost . He has been in many British productions, including Tough Love, Inspector Morse , Kidnapped, Murphy's Law, Murder in Mind, Ashes to Ashes and the 2005 re-staging of The Quatermass Experiment .

Dunbar's theatre credits include The Shaughraun and Exiles at Dublin's Abbey Theatre; Real Dreams and The Danton Affair at the Royal Shakespeare Company; King Lear , Pope's Wedding, Saved and Up to the Sun And Down to the Centre at Royal Court Theatre and Conversations on a Homecoming at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast; A Trinity of Two (as Oscar Wilde) at Dublin's Liberty Hall Theatre; and Boeing Boeing (London, 2007). He has directed a critically acclaimed production of Philadelphia Here I Come! .

In 2008 he starred in and co-directed Brendan at the Chelsea by Janet Behan, playing Brendan Behan. The play was the first to be staged in the Naughton Studio in the new Lyric Theatre in Belfast after it reopened in 2011, and was revived for a tour to Theatre Row in New York City in September 2013.

Dunbar played the role of Tullus Aufidius in the BBC radio production of Coriolanus . He also made a guest appearance in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi , and appeared on stage as Vermeer in an adaptation of Girl with a Pearl Earring .

In 2008 Dunbar played the role of Philip Conolly in the critically acclaimed The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce . He starred alongside fellow Northern Irish actor Ciarán McMenamin in the remote rainforests of north-west Tasmania. He joined the cast of the police procedural television series Line of Duty in 2012, portraying the role of Superintendent Ted Hastings; he continued in this role for all subsequent series.

Dunbar is also a theatre director and has staged productions for the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival. In 2020 he founded the multi-disciplinary arts company Unreal Cities with composer Nick Roth, whose work includes two Beckett Biennales (Beckett: Confined 2022, Beckett: Unbound 2024) as well as settings of poems by T.S. Eliot, Dermot Healy and Seamus Heaney. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

He played the mysterious character Martin Summers in the second series of Ashes to Ashes . In 2014 he played the title character in a BBC comedy drama, Walter. [8]

Dunbar also starred as Jim Hogan in the Virgin Media Television original drama Blood.

Other media

Awards and nominations

BAFTA Awards

BAFTA Awards
YearNominated workCategoryResult
1993 Hear My Song Best ScreenplayNominated
2018 Line of Duty Best Supporting ActorNominated

Irish Film & Television Academy Awards

IFTA Awards
YearNominated workCategoryResult
2018 Line of Duty Actor in a Lead Role in DramaNominated
2020Nominated
2021Nominated

National Television Awards

National Television Awards
YearNominated workCategoryResult
2021 Line of Duty Drama PerformanceNominated

TV Choice Awards

TV Choice Awards
YearNominated workCategoryResult
2019 Line of Duty Best ActorWon
2021Nominated

GQ Men of the Year Awards

GQ Men of the Year Awards
YearNominated workCategoryResult
2021 Line of Duty Television ActorWon

Personal life

Dunbar has a daughter and stepson from his 1986 marriage to Australian actress Anna Nygh. He lives in Crouch End, North London. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Ulster in June 2009 in recognition of his services to acting. [14] [15]

Dunbar believes Sinn Féin will deliver a united Ireland in the future, saying "I expect Ireland to be unified and at peace with herself. Irish unification and freedom after hundreds of years is in our DNA, it is in effect a big part of who we have become to ourselves and the world". [16]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1986 Sky Bandits Mechanic
1988 A World Apart Le Roux
The Dawning Capt. Rankin
1989Unusual Ground Floor ConversionAlan SimpsonShort film
My Left Foot Peter
Dealers Lennon Mayhew
1991 Hear My Song Micky O'Neill
1992 The Playboys Mick
The Crying Game Maguire
1994 Widows' Peak Godfrey Doyle-Counihan
1995 Innocent Lies Alan Cross
The Near RoomCharlie Colquhoun
Richard III James Tyrell
1998 The General Noel Curley
1999 Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Senator Bail Antilles Deleted scene
2000Last OrdersShort film
Wild About Harry J.J. McMahon
The Wedding Tackle Mr Mac
2001 How Harry Became a Tree George
2002 Triggermen Andy Jarrett
Shooters Max Bell
2003The Measure of My DaysPriestShort film
2004 Mickybo and Me Mickybo's Da
2005Against NatureThe TrampShort film
2006 Eye of the Dolphin Hawk
2008 The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce Philip Conolly
2009Act of GodFrank O'Connor
2011HideawaysDr Russell
Mother's Milk Seamus Dorke
2012 Good Vibrations Andy
2016The Secret ScriptureDr Hart
2017 The Snowman Frederick Aasen
2022 Emily Patrick Brontë

