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Robert Bathurst | |
|---|---|
 Robert Bathurst at home in London, May 2025 | |
| Born | Robert Guy Bathurst February 1957 (age68–69) Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana) |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
Robert Guy Bathurst (born February 1957)[1] is a British actor.
Bathurst was born in theGold Coast (nowGhana) in February 1957, where his father was working as a management consultant. In 1959, his family moved toBallybrack,Dublin,Ireland, and Bathurst attended school inKilliney and later was enrolled atHeadfort, an Irishboarding school. In 1966, the family moved back toEngland and Bathurst transferred toWorth School inSussex, where he took upamateur dramatics. At the age of 18, he went up toPembroke College, Cambridge to read law. At Cambridge he joined theFootlights group.
After graduating, he took up acting full-time and made his professional stage debut in 1983, playing Tim Allgood inMichael Frayn'sNoises Off, which ran for a year at theSavoy Theatre. To broaden his knowledge of working on stage, he joined theNational Theatre. He supplemented his stage roles in the 1980s with television roles, appearing in comedies such as the abortedpilot episode ofBlackadder,Chelmsford 123,The Lenny Henry Show andthe first episode ofRed Dwarf. In 1991, he won his first major television role playing Mark Taylor in the semi-autobiographicalBBC sitcomJoking Apart, written bySteven Moffat. Although only thirteen episodes were made (between 1991 and 1995), the role remains Bathurst's favourite of his whole career. AfterJoking Apart concluded, he was cast as pompous management consultant David Marsden in theITV comedy dramaCold Feet, which ran for five series from 1998 to 2003 and again for four further series from 2016 to 2020.[2][3]
Since 2003, Bathurst has played a fictionalprime minister in the BBC sitcomMy Dad's the Prime Minister;Mark Thatcher in the fact-based dramaCoup!; and a man whose daughter goes missing in the ITV thrillerThe Stepfather. He made a return to theatre roles, playing Vershinin inThe Three Sisters (2003), Adrien in the two-handerMembers Only (2006), government whip Alistair inWhipping it Up (2006–07), and the title role inAlex (2007, 2008). In the following years he starred in the television dramasThe Pillars of the Earth (2010),Downton Abbey (2010) andHattie (2011) and joined the cast ofWild at Heart in 2012. He appeared in his firstNoël Coward play,Present Laughter, in 2010 and followed it with a role inBlithe Spirit that same year and again in 2011. He is married and has four children.
Robert Guy Bathurst was born inAccra,Gold Coast (modern-dayGhana), in February 1957 to Philip Charles Metcalfe Bathurst, a descendant of politicianCharles Bathurst and kinsman of theEarls Bathurst andViscounts Bledisloe,[4][5][6] and his wife Gillian (née Debenham). His father was a major in theRoyal Engineers during theSecond World War and was working inWest Africa as a management consultant. His mother was aphysiotherapist.[7][8] They had two other children, Nicholas and Charlotte. The family lived inGhana until 1959, when they moved toBallybrack,Dublin, Ireland. Bathurst and his brother attended two schools in Dublin – the Holy Child School inKilliney and a school inBallsbridge – before being sent toHeadfort, apreparatory school inKells, County Meath.[9] He compared the time he and his brother, who wereCatholics, spent at theAnglicanboarding school toLord of the Flies; "we were incarcerated in a huge, stinking, Georgian house, where we were treated very brutally".[7]
In 1966, the family moved toEngland and Bathurst was sent toboard atWorth School inSussex. At the age of 13, he began acting in minor skits andrevues and read old copies ofPlays and Players magazine, "studying floor plans of theatres and reading about new theatres being built".[10] He had first become interested in acting when his family saw apantomime at theGaiety Theatre in Dublin and he watched actors waiting for their cues in the wings.[10]
Aged 18, Bathurst left school to read law atPembroke College, Cambridge.[11] He spent much of his time there performing in the CambridgeFootlights alongsideHugh Laurie,Rory McGrath andEmma Thompson.[7] From 1977 to 1978, he was the secretary of the group and, from 1978 to 1979, he was the president. Among the Footlights Revues in which he participated wereStage Fright in 1978, which he also co-wrote andNightcap in 1979.[12] He also directed and appeared in the Footlights pantomimeAladdin asWidow Twankey during the 1978–79 season.[13] He took theBar Vocational Course at theUniversity of Law, in London, which allowed him to go on to become a practisingbarrister, but stuck to acting instead.[7]
