Roy Marsden
Encyclopedia
Roy Marsden is an English actor, who is probably best known for his portrayal of Adam Dalgliesh
in the Anglia Television
dramatisations of P. D. James
's detective novels.
(RADA) and spent four terms there. He attempted to unionise the students but was thwarted. After one argument he poured a bottle of ink down the front of the director's suit. Marsden recalled, "Two weeks later, he phoned me up and asked if I'd got a job or an agent. I said no, so he arranged for me to start work at a theatre in Nottingham, and who should be the student assistant manager there but Anthony Hopkins
. I persuaded him to go to RADA."
and began to accumulate an extensive list of theatrical credits that include everything from Anton Chekhov
and Henrik Ibsen
to contemporary Soviet playwright Alexander Vampilov
. His preference was for the alternative experimental theatres of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Birmingham over London's commercial theatre.
Appearances include Crispen in The Friends, 1970; Casca
and Lucilius
in Julius Caesar
, 1972; Paul Schippel in Schippel, 1974; Heinrich Krey in The Plumber's Progress, 1975. He also played Long John Silver
in Treasure Island
at London's Mermaid Theatre
around Christmas for two years and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion
at the Albery Theatre. In 2008, Marsden appeared in two productions, Murder on Air and Happy Jack at the Theatre Royal Windsor.
in Anglia TV's P. D. James
series spanned fifteen years. The series began as adaptations played out in serials of five or six one-hour episodes each, which were, unusually for the time, recorded on outside broadcast videotape as opposed to film:
After producer John Rosenberg died in early 1991 (during the transmission run of Devices and Desires
), the format of the adaptations changed. Initially, Anglia followed the trend made popular by the Inspector Morse
series, condensing the next two adaptations into two-hour filmed TV movies.
The final two adaptations were filmed in three one-hour episodes:
Marsden was replaced by Martin Shaw
when the BBC
took over the rights to James's novels.
Marsden also starred in Yorkshire Television
's 1978–1980 Cold War
espionage series The Sandbaggers
. He played Neil Burnside, the dour and fiercely protective head of the covert operations section of British Intelligence, whose character seemed to spend as much time on infighting within Whitehall
and his own department as it did in battling the KGB. The show ran for three series and 20 episodes before the untimely disappearance of the show's creator and writer Ian Mackintosh
in 1979.
In 1982, Yorkshire Television
cast him in Airline
, a series in which he played Jack Ruskin, a scrappy World War II pilot trying to start his own post-war airline against establishment opposition. It also starred his wife, Polly Hemingway, who was pregnant with their first child during most of the filming.
In an interview Marsden said "It was one of the most enjoyable programmes I ever made. Learning to fly those old DC-3s
was terrific. And I enjoyed playing Ruskin enormously because he had hope. Of course, he was a pain up the tushie most of the time, but then you'd see that youthful desire to actually get out and triumph against enormous odds. I identified with that character the most."
Other prominent television roles include George Osborne in a 1967 adaptation of Vanity Fair
and the title role of Arthur Chipping in 1987's Goodbye Mr. Chips.
Marsden has also made guest appearances in The New Avengers
, Space: 1999
, Only Fools and Horses
("Little Problems
"), Foyle's War
, and Tales of the Unexpected.
In 2007, Marsden presented a nine part crime documentary series Roy Marsden's Casebook for ITV West. He also appeared in the opening episode of the 2007 series of Doctor Who
as Mr Stoker, a medical consultant.
In 2008, he appeared in ITV series The Palace as King Richard's Private Secretary Sir Iain Ratalick.
In 2009 Marsden reprised his Only Fools and Horses
role as one of the Driscoll brothers in the spin off series of The Green Green Grass
. He also appeared in the television film Margaret
(2009).
In 2010 Marsden appeared in an episode of New Tricks.
In 2011 Marsden appeared in an episode of Silent Witness
(1976), a walk-on part with one line (as a Nazi officer) in the classic The Eagle Has Landed
(1976), and as Oberon in Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God (2005).
Adam Dalgliesh
Adam Dalgliesh is a fictional character who has been the protagonist of fourteen mystery novels by P. D. James. Dalgliesh first appeared in James's 1962 novel Cover Her Face and has appeared in a number of subsequent novels.-Character:...
in the Anglia Television
Anglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
dramatisations of P. D. James
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL , commonly known as P. D. James, is an English crime writer and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, most famous for a series of detective novels starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh.-Life and career:James...
's detective novels.
Education
Marsden attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic ArtRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
(RADA) and spent four terms there. He attempted to unionise the students but was thwarted. After one argument he poured a bottle of ink down the front of the director's suit. Marsden recalled, "Two weeks later, he phoned me up and asked if I'd got a job or an agent. I said no, so he arranged for me to start work at a theatre in Nottingham, and who should be the student assistant manager there but Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
. I persuaded him to go to RADA."
