Robert Bathurst

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the cricketer, see Robert Bathurst (cricketer).

Robert Bathurst
Bathurst in 2006
Born
Robert Guy Bathurst

(1957-02-22) 22 February 1957 (age 67)
Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana)
Alma materPembroke College, Cambridge
OccupationActor
Years active1980–present
WorksFull list
Spouse
Victoria Threlfall
​
(m. 1985)​
Children4

Robert Guy Bathurst (born 22 February 1957) is a British actor. Bathurst was born in

amateur dramatics. At the age of 18, he read law at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined the Footlights
group.

After graduating, he took up acting full-time and made his professional stage debut in 1983, playing Tim Allgood in

ITV comedy drama Cold 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 fictional

The Three Sisters (2003), Adrien in the two-hander Members Only (2006), government whip Alistair in Whipping it Up (2006–07), and the title role in Alex (2007, 2008). In the following years, he starred in the television dramas The Pillars of the Earth (2010), Downton Abbey (2010), Hattie (2011) and joined the cast of Wild at Heart in 2012. He appeared in his first Noël Coward play, Present Laughter in 2010 and followed it with a role in Blithe Spirit
that same year and again in 2011. He is married and has four children.

Early life

Robert Guy Bathurst was born in

Anglican boarding school to Lord of the Flies; "we were incarcerated in a huge, stinking, Georgian house, where we were treated very brutally".[7]

In 1966, the family moved to England and Bathurst was sent to board at Worth School in Sussex. At the age of 13, he began acting in minor skits and revues and read old copies of Plays and Players magazine, "studying floor plans of theatres and reading about new theatres being built".[9] He had first become interested in acting when his family saw a pantomime at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin and he watched actors waiting for their cues in the wings.[9]

Bathurst left Worth at the age of 18 to read law at

Bar Vocational Course at the University of Law, in London, which allowed him to go on to become a practising barrister, but stuck to acting instead.[7]

Acting career

Early career

After leaving Cambridge, Bathurst spent a year touring Australia in the Footlights Revue Botham, The Musical, which he described as "a bunch of callow youths flying round doing press conferences and chat shows".[7][13] 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".[13] 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.[9] His first professional role out of university was in the BBC Radio 4 series Injury Time, alongside fellow Footlights performers Rory McGrath and Emma Thompson.[14] His first role for television came in 1982, when he appeared as Prince Henry in the pilot episode of Blackadder. He had already appeared in a training video by director Geoff Posner and got the role of Henry by way of thanks. The character was recast and downgraded when the series was commissioned as The Black Adder.[14]

Bathurst's professional stage debut came the next year when he joined the second cast of Michael Frayn's Noises Off at the Savoy Theatre. He replaced Roger Lloyd-Pack as Tim Allgood and stayed at the Savoy for a year.[9][14] Between roles, he worked as a television presenter for BBC East.[9] After declining an offer to be a presenter of That's Life! he joined the National Theatre in 1984, where he appeared as a background actor in Saint Joan.[14][15] He regards it as "the most demoralising" job he has ever had but was grateful for the theatre experience it gave him.[9][16] The following year, he appeared at The Man in the Moon, a pub theatre in Chelsea, in Judgement, 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.[17]

A casting director for the James Bond film The 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 pressure Timothy 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".[18]

He continued to make minor appearances in television throughout the 1980s; in 1987, he auditioned for the role of

Anglia Television, playing Dennis Medlam, MP. The programme was broadcast in 1990 to little fanfare.[14] In 1990, he performed on Up Yer News, a live topical programme broadcast on BSB.[14]

Joking Apart

While working on Up Yer News, Bathurst auditioned for a one-off television comedy called

BBC 2 Comic 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".[14]

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.

Café Royal in Regent Street, London, writer Steven Moffat pledged to write an episode in which Mark is naked throughout. To a large extent, this vow is realised in the second series.[20]

Between 1991 and 1995, Bathurst also appeared on television in

The Nose adapted by Alastair Beaton, which played in Nottingham and Bucharest. He also filmed a role in The Wind in the Willows (Terry Jones
, 1996) as St John Weasel.

