# David Haig

David Haig Collum Ward MBE (born 20 September 1955) is an English actor and playwright. He has appeared in West End productions and numerous television and film roles over a career spanning four decades.
Haig wrote the play My Boy Jack, which premièred at the Hampstead Theatre on 13 October 1997. On Remembrance Day 2007, ITV broadcast a television drama based on the play, in which Haig played Rudyard Kipling and Daniel Radcliffe played Kipling's son, John. He went on to star as the Player in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead alongside Radcliffe in 2017.
Haig's second play The Good Samaritan was also first staged at the Hampstead Theatre, opening on 6 July 2000. His third play Pressure premiered at the Chichester Festival in 2014, before being revived in 2018 on a UK Tour and then in the West End at the Ambassadors Theatre. In 2018, he portrayed Bill in the critically acclaimed BBC America thriller series Killing Eve (2018).
Haig was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama.

## Early life

Haig was born on 20 September 1955 in Aldershot, Hampshire, the son of opera singer Shirley R. C. (née Brooks) and army officer (and later director of the Hayward Gallery) Francis W. He had a younger sister who died at 22 of a brain aneurysm when he was 26. He grew up in Rugby, Warwickshire where he attended Rugby School.

## Career
### Film and television

Haig appeared in the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral, and had a supporting role in the BBC television sitcom The Thin Blue Line (1995), playing Inspector Grim, the inept foil to Rowan Atkinson's Inspector Fowler. He also appeared in Love on a Branch Line, a TV series broadcast by the BBC in four episodes. In 2002 he played the brother of Four Weddings' co-star Hugh Grant in the romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice. In 2007, he appeared in a Comic Relief sketch called "Mr. Bean's Wedding" as the bride's father, reuniting with Atkinson.
Other TV work includes Doctor Whostory "The Leisure Hive" (1980); Blake's 7 episode "Rumours of Death" (1980); Diamonds (1981 TV series); Campion story "Sweet Danger" (1990); Inspector Morse episode "Dead on Time" (1992); and Cracker story "To Say I Love You" (1993). In the 1990s, he appeared in series 1 of the TV series Soldier Soldier.
He appears in the Richard Fell adaptation of the 1960s science fiction series A for Andromeda, on the UK digital television station BBC Four.
Haig wrote the play My Boy Jack, and later appeared as Rudyard Kipling, alongside Daniel Radcliffe, in television adaptation.
In 2008, he appeared in the BBC film Dustbin Baby, and The 39 Steps. He also appeared in the Midsomer Murders, episode "The Glitch". In 2009 he appeared as Steve Fleming in BBC TV's The Thick of It, and as Jon, husband to former MP Mo Mowlam in the drama Mo, opposite Julie Walters. Also in 2009, he appeared in two episodes as the headmaster of Portwenn Primary School, Mr Straine on ITV comedy drama Doc Martin.
In January 2013, Haig started appearing as Jim Hacker in a re-make of classic 1980s comedy series Yes Prime Minister, broadcast on Gold TV in the United Kingdom.
In 2012 a new sitcom pilot, starring Haig and written by Ben Elton, was filmed for the BBC. Filming for a full six-part series of the sitcom, The Wright Way (formerly known as Slings and Arrows) was completed in March 2013, and began airing on BBC One on 23 April.
An August 2018 announcement indicated that Haig would be among the new cast to join the original actors in the Downton Abbey film which started principal photography at about the same time. In September 2018 he appeared as Bill alongside Jodie Comer in the BBC America thriller series Killing Eve.
In September 2024, production started on his film adaptation of his play Pressure.

### Radio

In 2008, he played Maurice Haigh-Wood in the BBC Radio adaptation of Michael Hastings' play Tom and Viv, and 2010 he starred as Norman Birkett in "Norman Birkett and the Case of the Coleford Poisoner" on BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play series. He also played the narrator and the older Lewis Eliot in C. P. Snow's "Strangers and Brothers" on Radio 4 in 2003, repeated on Radio 4 Extra every few years.