After leaving Cambridge, Bathurst spent a year touringAustralia in the Footlights RevueBotham, The Musical, which he described as "a bunch of callow youths flying round doing press conferences and chat shows".[7][14] Although he enjoyed his work with Footlights, he did not continue performing with the group, worrying that he would be "washed up at 35 having coat-tailed on their success through the early part of [his] career".[14] After leaving, he found that he was considered a dilettante, which resulted in it taking him longer than expected to be accepted as a serious actor.[10] His first professional role out of university was in theBBC Radio 4 seriesInjury Time, alongside fellow Footlights performers Rory McGrath and Emma Thompson.[15] His first role for television came in 1982, when he appeared as Prince Henry in thepilot episode ofBlackadder. He had already appeared in a training video by directorGeoff Posner and got the role of Henry by way of thanks. The character was recast and downgraded when the series was commissioned asThe Black Adder.[15]
Bathurst's professional stage debut came the next year when he joined the second cast ofMichael Frayn'sNoises Off at theSavoy Theatre. He replacedRoger Lloyd-Pack as Tim Allgood and stayed at the Savoy for a year.[10][15] Between roles, he worked as a television presenter forBBC East.[10] After declining an offer to be a presenter ofThat's Life! he joined theNational Theatre in 1984, where he appeared as a background actor inSaint Joan.[15][16] He regards it as "the most demoralising" job he has ever had but was grateful for the theatre experience it gave him.[10][17] The following year, he appeared at The Man in the Moon, a pub theatre in Chelsea, inJudgement, a two-hour monologue on cannibalism. The opening night audience was made up of three people but after good reviews in the national press the audience grew to an average of fifteen.[18]
A casting director for theJames Bond filmThe Living Daylights persuaded Bathurst to audition for Bond. Bathurst believes that his "ludicrous audition" was only "an arm-twisting exercise" because the producers wanted to pressureTimothy Dalton to take the role by telling him they were still auditioning other actors. Bathurst noted "I could never have done it – Bond actors are always very different from me".[19]
He continued to make minor appearances in television throughout the 1980s; in 1987, he auditioned for the role ofDave Lister in theBBC Northscience fictionsitcomRed Dwarf. The part eventually went toCraig Charles but Bathurst was given a role in the first episode of the first series as Frank Todhunter, second officer on the ship, who is killed in the first ten minutes. Ten years later, Bathurst was invited to reprise the role when a storyline in the series allowed former characters to return, but filming commitments prevented him from appearing.[20] In 1989, he appeared inMalcolm Bradbury'sAnything More Would Be Greedy forAnglia Television, playing Dennis Medlam, MP. The programme was broadcast in 1990 to little fanfare.[15] In 1990, he performed onUp Yer News, a live topical programme broadcast onBSB.[15]
While working onUp Yer News, Bathurst auditioned for a one-off television comedy calledJoking Apart. Earlier in the day, he noticed a fellowUp Yer News performer reading the script to prepare for his own audition. As Bathurst went into the audition room, his colleague was leaving and told Bathurst he would "break his legs" if he got the part, a threat that seemed not to be "entirely jocular".[15] Bathurst got the part and the pilot ofJoking Apart was broadcast as an installment of theBBC TwoComic Asides strand. It returned for two series in 1993 and 1995. Bathurst appeared as sitcom writer Mark Taylor in the series. After the first series was broadcast, a critic called Bathurst the "Best Comedy Newcomer of 1993".[15]
The show was punctuated by fantasy sequences in which his character performed his thoughts as a stand-up routine in a small club. In the commentary and the interview on the DVD, Bathurst says that he was told that they would be re-shot after filming everything else, an idea abandoned because of the expense. He has an idea of re-filming the sequences 'now', as his older self, to give them a more retrospective feeling.[21] He has also said that he believes Mark was too "designery" and wishes that he had "roughened him up a bit".[22] The role is his favourite of his whole career; he has described it as "the most enjoyable job I will ever do" and considers several episodes of the series to be "timeless, beautifully constructed farces which will endure".[20] Bathurst is often recognised for his appearance in this series, mentioning that "Drunks stop me on public transport and tell me details of the plot of their favourite episode".[23] As punishment for arriving late for the series one press launch at theCafé Royal inRegent Street, London, writerSteven Moffat pledged to write an episode in which Mark is naked throughout. To a large extent, this vow is realised in the second series.[21]
Between 1991 and 1995, Bathurst also appeared on television inNo Job for a Lady,The House of Eliott andThe Detectives and on stage inThe Choice,George Bernard Shaw'sGetting Married atChichester withDorothy Tutin andGogol'sThe Nose adapted by Alastair Beaton, which played inNottingham andBucharest. He also filmed a role inThe Wind in the Willows (Terry Jones, 1996) as St John Weasel.
