David Haig

Last updated

David Haig
MBE
Born
David Haig Collum Ward

(1955-09-20) 20 September 1955 (age 69)
Aldershot, Hampshire, England
Alma mater London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation(s)Actor, playwright
Years active1978–present
Spouse
Jane Galloway
​
(m. 2010)​
Children5

David Haig Collum Ward MBE (born 20 September 1955) is an English actor and playwright. He has appeared in West End productions and numerous television and film roles over a career spanning four decades.

Contents

Haig wrote the play My Boy Jack , which premièred at the Hampstead Theatre on 13 October 1997. On Remembrance Day 2007, ITV broadcast a television drama based on the play, in which Haig played Rudyard Kipling and Daniel Radcliffe played Kipling's son, John. He went on to star as the Player in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead alongside Radcliffe in 2017.

Haig's second play The Good Samaritan was also first staged at the Hampstead Theatre, opening on 6 July 2000. His third play Pressure premiered at the Chichester Festival in 2014, before being revived in 2018 on a UK Tour and then in the West End at the Ambassadors Theatre. In 2018, he portrayed Bill in the critically acclaimed BBC America thriller series Killing Eve (2018).

Haig was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama. [1]

Early life

Haig was born on 20 September 1955 in Aldershot, Hampshire, [2] the son of opera singer Shirley R. C. (née Brooks) and army officer (and later director of the Hayward Gallery) Francis W. He had a younger sister who died at 22 of a brain aneurysm when he was 26. He grew up in Rugby, Warwickshire where he attended Rugby School. [3]

Career

Film and television

Haig appeared in the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral , [2] and had a supporting role in the BBC television sitcom The Thin Blue Line (1995), [2] playing Inspector Grim, the inept foil to Rowan Atkinson's Inspector Fowler. He also appeared in Love on a Branch Line , a TV series broadcast by the BBC in four episodes. In 2002 he played the brother of Four Weddings' co-star Hugh Grant in the romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice . [2] In 2007, he appeared in a Comic Relief sketch called "Mr. Bean's Wedding" as the bride's father, reuniting with Atkinson.

Other TV work includes Doctor Who [2] story "The Leisure Hive" (1980); Blake's 7 [2] episode "Rumours of Death" (1980); Diamonds (1981 TV series); Campion story "Sweet Danger" (1990); Inspector Morse episode "Dead on Time" (1992); [2] and Cracker [2] story "To Say I Love You" (1993). In the 1990s, he appeared in series 1 of the TV series Soldier Soldier . [2]

He appears in the Richard Fell adaptation of the 1960s science fiction series A for Andromeda , on the UK digital television station BBC Four.

Haig wrote the play My Boy Jack , [2] and later appeared as Rudyard Kipling, alongside Daniel Radcliffe, in television adaptation. [2]

In 2008, he appeared in the BBC film Dustbin Baby , [2] and The 39 Steps . [2] He also appeared in the Midsomer Murders , [2] episode "The Glitch". In 2009 he appeared as Steve Fleming in BBC TV's The Thick of It , [2] and as Jon, husband to former MP Mo Mowlam in the drama Mo , [2] opposite Julie Walters. Also in 2009, he appeared in two episodes as the headmaster of Portwenn Primary School, Mr Straine on ITV comedy drama Doc Martin . [2]

In January 2013, Haig started appearing as Jim Hacker in a re-make of classic 1980s comedy series Yes Prime Minister , broadcast on Gold TV in the United Kingdom. [2]

In 2012 a new sitcom pilot, starring Haig and written by Ben Elton, was filmed for the BBC. [4] Filming for a full six-part series of the sitcom, The Wright Way (formerly known as Slings and Arrows) was completed in March 2013, and began airing on BBC One on 23 April. [5]

An August 2018 announcement indicated that Haig would be among the new cast to join the original actors in the Downton Abbey film which started principal photography at about the same time. [6] In September 2018 he appeared as Bill alongside Jodie Comer in the BBC America thriller series Killing Eve . [2]

In September 2024, production started on his film adaptation of his play Pressure . [7]

Radio

In 2008, he played Maurice Haigh-Wood in the BBC Radio adaptation of Michael Hastings' play Tom and Viv, and 2010 he starred as Norman Birkett in "Norman Birkett and the Case of the Coleford Poisoner" on BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play series. He also played the narrator and the older Lewis Eliot in C. P. Snow's "Strangers and Brothers" on Radio 4 in 2003, repeated on Radio 4 Extra every few years.

Stage

He also won an Olivier Award in 1988 for Actor of the Year in a New Play, for his performance in Our Country's Good at the Royal Court in Sloane Square. [8] He toured Britain with the stage version of My Boy Jack, which he wrote, and in which he played Rudyard Kipling and directed a production of Private Lives by Noël Coward, which made a national tour in 2005.