Stage
In the early 1960s, Marsden worked with the Royal Shakespeare CompanyRoyal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
and began to accumulate an extensive list of theatrical credits that include everything from Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
and Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
to contemporary Soviet playwright Alexander Vampilov
Alexander Vampilov
Alexander Valentinovich Vampilov was a Russian playwright. His play Elder Son was first performed in 1969, and became a national success two years later. Many of his plays have been filmed or televised in Russia...
. His preference was for the alternative experimental theatres of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Birmingham over London's commercial theatre.
Appearances include Crispen in The Friends, 1970; Casca
Servilius Casca
Publius Servilius Casca Longus was one of the assassins of Gaius Julius Caesar, who was murdered on 15 March, 44 BC....
and Lucilius
Lucilius Junior
Lucilius Junior , was the Roman governor of Sicily during the reign of Nero, a friend and correspondent of Seneca, and the possible author of Aetna, a poem which survives in a corrupt state.-Life:...
in Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
, 1972; Paul Schippel in Schippel, 1974; Heinrich Krey in The Plumber's Progress, 1975. He also played Long John Silver
Long John Silver
Long John Silver is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and the "Sea-Cook".- Profile :...
in Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
at London's Mermaid Theatre
Mermaid Theatre
The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre at Puddle Dock, in Blackfriars, in the City of London and the first built there since the time of Shakespeare...
around Christmas for two years and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion
Pygmalion (play)
Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...
at the Albery Theatre. In 2008, Marsden appeared in two productions, Murder on Air and Happy Jack at the Theatre Royal Windsor.
Television
Marsden's portrayal of Adam DalglieshAdam Dalgliesh
Adam Dalgliesh is a fictional character who has been the protagonist of fourteen mystery novels by P. D. James. Dalgliesh first appeared in James's 1962 novel Cover Her Face and has appeared in a number of subsequent novels.-Character:...
in Anglia TV's P. D. James
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL , commonly known as P. D. James, is an English crime writer and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, most famous for a series of detective novels starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh.-Life and career:James...
series spanned fifteen years. The series began as adaptations played out in serials of five or six one-hour episodes each, which were, unusually for the time, recorded on outside broadcast videotape as opposed to film:
- Death of an Expert WitnessDeath of an Expert WitnessDeath of an Expert Witness is an Adam Dalgliesh novel by P. D. James, published in 1977. It begins with the discovery of a murder of young girl. However, this is not the focus of the novel, but rather is used as a method to introduce us to the staff of a forensic laboratory, the background of this...
(1983); - Shroud for a NightingaleShroud for a NightingaleShroud for a Nightingale is a 1971 detective novel written by PD James in her Adam Dalgliesh series. Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate the death of two student nurses at the hospital nursing school of Nightingale House...
(1984); - Cover Her FaceCover Her Face (novel)Cover Her Face is the debut 1962 crime novel of P. D. James. It details the investigations by her poetry-writing detective Adam Dalgliesh into the death of a young, ambitious maid, surrounded by a family which has reasons to want her gone - or dead....
(1985); - The Black TowerThe Black TowerThe Black Tower is an Adam Dalgliesh novel by P.D. James, published in 1975.-Plot outline:"Adam Dalgliesh, convalescing after a severe illness, arrives at Toynton Grange , the rest home for the young disabled, just too late to find out why his old friend Father Baddeley had sent for him...
(1985); - A Taste for DeathA Taste for Death (P.D. James novel)A Taste for Death is a crime novel by British writer P. D. James, seventh in the popular Commander Adam Dalgliesh series. The novel won the Silver Dagger in 1986, losing out on the Gold to Ruth Rendell's Live Flesh. It has been adapted for television and radio.- Plot summary:In the dingy vestry of St...
(1988); - Devices and DesiresDevices and DesiresDevices and Desires is a 1989 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. It takes place on Larksoken, an isolated headland in Norfolk.-Plot overview:...
(1991).
After producer John Rosenberg died in early 1991 (during the transmission run of Devices and Desires
Devices and Desires
Devices and Desires is a 1989 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. It takes place on Larksoken, an isolated headland in Norfolk.-Plot overview:...
), the format of the adaptations changed. Initially, Anglia followed the trend made popular by the Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse (TV series)
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes....
series, condensing the next two adaptations into two-hour filmed TV movies.
- Unnatural CausesUnnatural CausesYou may be looking for UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?, a documentary series broadcast on PBS in 2008.Unnatural Causes is a detective novel by English crime writer P. D. James.-Synopsis:...
(1993); - A Mind to MurderA Mind to MurderA Mind to Murder is a crime novel by P. D. James, the second in her Adam Dalgliesh series.-Synopsis:In a psychiatric clinic late one night, the piercing scream of a dying woman shatters the calm, and Superintendent Dalgliesh is called away from his literary soiree to investigate...
(1995).