In 1996, while appearing inThe Rover at theSalisbury Playhouse, Bathurst got an audition for theGranada Television comedy pilotCold Feet. He arrived for the audition "bearded and shaggy", on account of his role in the play, and did not expect to win the role of upper-middle class management consultant David Marsden.[24] The role in the pilot was only minor and created at the last minute to support characters played byJames Nesbitt andHelen Baxendale; the only character note in the script about David related to his high salary. Bathurst identified the character as merely a "post-Thatcherite whipping boy".[16]
Bathurst reprised the role in theCold Feet series, which ran for five years from 1998 to 2003.[16] He described the character of David as an "emotional cripple", originally with little depth.[25] The third series features an affair between David and a political activist played byYasmin Bannerman. Bathurst appreciated the opportunity to bring some depth to a previously one-dimensional character, but was more impressed with the storylines that came out of the affair, rather than the affair itself: "It was the deception, the guilt and the recrimination rather than the actual affair, which was neither interesting nor remarkable".[24] Like other cast members, Bathurst was able to suggest storylines as the series went on; one episode features David celebrating his fortieth birthday and Bathurst suggested the character could get aHarley-Davidson motorbike.[23] Granada paid for him to take motorcycle lessons and a test. On the day before taking his test, the filming of a scene where David takes off on his new bike was scheduled. Bathurst "wobbled, missed the camera and crashed into the pavement", leading directorSimon Delaney to exclaim it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.[16][22] In another episode, David buys a racehorse – ostensibly as a birthday present for his wife – in a plot born out of Bathurst's own love of horseracing.[14] The role made him more widely recognisable and he often received prospective scripts that were "obvious rewrites of the character".[24] He turned them down, preferring to play a "good person", which would be more interesting from a dramatic point of view.[26]
In 1998, Bathurst appeared in the first episode of the ITV seriesHornblower (1998), based on the novels by C.S Forester. Bathurst played the character Lieutenant Eccleston and performed alongside Ioan Gruffudd and Robert Lindsay.
Between 1998 and 2003, he made television appearances inGoodbye, Mr Steadman (2001), starring oppositeCaroline Quentin as a shy and unassuming teacher who has been declared dead after one of his pupils erases all computer records relating to him and in the adaptation ofWhite Teeth (2002).[16] On stage, in 1998 he appeared in Michael Frayn'sAlarms and Excursions and in 1999 inHedda Gabler, which was his last theatre role for several years.[26] In theDaily Telegraph,Charles Spencer described his role as Tesman as a "weird casting choice" but called his acting "a brave stab".[27] In 2001, Bathurst appeared in the music video forWestlife'sComic Relief single "Uptown Girl".[14]
In 2002, straight after finishingCold Feet, Bathurst went straight into filmingMy Dad's the Prime Minister, a series in which he portrays fictional British prime minister Michael Philips.[14] The first series was broadcast in a Sunday afternoonCBBC slot in 2003. He watched debates in theHouse of Commons to prepare for the role but did not base his portrayal onTony Blair.[28] In 2003, he returned to theatre for the first time in four years to play Vershinin inThe Three Sisters, oppositeKristin Scott Thomas andEric Sykes. He had not seenThe Three Sisters before starring in it. DirectorMichael Blakemore advised him to turn this to his advantage, as he would not feel he had to live up to previous portrayals.[26] After its run concluded, a special edition ofThe Three Sisters was filmed with the same cast for television broadcast onBBC Four.[29] In 2005, the second series ofMy Dad's the Prime Minister was broadcast, now moved to a Friday night time slot to take advantage of the adult humour. The same year, he starred in the ITV thrillerThe Stepfather playing Christopher Veazey, a man whose daughter goes missing. Bathurst was pleased that this white-collar worker had an emotional side, in comparison to David Marsden, whom he used as a yardstick when accepting those sorts of roles. Also in 2005, he played Mr Sesseman in an adaptation ofHeidi and Dottore Massimo inThe Thief Lord.[23]
In 2006, he playedMark Thatcher inCoup!, a dramatisation of theattempted coup in Equatorial Guinea. He also starred as Adrien opposite Nicholas Tennant in the UK premiere ofMembers Only at theTrafalgar Studios. He accepted the part because it was "funny, plausible, plausibly absurd and cruel" and he liked that it was a translation from an original French play (Cravate club). He enjoyed working on it, tellingWhat's on Stage: "Nick is a really good actor and really good to work with in that you can have completely frank discussions about tiny issues and it's totally ego-free. We're all just discussing the point and not playing games with each other. It does make the working practice easier. If there's only two of you in a play, you are equally responsible – there's nobody else to blame if it goes wrong. So its a greater risk and there's no hiding".[30] At the end of the year, he appeared oppositeRichard Wilson inWhipping it Up, a play aboutwhips in a fictionalDavid Cameron government. To research his role, he watched more Commons debates.[28] In 2006, Bathurst also appeared in an episode ofAgatha Christie's Poirot 2005 where he played Gilbert Entwhistle inAfter the Funeral.