Haig has appeared in several stage productions in London's West End, including Hitchcock Blonde at the Royal Court, Life X 3 at the Savoy Theatre, as the character Osborne in R.C. Sherriff's play Journey's End at the Comedy Theatre, and as Mr George Banks in Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre for which he received an Olivier Award nomination. He was also nominated for playing Christopher Headingley in a revival of Michael Frayn's comedy Donkeys' Years at the Comedy Theatre. Having appeared in the role of Pinchwife in the comedy The Country Wife at the Royal Haymarket Theatre in London, he appeared in The Sea at the same theatre. Haig's next role was Truscott in the Joe Orton black farce Loot at London's Tricycle Theatre from 11 December 2008 to 31 January 2009 and at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, 2 to 7 February 2009.

In 2010 he played the role of Jim Hacker in the stage version of Yes, Prime Minister , [9] at the Chichester Festival Gielgud Theatre, in London's West End from 17 September 2010. [10]

In September 2023, it was announced that Haig was adapting Philip K. Dick's novella "The Minority Report" for the stage, to premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith the following spring. [11]

Filmography and stage credits

Theatre

YearTitleRoleProductionNotes
2018 Pressure
by David Haig		James Stagg Ambassadors Theatre, London
2017 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard The Player The Old Vic, London
2016 Blue/Orange
by Joe Penhall 		Robert Young Vic
2015 Guys and Dolls
by Frank Loesser 		Nathan Detroit Chichester Festival Theatre Olivier Award Nomination
2015 Someone Who'll Watch Over Me
by Frank McGuinness		Michael Minerva Theatre, Chichester
2014 Pressure
by David Haig		 James Stagg Royal Lyceum Theatre/Chichester Festival Theatre
2013 King Lear
by William Shakespeare 		Lear Theatre Royal, Bath
2011–12 The Madness of George III
by Alan Bennett [12] 		George IIINational Tour and Apollo Theatre Olivier Award Nomination
2010–11 Yes, Prime Minister
by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn [13] 		Jim Hacker Chichester Festival Theatre and Gielgud Theatre
2009 Loot
by Joe Orton [14] 		Inspector Truscott Tricycle Theatre
2008 The Sea
by Edward Bond [15] 		Hatch Royal Haymarket Theatre
2007 The Country Wife
by William Wycherley [16] 		PinchwifeRoyal Haymarket Theatre
2006 Donkey's Years
by Michael Frayn [17] 		Chris Headlingly Comedy Theatre Olivier Award Nomination
2005 Mary Poppins
by Julian Fellowes [18] 		Mr Banks Prince Edward Theatre Olivier Award Nomination
2004 Journey's End
by R.C. Sherriff [19] 		Osborne Comedy Theatre
2003 Hitchcock Blonde
by Terry Johnson [20] 		Royal Court and Lyric Theatre, West End
2002Life x3
by Yasmina Reza [21] 		Henri Savoy Theatre
1997 "Art"
by Yasmina Reza [22] 		Ivan Wyndham's Theatre and Broadway
1997 My Boy Jack
by David Haig [23] 		Rudyard Kipling Hampstead Theatre
1994Dead Funny
by Terry Johnson 		RichardHampstead Theatre and West End
1991 Measure For Measure
by William Shakespeare [24] 		Angelo Young Vic and RSC tour
1988 Our Country's Good
by Timberlake Wertenbaker [ citation needed ]		Ralph ClarkRoyal Court Olivier Award Best Actor in a New Play
1988 The Recruiting Officer
by George Farquhar 		PlumeRoyal Court
1988 Greenland PaulRoyal Court
1985 Tom and Viv
by Michael Hastings [25] 		MauriceRoyal Court and Broadway

