Will Merrick

William Charles Merrick (born 9 April 1993) is an English screen and stage actor. His debut was in the third generation of the BAFTA winning, E4 television series Skins as the character Alo Creevey.[2]

Will Merrick
Born
William Charles Merrick[1]

(1993-04-09) 9 April 1993
EducationThe Downs School
Dean Close School
OccupationActor
Years active2009–present
Known forSkins (2011–2012)
About Time (2013)
The Rack Pack (2016)
Brief Encounters (2016)
Dead Pixels (2019)

Early life and education

Merrick originates from Ledbury in Herefordshire.[3] In 2009 he was one of the top ten of over 50,000 candidates nationally in his drama GCSE examination.[4]

Career

As a member of the Close up Theatre Merrick performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010 and 2011, in the productions of The History Boys playing Posner and Arthur Miller's masterpiece Death of a Salesman in the role of Charley.[5] At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012–2013 Merrick started a theatre company called No Prophet at 18 and played roles in Punk Rock, a stage production by Simon Stephens, and in Boys written by Ella Hickson.[6][7]

In 2011, Merrick made his first television appearance in the E4 teen drama Skins, playing Alo Creevey. Originally he auditioned in Bristol for the role of Rich Hardbeck and became Alo at the end of the audition process.[8] He described his character as a " loving person, very open-minded, positive and enthusiastic kind of guy."[9]

In February 2012 Merrick won the RTS Award for Best Actor, competing with Dakota Blue Richards, his co-star in Skins.[10] For his role as Alo Creevey he got also a nomination for Best Actor at TV Choice Awards 2012.[11]

In May 2012 Merrick recorded an episode of BBC One family sitcom In with the Flynns,[12] in which he plays the role of Dean.[13] In the same year he has landed his first big screen role as Jay in Richard Curtis' new romantic comedy About Time alongside Hollywood star Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson.[12]

Merrick appeared in a 2013 episode of the popular sci-fi television programme Doctor Who, in the episode Nightmare in Silver, where he played a character named Brains.[14] He also starred as Tom alongside Jessie Cave in an episode of Coming Up aired on Channel 4 in July 2013[15] and was a guest star in fantasy BBC series Atlantis.[16] Merrick also starred as the legendary Steve Davis in the 2016 BBC drama The Rack Pack. In 2016 Merrick played Butcher's apprentice Russell in the ITV drama series Brief Encounters. He played Arthur Solway in two episodes of BBC's Poldark. From 2019 to 2021 Merrick starred as fanatic gamer Nicky in the sitcom series Dead Pixels.

Personal life

Will is the younger of 2 children. Merrick has said "I play the guitar but I'm a bit of a dosser really".[17]

Filmography and television

Film and television
Year Title Role Notes
2011–2012 Skins Alo Creevey E4 TV Series (17 episodes)
Won—RTS Award for Best Actor
Nominated—TV Choice Award for Best Actor
2012 In with the Flynns Dean BBC One TV series (1 episode "Frozen Assets" No.2.6)
2013 About Time Jay Director Richard Curtis
Doctor Who Brains Series 7 (1 episode No.3.13 Nightmare in Silver)
Coming Up Tom Channel 4 TV series (1 episode No.8.2 Burger Van Champion)
Atlantis Arcas BBC One TV series (1 episode No.1.8 The Furies)
2015 Count Arthur Strong Jeremy BBC Two TV series (1 episode No. 2.2 The Day The Clocks Went Back)
2016 Brief Encounters Russell ITV drama series (6 episodes)
2016 The Rack Pack Steve Davis BBC iPlayer drama series (1 episode)
2017 Poldark Arthur Solway BBC One TV series (2 episodes)
2017 Modern Life Is Rubbish Olly
2019–2021 Dead Pixels Nicky E4 TV sitcom series (12 episodes)
2021 A Classic Horror Story
2023 Silo Danny Apple TV+ series (2 episodes)

Theatre

Year Title Role Notes
2009 The Taming of the Shrew Grumio Close Up Theatre
Amadeus Venticello Close Up Theatre
2010 Hamlet Polonius Close Up Theatre
The History Boys Posner Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2011 Death of a Salesman Charley Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2012 Punk Rock William Carlisle Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2013 Boys Benny[18] Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Arcola Theatre
2013–2014 Wendy & Peter Pan Slightly Royal Shakespeare Company[19]
2014–2015 Merlin Merlin Royal & Derngate
2018 Death of a Salesman Bernard Royal Exchange Theatre

References

  1. Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England and Wales, 1916–2005
  2. Meet the Skins Will Merrick
  3. Will Merrick throws party to mark debut in Skins
  4. "Will Merrick theatre formation". skinsfansite.
  5. Death of a salesman
  6. "Punk Rock, Edinburgh Festival Guide". edinburghfestival. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  7. "Punk Rock, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe". edfringe. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  8. "Will Merrick ('Skins') interview". cultbox. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  9. Skins 5 meet Will Merrick
  10. RTS Bristol Best Actor Will Merrick
  11. "Nominations TV Choice Awards 2012". tvchoicemagazine. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  12. "About time for stardom as Will lands big screen role". thisisgloucestershire. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  13. "Will Merrick Credits". unitedagents. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  14. Lazarus, Susanna (6 December 2012). "Skins actor Will Merrick appeared in Doctor Who". Radio Times. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  15. "Coming Up Episode Guide". Channel 4. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  16. Jeffery, Morgan (16 November 2013). "'Atlantis' episode 8 review: Blood ties and past lies". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  17. "Will Merrick plays Alo". Channel 4. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  18. "EHE8: Boys". Arcola Theatre. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  19. "Wendy And Peter Pan". Royal Shakespeare Company. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
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