After a season at theBush Theatre at the end of 2006,Whipping it Up transferred to theNew Ambassadors Theatre from March to June 2007.[31] The tour coincided with his appearance as the titular character inAlex, based on the comic inThe Daily Telegraph. The play ran at theArts Theatre between October and November 2007 and featured Bathurst interacting with other characters projected onto a screen behind him. He was attracted to the role because of the "duplicity and guile" Alex uses to get himself out of tight situations.[18] The role won him a nomination for Best Solo Performance at the What's on Stage Awards.[32] He reprised the role in an international tour from September to November 2008, playing inMelbourne,Sydney,Hong Kong,Singapore andDubai.[33] As Alex he presented a ten-part series onClassic FM, which won a Gold Award at theSony Radio Academy Awards in 2012. He now performs Alex as a corporate after-dinner entertainment. 2007 also saw Bathurst perform as linguist Charles in the first series of the BBC Radio 4 sitcomHut 33. He reprised the role for two more series in 2008 and 2009.[34]
In 2009, he made his third and final appearance as art dealer James Garrett inMy Family.[35] He also played the role of Mr Weston in the BBC costume dramaEmma, which was broadcast in October 2009 onBBC One.[36] He previously played Weston in a two-part adaptation ofEmma for BBC Radio 4 in 2000. Between January and April 2010, Bathurst starred as Garry Essendine in a national touring revival of Noël Coward'sPresent Laughter. He had not seenPresent Laughter before, though had seen several Coward plays in his 20s and did not imitate Coward's speech patterns while performing.[37]Present Laughter was the first time Bathurst had appeared in a Coward play and he was cast in another,Blithe Spirit, later in the year, as Charles Condomine. The play toured theatres around southern England in 2010 and early 2011 before beginning a three-month run at theApollo Theatre in London.
On television in 2010, Bathurst starred as Percy Hamleigh in the German-Canadian miniseriesThe Pillars of the Earth and had a recurring role as widowerSir Anthony Strallan in the period dramaDownton Abbey.[38][39] In 2011 he starred asJohn Le Mesurier in theHattie Jacques biopicHattie,[40] and joined the cast of the long-running ITV dramaWild at Heart.[41]
He also has a recurring role in the comedy seriesToast of London.
In 2014 he appeared in theMidsomer Murders “The Flying Club” as Perry Darnley. Bathurst is to star as Andy in the upcomingSky1 television filmtelevision film adaptation of theM. C. Beaton novelAgatha Raisin: The Quiche of Death as Andy Cummings-Browne (2014).
In September 2016, Bathurst reprised his role of David Marsden inCold Feet.[42]
In 2019 Bathurst portrayedSergeant Wilson inDad's Army: The Lost Episodes, a recreation of three missing episodes of theBBC comedyDad's Army.[43] He also portrayed Jeffrey Bernard inJeffrey Bernard Is Unwell at theCoach and Horses inGreek Street, Soho.[44][45] Bathurst said he jumped at the opportunity: "It’s so obviously a good idea, and appealingly odd. It brings Jeffrey Bernard’s journalism on to the stage, his own version of himself, not necessarily how others saw him." He added: "It’s a brilliantly funny, sour and surprisingly moving manifesto for the right of people to destroy their liver and wallet in any way they choose."[46]
Bathurst met artist Victoria Threlfall through mutual friends and they married in 1985. They have four daughters: Matilda, Clemency, Oriel and Honor.[7]
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