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1980The Long MarchColmTV movie
1984 Play for Today Peter DouglasEpisode: "The Cry"
After You've GoneChrisTV movie
The Hidden CurriculumBoyd
1985The PriceWilly4 episodes
1988 The Fear Con
The Four Minute Mile Norris McWhirterTV movie
Screen Two Robbie MacIntyreEpisode: "Reasonable Force"
1990JohnEpisode: "Drowning in the Shallow End"
Theatre Night LennyEpisode: "Pentecost"
Debut on TwoJohn/LucienEpisodes: "The Wake" and "A Box of Swan"
Centrepoint Brown2 episodes
ScreenPlay AndyEpisode: "The Englishman's Wife"
1991 Children of the North Martin Deeley3 episodes
1992 ScreenPlay DS Billy McCourbreyEpisode: "Force of Duty"
Inspector Morse John MarriatEpisode: "Dead on Time"
1993 A Statement of Affairs Adrian3 episodes
Cracker KellyEpisodes: "The Mad Woman in the Attic", Parts 1 & 2
A Woman's Guide to AdulteryMichael3 episodes
1994 The Blue Boy Joe BonnarTV movie
PleasureGustave Coudray
1995 Cruel Train Jack Dando
1997 Melissa Graeme Hepburn5 episodes
1998 The Jump Alan Cox4 episodes
The Officer from FranceWolfe ToneTV movie
1999Relative StrangersMichael Docherty2 episodes
2000 Tough Love DCI Mike Love
2003 Murphy's Law Mickey MundayEpisode: "Manic Munday"
Murder in Mind Tom RobbinsEpisode: "Justice"
Suspicion Mark Finnegan2 episodes
2005 Kidnapped Alexander Balfour/Ebenezer BalfourTV movie
The Quatermass Experiment Detective Lomax
Child of Mine Alfie Palmer
2007 The Whistleblowers Chris ClaytonEpisode: "Starters"
2008 Whistleblower Florence Wycherley2 episodes
2009 Ashes to Ashes Martin Summers8 episodes
2010 A Touch of Frost Gerry BerlandEpisodes: "If Dogs Run Free", Parts 1 & 2
Mo David Trimble TV movie
2011 Silk Joe Gillespie QCEpisode: "Three Sheets to the Wind"
Death in Paradise Aidan MilesEpisodes: "Music of Murder" and "Amongst Us"
2011–13 World's Most Dangerous Roads Narrator9 episodes
2012 Scott & Bailey Det. Supt. Rick WallisEpisode: "Pipe Dreams"
Silent Witness Sean DelaneyEpisodes: "Fear", Parts 1 & 2
The Life and Adventures of Nick NicklebyRalph Nickleby5 episodes
2012–21 Line of Duty Supt. Ted HastingsSix series; 36 episodes
2013 Jo Olivier CattanEpisode: "Place Vendôme"
2014 Walter DI Walter GambonTV movie
A Touch of Cloth Damien VullEpisodes: "Too Cloth for Comfort", Parts 1 & 2
2016 The Hollow Crown Plantagenet Episodes: "Henry VI", Parts 1 & 2
2017 Broken Father Peter Flaherty6 episodes
2018-2020 Blood Jim Hogan
2019Red Nose BodyguardPoliceman/Supt. Ted Hastings Red Nose Day 2019 special
2021The AttendantThe AttendantShort film
Adrian Dunbar's Coastal IrelandHimself/presenterTwo-part series
Inside No. 9 HimselfSeries 6, episode 4: "Hurry Up and Wait"
2022-present Ridley Alex RidleyITV series [17]
Adrian Dunbar: My IrelandHimself/presenterTwo-part series
2023DNA JourneyHimselfWith Neil Morrisey [18]

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References

  1. Maslin, Janet (19 January 1992). "Hear My Song (1991) Review/Film; Irish Tenor Is Focus Of Intrigue and Blarney". The New York Times .
  2. "Eye of the Dolphin Star Biographies – Adrian Dunbar". michaeldsellers.com. 9 July 2007. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021.
  3. "Adrian Dunbar on Beckett: 'I seemed to be getting knocked around emotionally but didn't know how he was doing it'". The Irish Times .
  4. Masters, Time (15 April 2015). "Beckett festival to feature play in the dark". BBC News.
  5. Slater, Sasha. "Going to the Opera". Harper's Bazaar.
  6. Thorpe, Vanessa. "Sophie Hunter: The opera director who has to dodge paparazzie". Sophie Hunter Central.
  7. Kennedy, Maev (15 April 2015). "Happy Days festival's Beckett treats to include a German Godot". The Guardian.
  8. "Programmes". BBC. Archived from the original on 5 August 2014.
  9. Adrian Dunbar as Bail Antilles- Deleted Scene- STAR WARS: EP I: PHANTOM MENACE- Alderaan in Senate., 5 August 2016, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 20 July 2021
  10. Guardian Staff (14 August 2000). "Adrian Dunbar linked to 'strange' Star Wars". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  11. Adie Dunbar and the Jonahs Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  12. "The Curragh of Kildare". BBC Music. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018.
  13. Colfer, Eoin (2001). Artemis Fowl. Puffin Audiobooks. ISBN   0-14-180286-3.
  14. "Honorary Degree for Leading Ulster Actor Dunbar". 30 June 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  15. Murphy, Eoin (15 February 2020). "Line of Duty star says Sinn Fein will be able to deliver 32-county republic". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  16. Young, David (10 May 2021). "Adrian Dunbar and top Orangeman Mervyn Gibson split over Ireland in 2121". Belfast Telegraph .
  17. "Adrian Dunbar detective series Ridley starts filming in Lancashire". ITV. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  18. "DNA Journey". itv.com. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2023.