Martin Clunes

Clunes was born on 28 November 1961 in Wimbledon (then in Surrey, now in Greater London), the son of actor Alec Clunes and his second wife, Daphne (née Acott) Clunes (4 July 1928 – 17 September 2007).[2][3] Clunes was educated at the Royal Russell School in Croydon, and later at the Arts Educational Schools, London. He has an older sister Amanda.[4] Clunes is related to actor Jeremy Brett, who was variously described as either Clunes' uncle[5] or cousin.[6]

Clunes served his first role in rep at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester,[7] and his first television appearance was in an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's The White Guard for the BBC Play of the Month in 1982,[8] followed by the Doctor Who story Snakedance in 1983.[9] A sporadic career led to his supplementing his income as a photo model for Gilbert and George, and he can be seen in their 1983 work World.[10] He got his first regular television role as one of the sons in the BBC sitcom No Place Like Home,[11] and then starred in two series of the sitcom All at No 20.[12]

While Clunes was appearing on stage at the Hampstead Theatre, Harry Enfield came to see him; the acquaintanceship developed into a friendship where Clunes played characters in Enfield's sketch shows (most notably one of the Rugby Players).[13] Enfield then recommended Clunes for the role of Gary in the sitcom Men Behaving Badly,[14] written for Enfield by Simon Nye, for which Clunes won a BAFTA television award for Best Comedy Performance in 1996.[15] He played the part of Group Captain Barker in the two-part TV mini-series Over Here that same year. In 1993, he played Dick Dobson in Demob about a pair of demobilised soldiers who have to adjust to civilian life after entertaining Second World War troops with a raunchy cabaret act.

Since 1994, Clunes has frequently appeared on the BBC One panel show Have I Got News for You as a panelist or a guest presenter.[16][17] Clunes has since appeared in films and television shows such as An Evening with Gary Lineker, Staggered (starred and directed), Hunting Venus, The Booze Cruise, Saving Grace and Jeeves and Wooster. In 1998, he was featured in Sweet Revenge and appeared as Richard Burbage in the film Shakespeare in Love. Clunes has also acted frequently for the radio, including a guest appearance in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi.

In 2001, he played Captain Stickles in the BBC adaptation of R. D. Blackmore's Lorna Doone. In 2002, Clunes played serial killer John George Haigh in a Yorkshire TV production A Is for Acid, and took the lead in ITV's production of Goodbye Mr Chips.[18] Clunes was one of the eponymous leads in the 2004 ITV comedy-drama William and Mary, with Julie Graham. Clunes had worked with Julie Graham previously on Dirty Tricks (2000).[19] From 2004 until the conclusion in 2022 Clunes played the lead role of Doctor Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy drama series Doc Martin. In August 2007, Clunes starred in the ITV/TVNZ co-production The Man Who Lost His Head.[20]

Clunes is a regular voice-over artist and is the voice of Kipper in the animated children's series Kipper the Dog. For six years (1993–1999) he also did voice acting for Safeway adverts; he provided the voice of Harry in Safeway's 'When Harry Met Molly' advertising campaign during said years. Clunes appeared in a television dramatisation of Fungus the Bogeyman playing Jessica White's father. Between 2009 and 2010, Clunes starred on BBC One television in the title role of Reggie Perrin, a re-make of classic 1970s British situation comedy The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. In 2015, Clunes played the role of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the ITV mini-series Arthur & George. In 2018, Clunes played the role of DCI Colin Sutton in the ITV drama Manhunt (first screened in 2019).[21] In 2019, Clunes return to sitcom with the BBC1 series Warren, saying "It was just so funny, I couldn't turn it down".[22]

Clunes's first marriage was to actress Lucy Aston in 1990.[34] They divorced in 1997 and Clunes married future Doc Martin producer Philippa Braithwaite late that year.[35] In 1999, Braithwaite gave birth to their daughter Emily.[36][37] As of 2013, Clunes and his family live in Beaminster, Dorset, where they run a farm with heavy horses.[38][39]

Television

Film

• 1995 – British Comedy Awards, Top TV Comedy Actor : Men Behaving Badly – Gary Strang
• 1996 – BAFTA Awards, Best Comedy Performance : Men Behaving Badly – Gary Strang
• 1999 – Screen Actors Guild Awards, Outstanding Performance by a Cast : Shakespeare in Love – Richard Burbage

Clunes was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Civil Division on 13 June 2015 in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours List.[59][60][61][62] He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of the County of Dorset on 19 June 2019.[63][64]

Bournemouth University awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts (D.Arts) on 9 November 2007.[65][66] He has been president of the British Horse Society since 1 June 2011.[67][68]

• Martin Clunes at IMDb