# Peter Egan

Peter Joseph Egan (born 28 September 1946) is a British actor. He is known for television roles including Hogarth in Big Breadwinner Hog (1969), the future King George IV in Prince Regent (1979); smooth neighbour Paul Ryman in the sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89); and Hugh "Shrimpie" MacClare, Marquess of Flintshire, in Downton Abbey (2012–15).

## Early life

Egan was born on 28 September 1946 in Hampstead, London, the son of Doris (née Pilk) and Michael Thomas Egan, who was of Irish descent. He was educated at St George's Catholic School, Maida Vale. He also attended the London Oratory School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

## Career

Egan's first stage performance was in Charlie Girl. His first television role was as the sex-and-cinema-obsessed Seth Starkadder in a BBC serialisation of Cold Comfort Farm (1968). In 1969, he had come to notoriety as the acid-throwing gangster Hogarth in the controversial Granada series Big Breadwinner Hog. Later, he had other starring roles: as John Everett Millais in the BBC serial The Love School (1975); as Oscar Wilde in the serial Lillie (1978), starring Francesca Annis as Lillie Langtry; as Magnus Pym in the BBC dramatisation of John le Carré's A Perfect Spy (1987) and another BBC sitcom, Joint Account (1989–90).
Egan played the title role in the BBC series Prince Regent (1979), and was a sinister immortal Knight Templar in Michael J. Bird's BBC series The Dark Side of the Sun (1983). Egan also played Fothergill in the television series Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983). In 1986, he had the role of Henry Simcox in the television dramatization of John Mortimer's Paradise Postponed.
Egan also guest-starred in episodes of The Ruth Rendell Mysteries ("A New Lease of Death," 1991) and A Touch of Frost ("Private Lives," 1999).
Egan's other roles have included the character Michael Cochrane in the programme The Ambassador (1998), and (on film) as the suave secret agent Meres in television spin-off Callan (1974), and the Duke of Sutherland in Chariots of Fire (1981). In 2007, Egan took the role of Victor in the film Death at a Funeral. In 2009, he toured as lead Sir Hugo Latymer in Nikolai Foster's revival of Noël Coward's A Song at Twilight. He is the narrator for the US and UK versions of Forza Motorsport 3 and its sequel, Forza Motorsport 4.
In 2012, Egan first appeared as Hugh "Shrimpie" MacClare, Marquess of Flintshire, in the Christmas special episode of ITV's Downton Abbey. For the drama's fifth series, Shrimpie became a recurring character; he also briefly appeared in series six. Later that same year, Egan appeared in Alan Bennett's People, alongside Frances de la Tour, at the National Theatre.
Also in 2012, Egan narrated a new recording of Rick Wakeman's album, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, based on the story by Jules Verne.
In 2024, Egan appeared in the British documentary film I Could Never Go Vegan.

## Animal rights activism

Egan is a longtime animal lover and vegan. Starting in 2010, he began to campaign publicly on behalf of animal rights.
Egan is an ambassador for the dog rescue Saving Suffering Strays in Sarajevo, Bosnia. He and his wife Myra adopted their Bosnian dog Tidus from this dog rescue. He continues to give support to stray street dogs of Sarajevo and their lone rescuer Milena Malesevic.
Egan is an active ambassador for the Animals Asia Foundation, which is a charity that works to end cruelty to animals in Asia. He is also patron of "All Dogs Matter", a dog rescue and rehoming charity in and around London and Norfolk. He is also an ambassador for the Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon, a wildlife sanctuary for animals rescued from the illegal bushmeat and pet trades.
In May 2015, Egan became Patron of Chaldon Animal Sanctuary, a charity that offers homes for life for dogs and cats. Egan personally took one of the Bosnian dogs now named Crusoe to the sanctuary in May. Three months later, Egan was announced as patron of the science-based campaign For Life On Earth (FLOE), which fights against animal testing in the field of human medical research.
In January 2016, Egan participated in Veganuary, and has remained vegan.
In 2018 Peter Egan joined Animal Equality UK inside a foie gras farm in France to document the process of force-feeding. Since then, he has supported the animal protection organisation on its campaign to ban the import of foie gras made by force-feeding in the UK.

## Personal life

Egan was married to former actress Myra Frances for 49 years until her death from cancer on 30 March 2021. His stepdaughter is Rebecca Egan.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1971 | One Brief Summer | Bill Denton | |
| 1971 | Elizabeth R | Earl of Southampton | episode: "Sweet England's Pride" |
| 1972 | The Organization | Pershore | 7 episodes |
| 1973 | The Hireling | Captain Hugh Cantrip | BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles |
| 1974 | Callan | Toby Meres | |
| 1975 | Hennessy | Williams | |
| 1978 | Lillie | Oscar Wilde | |
| 1981 | Chariots of Fire | Duke of Sutherland | |
| 1983 | The Dark Side of the Sun | Raoul Lavallière | 6 episodes |
| 1984 | To Catch a King | Reinhard Heydrich | |
| 1984–1989 | Ever Decreasing Circles | Paul Ryman | 27 episodes |
| 1985 | A Woman of Substance | Adam Fairley | 3 episodes |
| 1989–1990 | Joint Account | David Braithwaite | 16 episodes |
| 1987 | A Perfect Spy | Magnus Pym | 5 episodes |
| 1997 | Bean | Lord Walton | |
| 1999 | A Touch of Frost | Richard Darrow | Episode "Private Lives" |
| 2000 | 2001: A Space Travesty | Griffin Pratt | |
| 2002 | The King's Beard | King Cuthbert | voice |
| 2004 | The I Inside | Doctor Truman | |
| 2005 | The Wedding Date | Victor Ellis | |
| 2005 | Man to Man | Gyllenhaal | |
| 2007 | Death at a Funeral | Victor | |
| 2011 | The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings | King Henselt | voice (video game, English version) |
| 2011 | Midsomer Murders | Norman Swanscombe | Episode: “Not in My Back Yard” |
| 2012 | National Theatre Live: People | Theodore | |
| 2012–2015 | Downton Abbey | Hugh 'Shrimpie' MacClare, Marquess of Flintshire | 4 episodes |
| 2014 | Grantchester | Archie Johnson | 1 episode |
| 2015–2021 | Unforgotten | Martin Hughes | 24 episodes |
| 2018 | Midsomer Murders | Grady Palmerston | Episode: “Death of the Small Coppers” |
| 2018–2019 | Hold the Sunset | Dr Dugdale | 12 episodes |
| 2020–2022 | After Life | Paul | 6 episodes |
| 2020 | The Spanish Princess | Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk | 3 episodes |
| 2024 | Truelove | David | 6 episodes |
| 2024 | I Could Never Go Vegan | Executive Producer | |