### Stage

He also won an Olivier Award in 1988 for Actor of the Year in a New Play, for his performance in Our Country's Good at the Royal Court in Sloane Square. He toured Britain with the stage version of My Boy Jack, which he wrote, and in which he played Rudyard Kipling and directed a production of Private Lives by Noël Coward, which made a national tour in 2005.
Haig has appeared in several stage productions in London's West End, including Hitchcock Blonde at the Royal Court, Life X 3 at the Savoy Theatre, as the character Osborne in R.C. Sherriff's play Journey's End at the Comedy Theatre, and as Mr George Banks in Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre for which he received an Olivier Award nomination. He was also nominated for playing Christopher Headingley in a revival of Michael Frayn's comedy Donkeys' Years at the Comedy Theatre. Having appeared in the role of Pinchwife in the comedy The Country Wife at the Royal Haymarket Theatre in London, he appeared in The Sea at the same theatre. Haig's next role was Truscott in the Joe Orton black farce Loot at London's Tricycle Theatre from 11 December 2008 to 31 January 2009 and at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, 2 to 7 February 2009.
In 2010 he played the role of Jim Hacker in the stage version of Yes, Prime Minister, at the Chichester Festival Gielgud Theatre, in London's West End from 17 September 2010.
In September 2023, it was announced that Haig was adapting Philip K. Dick's novella "The Minority Report" for the stage, to premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith the following spring.

## Filmography and stage credits
### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Production | Notes |
| 2018 | Pressure by David Haig | James Stagg | Ambassadors Theatre, London | |
| 2017 | Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard | The Player | The Old Vic, London | |
| 2016 | Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall | Robert | Young Vic | |
| 2015 | Guys and Dolls by Frank Loesser | Nathan Detroit | Chichester Festival Theatre | Olivier Award Nomination |
| 2015 | Someone Who'll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness | Michael | Minerva Theatre, Chichester | |
| 2014 | Pressure by David Haig | James Stagg | Royal Lyceum Theatre/Chichester Festival Theatre |
| 2013 | King Lear by William Shakespeare | Lear | Theatre Royal, Bath | |
| 2011–12 | The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett | George III | National Tour and Apollo Theatre | Olivier Award Nomination |
| 2010–11 | Yes, Prime Minister by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn | Jim Hacker | Chichester Festival Theatre and Gielgud Theatre | |
| 2009 | Loot by Joe Orton | Inspector Truscott | Tricycle Theatre | |
| 2008 | The Sea by Edward Bond | Hatch | Royal Haymarket Theatre | |
| 2007 | The Country Wife by William Wycherley | Pinchwife | Royal Haymarket Theatre |
| 2006 | Donkey's Years by Michael Frayn | Chris Headlingly | Comedy Theatre | Olivier Award Nomination |
| 2005 | Mary Poppins by Julian Fellowes | Mr Banks | Prince Edward Theatre | Olivier Award Nomination |
| 2004 | Journey's End by R.C. Sherriff | Osborne | Comedy Theatre |
| 2003 | Hitchcock Blonde by Terry Johnson | | Royal Court and Lyric Theatre, West End | |
| 2002 | Life x3 by Yasmina Reza | Henri | Savoy Theatre | |
| 1997 | "Art" by Yasmina Reza | Ivan | Wyndham's Theatre and Broadway | |
| 1997 | My Boy Jack by David Haig | Rudyard Kipling | Hampstead Theatre | |
| 1994 | Dead Funny by Terry Johnson | Richard | Hampstead Theatre and West End | |
| 1991 | Measure For Measure by William Shakespeare | Angelo | Young Vic and RSC tour | |
| 1988 | Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker | Ralph Clark | Royal Court | Olivier Award Best Actor in a New Play |
| 1988 | The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar | Plume | Royal Court |
| 1988 | Greenland | Paul | Royal Court | |
| 1985 | Tom and Viv by Michael Hastings | Maurice | Royal Court and Broadway | |

