Julian Bleach

Julian Bleach
Born	(1963-12-29) 29 December 1963 (age 61) Bournemouth, England
Nationality	English
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation(s)	Actor, singer, playwright
Years active	1990–present

Julian Bleach (born 29 December 1963) ^[1] is an English actor, singer and playwright, who is known as co-creator and "MC" of Shockheaded Peter , a musical entertainment based on the works of Heinrich Hoffmann, ^[2] which won the 2002 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. ^[3] He is also known for playing Davros in the 2005 revival of Doctor Who (in 2008, 2015, and 2023).

Early life

Bleach was born in Bournemouth. He was educated at Summerbee School and studied drama at Bournemouth and Poole College. After that he trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. ^[4]

Career

Bleach's other theatre work includes playing Ariel to Patrick Stewart's Prospero in the RSC's 2007 production of The Tempest , ^[5] directed by Rupert Goold, and Mr. Sowerberry (to Louise Gold's Mrs. Sowerberry) and Dr. Grimwig in the 2009 Theatre Royal Drury Lane production of the musical Oliver!.

On television, he has starred as "The Monster" in the 2007 ITV adaptation of Frankenstein . ^[6] He played the Grand Master from the second series of children's drama M.I. High and guest-starred as the villainous "Ghostmaker" in Peter J. Hammond's "From Out of the Rain" in the second series of Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood . ^[4] Bleach was later cast by the parent series as Davros, enemy of The Doctor and creator of the Daleks, in "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End", the two-part season finale of the 2008 series, ^[7] and live at the Doctor Who Prom, ^[8] before returning to the role in the 2015 series opener, "The Magician's Apprentice", and its conclusion, "The Witch's Familiar". In 2010, it was announced that he would star as the eponymous character in The Nightmare Man , the opening story of Series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures . This makes him one of only two actors (the other being Paul Marc Davis) to appear in not only Doctor Who, but two of its spin-offs, Torchwood and The Sarah-Jane Adventures.^{[ citation needed ]} He reappeared in the 2023 Children in Need mini-episode Destination: Skaro , portraying Davros prior to his disfigurement. ^[9]

In 2011, he appeared as Niccolò Machiavelli in the Showtime series The Borgias . In 2016 Bleach appeared as Barkilphedro in the critically acclaimed new musical The Grinning Man at Bristol Old Vic which transferred in late 2017 to Trafalgar Studios. In the same year he also appeared in Rory Mullarkey's new play Saint George and the Dragon at the Royal National Theatre.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	The Fool
1994	Beg!	Dr. Rogers
1999	Topsy-Turvy	Mr. Plank
2002	Ghost Child	Leo
2005	The Brothers Grimm	Letorc
2006	The Fall	Mystic/Elderly Patient
2008	Lecture 21	Aristocrat
2009	Badinage	Franklin Gothic
2011	Anonymous	Sir Richard Pole
2012	Lord Horror: The Dark and Silver Age	Lord Horror
	Les Misérables	Claquesous
2013	The Fallen Word	Franklin Gothic
2015	Avengers: Age of Ultron	Ballet Instructor
	MindGamers	Preacher
	Remainder	Pianist
	Word Made Flesh: Sir Peter Blake	Mad Hatter	Short film
2016	Mother	Crematorium Technician	Short film
	Suicide Note	The Man	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	The Gist	David Luscombe	TV movie
2005	Riot at the Rite	Violinist	TV movie
2007	The Afternoon Play	Stefan	Episode: "Come Fly With Me"
	Frankenstein	The Monster	TV movie
2008–13	M.I. High	The Grand Master
2008	Torchwood	The Ghostmaker	Episode: "From Out of the Rain"
2008, 2015, 2023	Doctor Who	Davros	4 episodes, 1 mini episode
2008	Criminal Justice	Gaoler	Series 1, Episode 3
2009	Doctor Who at the Proms	Davros
2010	The Sarah Jane Adventures	The Nightmare Man	Serial: The Nightmare Man
	Psychoville	Doctor/Eddie	Episode: "Halloween Special"
2011–13	The Borgias	Niccolò Machiavelli
2012	Ripper Street	Cecil Creighton	Episode: "I Need Light"
2014	This is Jinsy	Undertaker	Episode: "Population 791"
2016	Close to the Enemy	Geoffrey Salter	TV miniseries
2017	Emerald City	Roquat	4 episodes
2019	Heirs of the Night	Dracula
2022	Halo	Mercy	x episodes[ quantify ]
2022	The English	Jerome McClintock	2 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Lego Dimensions	Davros	Uncredited

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Macbeth	Macbeth	Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham
1993	Dracula	Count Dracula	London Bubble Theatre Company
1995	Gormenghast	Flay/Barquentine	David Glass New Mime Ensemble
1996	The Government Inspector	Zemlyanika	Leeds Playhouse
1997	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Puck	English Shakespeare Company
1998–05	Shockheaded Peter	Shockheaded Peter
2002	Cabaret	Emcee	Chichester Festival Theatre
2003	The Firework-Maker's Daughter	Hamlet the Elephant	Crucible Theatre
2005	The Importance of Being Earnest	Lane/Merriman	Oxford Playhouse
2006	Antony and Cleopatra	Clown/Alexas	Royal Shakespeare Company
2006	The Tempest	Ariel	Royal Shakespeare Company
2008–09	Oliver!	Mr. Sowerberry/Dr. Grimwig	Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
2010	Every Good Boy Deserves Favour	Ivanov	Royal National Theatre
2016–18	The Grinning Man	Barkilphedro	Bristol Old Vic/Trafalgar Studios
2016	Raising Martha	Roger Duffy	Park Theatre
2017	Saint George and the Dragon	The Dragon	Royal National Theatre
2022	Into the Woods	The Mysterious Man	Theatre Royal, Bath
2024-25	The Importance of Being Earnest	Merriman/Lane	Royal National Theatre

References

1. Swain, Richard (29 December 2016). "Happy Birthday to Who? – 29th December: Bernard Cribbins & Julian Bleach". Blogtor Who. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
2. Brantley, Ben (23 February 2005). "Nasty Surprises for Bad Children (and Grown-Ups, Too)". The New York Times . Retrieved 12 March 2008.
3. Gans, Andrew (4 November 2004). "Olivier-Winning Shockheaded Peter to Play-off-Broadway's Little Shubert Theatre". Playbill . Archived from the original on 28 March 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
4. John, Timothy (23 October 2007). "I'm so proud of my 'monstrous' son!". Dorset Echo . Newsquest Media Group . Retrieved 12 March 2008.
5. Spencer, Charles (2 March 2007). "Beamed to a better ship". The Daily Telegraph . London. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
6. Fitzsimmons, Caitlin (25 October 2007). "Titchmarsh scares off Frankenstein". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
7. Clout, Laura (17 June 2008). "Dr Who's enemy Davros to make a comeback". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
8. Rawson-Jones, Ben (28 July 2008). "'Doctor Who' and Davros take over Proms". Digital Spy . Retrieved 29 July 2008.
9. Gladman, Andrew (21 November 2023). "Doctor Who's New Davros Is Perfect for a Dalek Spinoff Series". Comic Book Resources . Archived from the original on 30 July 2024. Retrieved 14 July 2024.

External links

• Julian Bleach at IMDb