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

Haig wrote the playMy Boy Jack, which premièred at theHampstead Theatre on 13 October 1997. OnRemembrance Day 2007,ITV broadcasta television drama based on the play, in which Haig playedRudyard Kipling andDaniel Radcliffe played Kipling's son,John. He went on to star as the Player inRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead alongside Radcliffe in 2017.

Haig's second playThe Good Samaritan was also first staged at the Hampstead Theatre, opening on 6 July 2000. His third playPressure premiered at theChichester Festival in 2014, before being revived in 2018 on a UK Tour and then in the West End at theAmbassadors Theatre. In 2018, he portrayed Bill in the critically acclaimedBBC America thriller seriesKilling Eve (2018).

Haig was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama.^[1]

Haig was born on 20 September 1955 inAldershot, Hampshire,^[2] the son of opera singer Shirley R. C. (née Brooks) and army officer (and later director of theHayward Gallery) Francis W. He had a younger sister who died aged 22 of a brain aneurysm. He grew up inRugby, Warwickshire where he attendedRugby School.^[3]

Haig appeared in the 1994 filmFour Weddings and a Funeral^[2] and had a main role in the BBC television sitcomThe Thin Blue Line (1995),^[2] playing Inspector Grim, the inept foil toRowan Atkinson's Inspector Fowler. He also appeared inLove on a Branch Line, a TV series broadcast by the BBC in four episodes. In 2002 he played the brother ofFour Weddings' co-starHugh Grant in the romantic comedyTwo Weeks Notice.^[2] In 2007, he appeared in aComic Relief sketch called "Mr. Bean's Wedding" as the bride's father, reuniting with Atkinson.

Other TV work includesDoctor 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] andCracker^[2] story "To Say I Love You" (1993). In the 1990s, he appeared in series 1 of the TV seriesSoldier Soldier.^[2]

He appears in the Richard Fell adaptation of the 1960s science fiction seriesA for Andromeda, on the UK digital television stationBBC Four.

Haig wrote the playMy Boy Jack,^[2] and later appeared asRudyard Kipling, alongsideDaniel Radcliffe, intelevision adaptation.^[2]

In 2008, he appeared in theBBC filmDustbin Baby,^[2] andThe 39 Steps.^[2] He also appeared in theMidsomer Murders,^[2] episode "The Glitch". In 2009 he appeared as Steve Fleming in BBC TV'sThe Thick of It,^[2] and as Jon, husband to former MPMo Mowlam in the dramaMo,^[2] oppositeJulie Walters. Also in 2009, he appeared in two episodes as theheadmaster of Portwenn Primary School, Mr Straine on ITV comedy dramaDoc Martin.^[2]

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

In 2012 a new sitcom pilot, starring Haig and written byBen Elton, was filmed for the BBC.^[4] Filming for a full six-part series of the sitcom,The Wright Way (formerly known asSlings 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 theDownton Abbey film which started principal photography at about the same time.^[6] In September 2018 he appeared as Bill alongsideJodie Comer in theBBC America thriller seriesKilling Eve.^[2]

In September 2024, production started on his film adaptation of his playPressure.^[7]

In 2008, he played Maurice Haigh-Wood in the BBC Radio adaptation of Michael Hastings' playTom and Viv, and 2010 he starred asNorman Birkett in "Norman Birkett and the Case of the Coleford Poisoner" onBBC Radio 4'sAfternoon Play series. He also played the narrator and the older Lewis Eliot inC. P. Snow'sStrangers and Brothers on Radio 4 in 2003, repeated on Radio 4 Extra every few years.

He also won anOlivier Award in 1988 forActor of the Year in a New Play, for his performance inOur Country's Good at theRoyal Court inSloane Square.^[8] He toured Britain with the stage version ofMy Boy Jack, which he wrote, and in which he playedRudyard Kipling and directed a production ofPrivate Lives byNoël Coward, which made a national tour in 2005.

Haig has appeared in several stage productions in London's West End, includingHitchcock Blonde at the Royal Court,Life X 3 at theSavoy Theatre, as the character Osborne inR.C. Sherriff's playJourney's End at theComedy Theatre, and as Mr George Banks inMary Poppins at thePrince Edward Theatre for which he received anOlivier Award nomination. He was also nominated for playing Christopher Headingley in a revival ofMichael Frayn's comedyDonkeys' Years at the Comedy Theatre. Having appeared in the role of Pinchwife in the comedyThe Country Wife at theRoyal Haymarket Theatre in London, he appeared inThe Sea at the same theatre. Haig's next role was Truscott in theJoe Orton black farceLoot at London'sTricycle Theatre from 11 December 2008 to 31 January 2009 and at theTheatre Royal, Newcastle, 2 to 7 February 2009.

In 2010 he played the role ofJim Hacker in the stage version ofYes, Prime Minister,^[9] at the Chichester FestivalGielgud Theatre, in London's West End from 17 September 2010.^[10]

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

Haig married Jane (née Galloway) in 2010; the couple have five children.

• David Haig atIMDb
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