The final two adaptations were filmed in three one-hour episodes:
- Original SinOriginal Sin (novel)Original Sin is a 1994 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. It is set in London, mainly in Wapping in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, and centers around the city's oldest publishing house, Peverell Press, headquartered in a mock-Venetian palace on the River Thames.-Plot...
(1997); - A Certain JusticeA Certain JusticeA Certain Justice is an Adam Dalgliesh novel by P. D. James, published in 1997. Venetia Aldridge is a brilliant criminal lawyer who is set to take over as the Head of Chambers in Pawlet Court, London. She successfully defends Garry Ashe against the charge of the murder of his aunt but is unprepared...
(1998).
Marsden was replaced by Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in shows such as The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently.-Theatrical background:...
when the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
took over the rights to James's novels.
Marsden also starred in Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
's 1978–1980 Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
espionage series The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers
The Sandbaggers is a British television drama series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and...
. He played Neil Burnside, the dour and fiercely protective head of the covert operations section of British Intelligence, whose character seemed to spend as much time on infighting within Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
and his own department as it did in battling the KGB. The show ran for three series and 20 episodes before the untimely disappearance of the show's creator and writer Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh
Ian Mackintosh, MBE, was a Scottish naval officer, a writer of thriller novels, and a screenwriter for British television.His first novel, A Slaying in September, was published in 1967...
in 1979.
In 1982, Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
cast him in Airline
Airline (1982 TV series)
Airline is a British television series produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network in 1982.The series starred Roy Marsden as Jack Ruskin, a pilot demobbed after the end of the Second World War who starts up his own air freight business....
, a series in which he played Jack Ruskin, a scrappy World War II pilot trying to start his own post-war airline against establishment opposition. It also starred his wife, Polly Hemingway, who was pregnant with their first child during most of the filming.
In an interview Marsden said "It was one of the most enjoyable programmes I ever made. Learning to fly those old DC-3s
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
was terrific. And I enjoyed playing Ruskin enormously because he had hope. Of course, he was a pain up the tushie most of the time, but then you'd see that youthful desire to actually get out and triumph against enormous odds. I identified with that character the most."
Other prominent television roles include George Osborne in a 1967 adaptation of Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (1967 TV serial)
Vanity Fair is a BBC television drama serial adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name broadcast in 1967. It starred Susan Hampshire as Becky Sharp, for which she received an Emmy Award in 1973...
and the title role of Arthur Chipping in 1987's Goodbye Mr. Chips.
Marsden has also made guest appearances in The New Avengers
The New Avengers (TV series)
The New Avengers is a British secret agent fantasy adventure television series produced during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series, The Avengers which was created by Sydney Newman, and the new version was developed by original series producers Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell.The...
, Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
, Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...
("Little Problems
Little Problems
"Little Problems" is an episode of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. It was the final episode of series 6, and was first screened on 12 February, 1989...
"), Foyle's War
Foyle's War
Foyle's War is a British detective drama television series set during World War II, created by screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz, and was commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse came to an end in 2000. It has aired on ITV since 2002...
, and Tales of the Unexpected.
In 2007, Marsden presented a nine part crime documentary series Roy Marsden's Casebook for ITV West. He also appeared in the opening episode of the 2007 series of Doctor Who
Smith and Jones (Doctor Who)
"Smith and Jones" is the first episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 March 2007. It sees the debut of Freema Agyeman as new companion Martha Jones...
as Mr Stoker, a medical consultant.
In 2008, he appeared in ITV series The Palace as King Richard's Private Secretary Sir Iain Ratalick.
In 2009 Marsden reprised his Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...
role as one of the Driscoll brothers in the spin off series of The Green Green Grass
The Green Green Grass
The Green Green Grass is a British sitcom, created and initially written by John Sullivan, produced by Shazam Productions for the BBC. It is a spin-off of the long running sitcom Only Fools and Horses and stars John Challis, Sue Holderness and Jack Doolan...
. He also appeared in the television film Margaret
Margaret (2009 film)
Margaret is a 2009 television film produced by Great Meadow Productions for the BBC. It is a fictionalisation of the life of Margaret Thatcher and her fall from the premiership in the 1990 leadership election. It was first broadcast on 26 February 2009 on BBC Two...
(2009).
In 2010 Marsden appeared in an episode of New Tricks.
In 2011 Marsden appeared in an episode of Silent Witness
Silent Witness
Silent Witness is a BBC crime thriller series focusing on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in February 1996, the series is still airing to the present day, with a fifteenth series expected to air in January 2012. The series was...
Film
He has appeared in: The Squeeze, Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
(1976), a walk-on part with one line (as a Nazi officer) in the classic The Eagle Has Landed
The Eagle Has Landed (film)
The Eagle Has Landed is a 1976 film version of the novel The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins. It was directed by John Sturges and starred Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall...
(1976), and as Oberon in Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God (2005).