### TV and film

| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1978 | The Moon Stallion | Todman | TV series |
| 1980 | Blake's 7 | Forres | TV series (1 episode: "Rumours of Death") |
| 1980 | Doctor Who | Pangol | TV series (4 episodes of "The Leisure Hive") |
| 1981 | Diamonds | Alex Randolph | TV series |
| 1983 | Chessgame | Colin Jenkins | TV series (1 episode: "Flying Blind") |
| 1983 | A Flame to the Phoenix | Mirek Grabinski | |
| 1984 | Dark Enemy | Ash | |
| 1985 | Morons from Outer Space | Palatial House Flunkey | Film |
| 1986 | The Alamut Ambush | Colin Jenkins | TV film |
| 1986 | Cold War Killers | Colin Jenkins | TV film |
| 1989 | Hannay | Conrad Smyth | TV series (1 episode: "The Good Samaritan") |
| 1989 | Dramarama | Bill Brock | TV series (1 episode: "Badger") |
| 1990 | Campion | Cully Randall/Guffy Randall | TV series (2 episodes) |
| 1990 | Portrait of a Marriage | Harold Nicolson | TV series (4 episodes) |
| 1991 | Chancer | Dr. Haselden | TV series (1 episode: "Remembrance") |
| 1991 | Soldier Soldier | Major Tom Cadman | TV series (7 episodes) |
| 1992 | Inspector Morse | Peter Rhodes | TV series (1 episode: "Dead on Time") |
| 1992 | Boon | Jim Fisk | TV series (1 episode: "Is There Anybody There?") |
| 1993 | The Darling Buds of May | Captain Robert Battersby | TV series (2 episodes) |
| 1993 | The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries | Arthur Wilde | TV series (1 episode: "A Man Lay Dead") |
| 1993 | Cracker | Graham | TV series (2 episodes) |
| 1994 | Four Weddings and Funeral | Bernard, the Groom – Wedding Two | |
| 1994 | The Bill | Brian Linton | TV series (1 episode: "Secrets") |
| 1994 | Love on a Branch Line | Lionel Virley | TV series (4 episodes) |
| 1994 | Nice Day at the Office | Chris Selwyn | TV series (6 episodes) |
| 1995 | Wycliffe | David Millar | TV series (1 episode: "Charades") |
| 1995 | The Four Corners of Nowhere | Nick | |
| 1995 | The Thin Blue Line | D.I. Grim | TV series (14 episodes: 1995–1996) |
| 1997 | Keeping Mum | Richard Beare | TV series (16 episodes: 1997–1998) |
| 1998 | Talking Heads 2 | Wilfred Paterson | TV mini-series (1 episode: "Playing Sandwiches") |
| 1999 | The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Tales of Innocence | Colonel Bonnet | video |
| 2000 | Dalziel and Pascoe | David Hallingsworth | TV series (1 episode: "A Sweeter Lazarus") |
| 2001 | Ivor the Invisible | Park Keeper | voice |
| 2001 | Station Jim | Riorden Jnr | TV film |
| 2002 | Crime and Punishment | Luhzin | TV film |
| 2002 | Rachel's Attic | Adam | |
| 2002 | Two Weeks Notice | Howard Wade | |
| 2004 | Hustle | Sir Anthony Reeves | TV series (1 episode: "The Last Gamble") |
| 2006 | A for Andromeda | General Vandenburg | |
| 2007 | Comic Relief 2007: The Big One | Kate's Dad | TV film |
| 2007 | Church Going | Priest | short |
| 2007 | My Boy Jack | Rudyard Kipling | TV film |
| 2008 | Dickens Secret Lover | Charles Dickens | TV film |
| 2008 | Agatha Christie's Marple: Murder Is Easy | Major Hugh Horton | TV film |
| 2008 | Dustbin Baby | Elliot | TV film |
| 2008 | The 39 Steps | Sir George Sinclair | TV film |
| 2009 | My Family | Jeremy Livingstone | TV series (1 episode: "The Guru") |
| 2009 | Midsomer Murders | George Jeffers | TV series (1 episode: "The Glitch") |
| 2009 | Doc Martin | Mr Straine (Headmaster of Portwenn Primary School) | TV series (2 episodes) |
| 2009 | The Thick of It | Steve Fleming | TV series (2 episodes) |
| 2010 | Mo | Jon Norton | TV film |
| 2011 | The Half-Light | Man | short |
| 2011 | Strike Back | Christopher Manning | TV series (2 episodes) |
| 2013 | Yes Minister | Jim Hacker | TV series (6 episodes) |
| 2013 | The Wright Way | Gerald Wright | TV series (6 episodes) |
| 2016 | Florence Foster Jenkins | Carlo Edwards | |
| 2016 | The Witness for the Prosecution | Sir Charles Carter | TV mini series (2 episodes) |
| 2018 | Killing Eve | Bill Pargrave | TV series (3 episodes) |
| 2019 | Downton Abbey | Mr Wilson | |
| 2020 | COBRA | Archie Glover-Morgan | Series regular |