TV and film

YearFilmRoleNotes
1978 The Moon Stallion TodmanTV series
1980 Blake's 7 ForresTV series (1 episode: "Rumours of Death")
Doctor Who PangolTV series (4 episodes of "The Leisure Hive")
1981 Diamonds Alex RandolphTV series
1983 Chessgame Colin JenkinsTV series (1 episode: "Flying Blind")
A Flame to the PhoenixMirek Grabinski
1984Dark EnemyAsh
1985 Morons from Outer Space Palatial House FlunkeyFilm
1986The Alamut AmbushColin JenkinsTV film
Cold War KillersColin JenkinsTV film
1989 Hannay Conrad SmythTV series (1 episode: "The Good Samaritan")
Dramarama Bill BrockTV series (1 episode: "Badger")
1990 Campion Cully Randall/Guffy RandallTV series (2 episodes)
Portrait of a Marriage Harold NicolsonTV series (4 episodes)
1991 Chancer Dr. HaseldenTV series (1 episode: "Remembrance")
Soldier Soldier Major Tom CadmanTV series (7 episodes)
1992 Inspector Morse Peter RhodesTV series (1 episode: "Dead on Time")
Boon Jim FiskTV series (1 episode: "Is There Anybody There?")
1993 The Darling Buds of May Captain Robert BattersbyTV series (2 episodes)
The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries Arthur WildeTV series (1 episode: "A Man Lay Dead")
Cracker GrahamTV series (2 episodes)
1994 Four Weddings and Funeral Bernard, the Groom – Wedding Two
The Bill Brian LintonTV series (1 episode: "Secrets")
Love on a Branch Line Lionel VirleyTV series (4 episodes)
Nice Day at the OfficeChris SelwynTV series (6 episodes)
1995 Wycliffe David MillarTV series (1 episode: "Charades")
The Four Corners of Nowhere Nick
The Thin Blue Line D.I. GrimTV series (14 episodes: 1995–1996)
1997 Keeping Mum Richard BeareTV series (16 episodes: 1997–1998)
1998 Talking Heads 2 Wilfred PatersonTV mini-series (1 episode: "Playing Sandwiches")
1999The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Tales of InnocenceColonel Bonnetvideo
2000 Dalziel and Pascoe David HallingsworthTV series (1 episode: "A Sweeter Lazarus")
2001 Ivor the Invisible Park Keepervoice
Station Jim Riorden JnrTV film
2002 Crime and Punishment LuhzinTV film
Rachel's AtticAdam
Two Weeks Notice Howard Wade
2004 Hustle Sir Anthony ReevesTV series (1 episode: "The Last Gamble")
2006 A for Andromeda General Vandenburg
2007Comic Relief 2007: The Big OneKate's DadTV film
Church GoingPriestshort
My Boy Jack Rudyard Kipling TV film
2008Dickens Secret Lover Charles Dickens TV film
Agatha Christie's Marple : Murder Is Easy Major Hugh HortonTV film
Dustbin Baby ElliotTV film
The 39 Steps Sir George SinclairTV film
2009 My Family Jeremy LivingstoneTV series (1 episode: "The Guru")
Midsomer Murders George JeffersTV series (1 episode: "The Glitch")
Doc Martin Mr Straine (Headmaster of Portwenn Primary School)TV series (2 episodes)
The Thick of It Steve FlemingTV series (2 episodes)
2010 Mo Jon NortonTV film
2011The Half-LightManshort
Strike Back Christopher ManningTV series (2 episodes)
2013 Yes Minister Jim HackerTV series (6 episodes)
2013 The Wright Way Gerald WrightTV series (6 episodes)
2016 Florence Foster Jenkins Carlo Edwards
2016 The Witness for the Prosecution Sir Charles CarterTV mini series (2 episodes)
2018 Killing Eve Bill PargraveTV series (3 episodes)
2019 Downton Abbey Mr Wilson
2020 COBRA Archie Glover-MorganSeries regular

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References

  1. ↑ "No. 60534". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2013. p. 24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "David Haig Credits". tvguide.com. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
  3. ↑ Walker, Tim (18 April 2014). "David Haig says Rugby did not want him to become an actor". ISSN   0307-1235. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  4. ↑ "New sitcom from Ben Elton". TV Tonight. 3 August 2012. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  5. ↑ Patrick Munn (5 January 2013). "Kacey Ainsworth, Rufus Jones & Michael Falzon Cast in BBC One's Ben Elton Sitcom". Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  6. ↑ McNary, Dave (30 August 2018). "Imelda Staunton, Geraldine James Join 'Downton Abbey' Movie". Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  7. ↑ Mensah, Katelyn (12 September 2024). "Wolf Hall and Sharp Objects stars join Andrew Scott in WWII film Pressure". Radio Times. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  8. ↑ "Olivier Winners 1988". The Society of London Theatre. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  9. ↑ "Stage plan for Yes Prime Minister". BBC News. 18 February 2010. Archived from the original on 21 February 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  10. ↑ "Chicester Minister Bound for Gielgud, 17 Sep". Whats on Stage website. 11 June 2010. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  11. ↑ Akbar, Arifa (25 September 2023). "Minority Report drama to feature in Lyric Hammersmith's 'really bold' spring lineup". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  12. ↑ Spencer, Charles (24 January 2012). "The Madness of George III". Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2 February 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  13. ↑ Benedictus, Leo (25 May 2010). "Yes Prime Minister". Guardian.co.uk. London. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  14. ↑ "Loot". The Times . Retrieved 24 October 2012.[ dead link ]
  15. ↑ Taylor, Paul (25 January 2008). "The Sea". Independent. London. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  16. ↑ "The Country Wife". Britishtheatreguide.info. Archived from the original on 17 November 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  17. ↑ "Donkey's Years". Britishtheatreguide.info. Archived from the original on 18 November 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  18. ↑ "Mary Poppins". Musicalheaven.com. August 2012. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  19. ↑ "Journey's End". Indielondon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  20. ↑ "Hitchcock Blonde". Royalcourttheatre.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  21. ↑ "Life x3". Whatsonstage.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  22. ↑ "Art". Londontheatre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  23. ↑ "My Boy Jack". Nritishtheatreguide.info. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  24. ↑ "Measure for Measure". Rscshakespeare.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  25. ↑ "Tom and Viv". Thebeautifulchanges.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
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