Wider recognition

In 1996, while appearing in

Granada Television comedy pilot Cold 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.[23] The role in the pilot was only minor and created at the last minute to support characters played by James Nesbitt and Helen 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".[15]

Bathurst reprised the role in the

Simon Delaney to exclaim it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.[15][21] 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.[13] The role made him more widely recognisable and he often received prospective scripts that were "obvious rewrites of the character".[23] He turned them down, preferring to play a "good person", which would be more interesting from a dramatic point of view.[25]

In 1998, Bathurst appeared in the first episode of the ITV series Hornblower (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 in Goodbye, Mr Steadman (2001), starring opposite Caroline 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 of White Teeth (2002).[15] On stage, in 1998 he appeared in Michael Frayn's Alarms and Excursions and in 1999 in Hedda Gabler, which was his last theatre role for several years.[25] In the Daily Telegraph, Charles Spencer described his role as Tesman as a "weird casting choice" but called his acting "a brave stab".[26] In 2001, Bathurst appeared in the music video for Westlife's Comic Relief single "Uptown Girl".[13]

In 2002, straight after finishing Cold Feet, Bathurst went straight into filming

The Three Sisters, opposite Kristin Scott Thomas and Eric Sykes. He had not seen The Three Sisters before starring in it. Director Michael Blakemore advised him to turn this to his advantage, as he would not feel he had to live up to previous portrayals.[25] After its run concluded, a special edition of The Three Sisters was filmed with the same cast for television broadcast on BBC Four.[28] In 2005, the second series of My 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 thriller The 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 of Heidi and Dottore Massimo in The Thief Lord.[22]

2006–present

In 2006, he played

Trafalgar 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, telling What'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".[29] At the end of the year, he appeared opposite Richard Wilson in Whipping it Up, a play about whips in a fictional David Cameron government. To research his role, he watched more Commons debates.[27] In 2006, Bathurst also appeared in an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot 2005 where he played Gilbert Entwhistle in After the Funeral
.

Exterior view of theatre with large poster advertising the current attraction.
The Ambassadors Theatre, where Bathurst appeared in a theatrical play Whipping It Up

After a season at the

Sony 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 sitcom Hut 33. He reprised the role for two more series in 2008 and 2009.[33]

In 2009, he made his third and final appearance as art dealer James Garrett in My Family.[34] He also played the role of Mr Weston in the BBC costume drama Emma, which was broadcast in October 2009 on BBC One.[35] He previously played Weston in a two-part adaptation of Emma for BBC Radio 4 in 2000. Between January and April 2010, Bathurst starred as Garry Essendine in a national touring revival of Noël Coward's Present Laughter. He had not seen Present Laughter before, though had seen several Coward plays in his 20s and did not imitate Coward's speech patterns while performing.[36] 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 the Apollo Theatre in London.

On television in 2010, Bathurst starred as Percy Hamleigh in the German-Canadian miniseries The Pillars of the Earth and had a recurring role as widower Sir Anthony Strallan in the period drama Downton Abbey.[37][38] In 2011 he starred as John Le Mesurier in the Hattie Jacques biopic Hattie,[39] and joined the cast of the long-running ITV drama Wild at Heart.[40]

He also has a recurring role in the comedy series Toast of London.

In 2014 he appeared in the Midsomer Murders “The Flying Club” as Perry Darnley. Bathurst is to star as Andy in the upcoming

M. C. Beaton novel Agatha Raisin: The Quiche of Death
as Andy Cummings-Browne (2014).

In September 2016, Bathurst reprised his role of David Marsden in Cold Feet.[41]

In 2019 Bathurst portrayed Sergeant Wilson in Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes, a recreation of three missing episodes of the BBC comedy Dad's Army.[42] And portrayed Jeffrey Bernard in Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell at the Coach and Horses in Greek Street, Soho.[43][44] 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."[45]

Personal life

Bathurst met artist Victoria Threlfall through mutual friends and they married in 1985. They have four daughters: Matilda, Clemency, Oriel and Honor.[7]

