Duncan Duff

Last updated

Duncan Duff
Born
Edinburgh, Scotland
NationalityScottish
Alma mater RADA
Occupation Actor
Years active1987–present
SpouseRosalie Robinson
Children2

Duncan Duff (born in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a British stage, television and film actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London from 1985 to 1987. [1] He is best known for A Quiet Passion (2016), Wild Target (2010), Big Kids (2000), and Hamish Macbeth (1997).

Contents

Career

Duff made his professional stage debut in 1987 with the British theatre company Cheek by Jowl, founded by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, in a production of Macbeth at the Donmar Warehouse and on tour. He played the Thane of Angus and the cream faced loon, earning his Equity card and establishing himself as a member of the company for the next four years. The following year he played Caliban in Cheek by Jowl’s The Tempest which opened at the Taormina Festival, Sicily.

He also appeared in Cheek by Jowl’s productions of Philoctetes by Sophocles and Miss Sara Sampson by Gotthold Lessing. His fifth and final collaboration with the company was playing Horatio to Timothy Walker’s Hamlet in a production which played in London, UK, Europe, Hong Kong and Japan.

In 1992, Duff created the role of Willie Dobie in Scottish playwright Simon Donald’s new play, The Life of Stuff, at The Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh with Shirley Henderson. Duff also appeared in the British premiere of Physical Jerks at Alan Ayckbourn’s Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough, Life Goes On written by Adrian Hodges at The Haymarket Basingstoke, Three Sisters at Liverpool Everyman, Time and the Room at the Gate Theatre London and the eponymous role in Anatol by Arthur Schnitzler at Nottingham Playhouse. At the National Theatre, Duff played Bartolomeo Pergami in Nick Stafford’s new play Battle Royal directed by Howard Davies, which starred Zoe Wanamaker and Simon Russell Beale. In 2002, he was Jason opposite Maureen Beattie’s Medea in Theatre Babel’s production of Liz Lochhead’s adaptation of Medea at the Edinburgh Festival and then on tour.

On television, Duff played the dope-smoking Doc Brown in the cult BBC 1 series Hamish Macbeth devised by Daniel Boyle and set in the Highlands of Scotland, co-starring with Robert Carlyle for three series (1995 - 1997). He starred as Geoff Spiller in the short-lived BBC comedy Big Kids with Imogen Stubbs (2000). For two years Duff was nefarious property developer Lewis Cope in BBC Scotland’s BAFTA Award winning drama River City (2002 - 2004) set in Glasgow.

Duff has leading roles in TV dramas such as: Why We Went To War (2006) playing Jonathan Powell; Roman Mysteries (2007) portraying the Emperor Domitian; the first season of TV show Skins (2007) playing evangelistic Congratulations Leader Pete; Purves & Pekkala (2009) AKA New Town by Annie Griffin, playing highly strung architectural preservationist Ernst de Bont; the beleaguered Governor of Boulogne in The Tudors (2010); TV presenter Tom Sutherland in the BBC series Lip Service (2010).

Duff has also acted in sitcoms: May To December (1994), The Creatives (1998), Not Going Out (2008). He was the anchor Richard Pritchard co-starring with Sharon Horgan in Broken News (2005) by John Morton for BBC and Gus Plotpoint in Charlie Brooker’s Touch of Cloth (2013) for Sky. In the cinema he has appeared in comedy roles in Carry On Columbus (1992), Festival (2005) directed by Annie Griffin, Wild Target (2010) directed by Jonathan Lynn, and Burke & Hare (2010) directed by comedy legend John Landis. Duff has appeared in dozens of short films, two of which were nominated for awards: King’s Christmas (1986; BAFTA nominated) and The Girls (2007; BIFA nominated).

Duff portrayed: Austin Dickinson, the brother of American poet Emily Dickinson, played by Cynthia Nixon, in Terence Davies's A Quiet Passion (2016); also starring Jennifer Ehle, Keith Carradine, Catherine Bailey, Joanna Bacon and Emma Bell. It was described by Richard Brody of The New Yorker as "an absolute drop-dead masterwork".[ citation needed ]

Filmography

Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
1990 The Wreck on the Highway
1990 Taggart PorterEpisode:Hostile Witness
1990 This is David Harper Lorry DriverEpisode:A List Of Abuses
1991 Casualty PolicemanEpisode: Something to Hide
1992 Between The Lines Officer 1Episode:Out of the Game
1992 In Dreams Vicar
1993 Calling The Shots Matt
1994 May to December RobbieEpisode:Son of my Father
1995–1997 Hamish Macbeth Doc Brown19 episodes
1996 Taggart Stephen HardingEpisode:Angel Eyes
1998 The Creatives Greg JacksonEpisode:Come to Cummerton
2001 Casualty PeteEpisode: For My Next Trick
2000 Big Kids Dr. Geoffrey Spiller
2002 River City Lewis Cope
2004 If... George Rowling Q.C.
2005 The Bill Brian YorkEpisodes: - No. 299 / No. 300
2005 Broken News Richard Pritchard6 episodes
2006 Why We Went To War Jonathan Powell
2006 Rosemary & Thyme Frank MinelliEpisode:Seeds of Time
2006 Not Going Out PeteEpisode:Caretaker
2006 Doctor Who NewsreaderEpisodes: Rise of the Cybermen / Age of Steel
2007 Skins Congratulations LeaderEpisode:Cassie
2007 Roman Mysteries Emperor Domitian
2009 New Town Ernst de Bont
2010 The Tudors The Governor of BoulogneEpisode:As It Should Be
2010 Taggart Sammy Kirkwood
2010 Lip Service Tom Sutherland
2011 Casualty Professor Michael FitchEpisode:Starting Out
2012 Silent Witness Counsel 2
2013 Lee Nelson's Well Funny People Football Team Manager
2013 A Touch of Cloth Gus Plotpoint
2014 Waterloo Road Arran Mackenzie
2020 The Crown Cecil ParkinsonEpisode: War (Season 4, Episode 10)
Film
YearFilmRoleNotes
1986 King's Christmas Trevor KingBAFTA Nominated
1992 Carry On Columbus Inquisitor #2
1998 Middleton's Changeling Antonio
2005 Festival Gordon Menzies
2007 If I'm Spared Tom
2007 The Girls RichardBIFA Nominated
2010 Wild Target The Jeweller
2010 Burke & Hare The Attendant
2011 Island Social Worker
2013 Killer Moves The Velvet Glove
2014 Ivory Stage Peter Grey
2016 A Quiet Passion Austin Dickinson
2016 Clean Sheets Will
2017 Seeing Him Mark
2017 Rehab Matters Robert
2018SleepArmando
2020 Bay of Silence Curator

References

  1. "Duncan Duff — RADA". Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . Archived from the original on 27 November 2024. Retrieved 30 September 2025.