Filmography

Radio

Written works

References

  1. ^ a b Keogh, Olive (8 January 2014). "Q&A: Dermot Dix, headmaster, Headfort School, Kells, Co. Meath". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Robert Bathurst: Thingy out of Cold Feet". The Independent. 30 November 2001. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  3. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  4. ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage 2003, vol. 1, p. 398
  5. ^ "Google Groups".
  6. ^ Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage 1931, p. 534
  7. ^ a b c d e f Hagan, Angela (2 December 2000). "Why I'd never let my girls watch Cold Feet", The Mirror (MGN): pp. 4–5.
  8. ^ Dalglish, Darren (7 March 2011). "Questions and Answers with... Robert Bathurst". London Theatre Guide. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Smurthwaite, Nick (11 October 2006). "Filling in the blanks", The Stage: p. 35.
  10. ^ "Register of Alumni/ae: Surnames beginning with BA". Pembroke College website. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  11. ^ "1970 Archived 26 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine". Footlights website. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
  12. ^ Staff (18 January 1979). "Aladdin". The Stage and Television Today: p. 15.
  13. ^ a b c d e Selway, Jennifer (28 March 2003). "The Jennifer Selway Interview: Robert Bathurst". The Express (Express Newspapers): pp. 30–31.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Robins, Craig (October 2004). "In conversation with Robert Bathurst: Part 1, 2, 3, 4". JokingApart.co.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2007.
  15. ^ a b c d e Sturges, Fiona (30 November 2001). "Robert Bathurst: Thingy out of Cold Feet". The Independent (Independent News & Media).
  16. ^ Multiple contributors (3 November 2003). "Our chat with Cold Feet Archived 5 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine". This is London (Associated Newspapers). Retrieved 16 September 2007. "Bathurst's cure for cold feet". Edinburgh Evening News (The Scotsman Publications): p. 18.
  17. ^ a b Lee, Marc (6 October 2007). "'Alex is the Indiana Jones of corporate finance'". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group): p. 9 (Review supplement).
  18. ^ McCaffrey, Julie (22 February 2003). "Bathurst's cure for cold feet". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  19. ^ a b Ellard, Andrew (25 June 2001). "Talented Todhunter Archived 14 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine". reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  20. ^ a b Bathurst, Robert; Steven Moffat. (2008). Joking Apart DVD commentary for Series 2, Episode 4. [DVD]. Replay DVD.
  21. ^ a b Rai, Bindu (4 October 2008). "Bathurst toons in to finance Archived 8 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine". Emirates Business 24/7 (Arab Media Group). Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  22. ^ a b c Keal, Graham (30 January 2005). "New role suits Cold Feet star Archived 4 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine". The Sunday Sun (ncjMedia).
  23. ^
    ISBN 0-233-00999-X
    .
  24. ^ McCaffrey, Julie (22 February 2003). "Bathurst's cure for cold feet". Edinburgh Evening News (The Scotsman Publications): p. 18.
  25. ^ a b c "The Big Interview: Robert Bathurst". OfficialLondonTheatre.com. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  26. ^ Spencer, Charles (2 December 1999). "Ibsen in a sauna". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group): p. 30.
  27. ^ a b Bathurst, Robert (10 May 2007). "A figure of ridicule: Oh, how we will miss him". The Independent (Independent News & Media): p. 1 (features section).
  28. ^ Gans, Andrew (8 May 2003). "Star-Studded Three Sisters to Be Filmed for TV Broadcast Archived 5 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine". Playbill. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
  29. ^ Ansdell, Caroline (3 April 2006). "20 Questions With…Robert Bathurst Archived 5 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine". Whatsonstage.com (Bandwidth Communications). Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  30. ^ O'Neill, Heather (15 November 2006). "Whipping it Up". The Stage Online. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
  31. ^ "The 2008 Theatregoers' Choice Award Winners". WhatsonStage.com. 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  32. ^ Shenton, Mark (30 August 2008). "Alex, Live Stage Version of Newspaper Cartoon, to Tour Prior to London Season Archived 30 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine". Playbill. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
  33. ^ Staff (14 October 2009). "Radio Choice". The Independent (Independent News & Media): p. 19 (Arts & Books section).
  34. ^ Holmwood, Leigh (27 March 2008). "BBC orders two more series of My Family". guardian.co.uk (Guardian News & Media). Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  35. ^ Emma. BBC Online. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  36. ^ Wilson, Simon (26 February 2010). "Theatre: Cold Feet's Robert Bathurst". Nottingham Evening Post (Nottingham Post Media Group): p. 13.
  37. ^ Tandem Communications (9 June 2009). "The Pillars of the Earth". Press release. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  38. ^ ITV Press Centre (13 September 2010). "Downton Abbey press pack" (.pdf). Press release. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  39. ^ "Hattie Archived 10 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine". Angel Eye Media. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  40. ^ ITV Press Centre (21 July 2011). "Robert Bathurst joins the cast of Wild at Heart Archived 6 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine". Press release. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  41. ^ "Meet the cast of Cold Feet".
  42. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  43. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  44. ^ "Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell review: Cold Feet's Robert Bathurst is a funny and poignant old soak". Radio Times. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  45. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  46. ^ "BBC Radio 4 Extra – Hut 33". BBC. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  47. ^ "Hut 33 – Radio 4 Sitcom". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  48. Independent.co.uk
    . 7 March 2009.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Bathurst&oldid=1223013437"