# Ian McNeice

Ian McNeice (born 2 October 1950) is an English film and television actor. On television, he has played government agent Harcourt in the 1985 television series Edge of Darkness, Bert Large in the comedy-drama Doc Martin, the Newsreader in historical drama Rome (2005–2007) and Winston Churchill in Doctor Who (2010–2011). He has also appeared in films including The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Frank Herbert's Dune.

## Early life and education

McNeice was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire. His acting training started at the Taunton School in Somerset, followed by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and two years at the Salisbury Playhouse. The next few years were spent in theatre, including a four-year period with the Royal Shakespeare Company and a production of Nicholas Nickleby on Broadway.

## Career

McNeice's television breakthrough was as Harcourt in the award-winning series Edge of Darkness. He played the alcoholic sous chef Gustave LaRoche on the television series Chef!, and went on to appear in the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune as the evil Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, a role he later reprised for the 2003 sequel Children of Dune. His television appearances have included all ten series of Doc Martin, in which he plays Bert Large, series 4 episode 4 of Midsomer Murders, and the third episode of the second series of Lewis. He appears as the Newsreader in the HBO/BBC production Rome and as the Mr. Tapling of the British diplomatic service in Hornblower - The Examination for Lieutenant.
McNeice has also appeared in a number of films, including 84 Charing Cross Road, Day of the Dead, No Escape, From Hell and The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. His breakthrough into American films occurred when he played Fulton Greenwall in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). He played the Nazi Gerhard Klopfer in the 2001 BBC/HBO television film Conspiracy.
Since then, he has been in Around the World in 80 Days (2004) and the 2005 supernatural thriller White Noise. He also appeared as Potiphar in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
McNeice gave his distinctive voice and accent to voice-acting roles like the Vogon character Kwaltz, director of the Vogon Constructor Fleet, in the 2005 film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In 2007, he made his Doctor Who debut when he guest-starred as villain Zeus in the Big Finish BBC Digital Radio 7 drama Immortal Beloved. He had a cameo role as Joachim von Kortzfleisch, a German general who refused to put his troops under the command of officers plotting to depose Hitler's government, in Valkyrie.
McNeice was initially cast in the role of Illyrio Mopatis in the HBO pilot of Game of Thrones, but because of scheduling conflicts the role was then given to Roger Allam. McNeice appeared as Winston Churchill in four episodes of Doctor Who in 2010 and 2011; he had previously played Churchill in the 2008 premiere production of the Howard Brenton play Never So Good, and later played him again in the 2012 stage version of The King's Speech.
McNeice also starred as The Architect in the 2017 independent feature film, The House of Screaming Death.

## Personal life

McNeice has three children.

## Selected filmography
### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1982 | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | Wackford Squeers / Scaley / Croupier | 3 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 1983 | The Cleopatras | Alexander | 2 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 1984 | Minder | Eric Morgan | Episode: "Rocky Eight and a Half" |
| 1985 | The Optimist | Thug | Episode: "The Light Fantastic" |
| 1985 | Edge of Darkness | Harcourt | 5 episodes (TV mini series) |
| 1987 | Sputniks, Bleeps and Mr.Perry | Geoffrey Perry | TV drama/ documentary |
| 1987 | A Perfect Spy | Sefton Boyd | 1 episode (TV mini-series) |
| 1988 | Wipe Out | Phillip Benton | 5 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 1989 | Boon | Graham Barker | Episode: "In For the Monet" |
| 1989 | Around the World in 80 Days | Batcular | 3 Episodes (TV mini series) |
| 1991 | Lovejoy | Gervais Rackham | Episode: "The Italian Venus" |
| 1991 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Ivan Teal | 3 episodes |
| 1992 | B&B | Horace Gilbert | TV Movie |
| 1992 | Miss Pym's Day Out | Vicar of Finstock | TV Movie |
| 1992 | The Cloning of Joanna May | Dr. Holly | 2 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 1992 | The Blackheath Poisonings | George Collard | 3 episodes (TV mini series) |
| 1992 | An Ungentlemanly Act | Dick Baker | TV Movie |
| 1993 | Watching | Minister | Episode: "Knotting" |
| 1993 | Inspector Morse | Pathologist | Episode: "Deadly Slumber" |
| 1993 | Stay Lucky | Franklyn Bysouth | 10 episodes |
| 1993 | Age of Treason | Casca | TV Movie |
| 1994 | Ain't Misbehavin' | Chuck Pervis | Series 1, Episode 4 |
| 1994 | Minder | Hargreaves | Episode: "All Quiet on the West End Front" |
| 1994 | Chef! | Gustave LaRoche | 3 episodes |
| 1994 - 1995 | Pie in the Sky | Barry Wilkes | 2 episodes |
| 1995 | Sharpe's Battle | Wagonmaster-General Colonel Runciman | TV Movie |
| 1995 | Bugs | Doctor Peter Hunter | Episode: "A Sporting Chance" |
| 1996 | Cadfael | Canon Eluard | Episode: "The Devil's Notice" |
| 1997 | Have Your Cake and Eat It | Zief | 4 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 1998 | Hornblower | Mr. Tapling | Episode: The Examination for Lieutenant |
| 1998 | A Certain Justice | Desmond Ulrick | 3 episodes |
| 1998 | Liverpool 1 | George | Episode: "Lead Balloon" |
| 1999 | A Christmas Carol | Albert Fezziwig | TV Movie |
| 1999 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | Potiphar | Video |
| 1999 | David Copperfield | Mr. Dick | 2 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 2000 | Longitude | Astronomer Royal Doctor Nathanial Bliss | TV mini-series |
| 2000 | Frank Herbert's Dune | Baron Vladimir Harkonnen | 3 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 2000 | The Sleeper | Mr. Tarburck | 1 episode (TV mini-series) |
| 2000 | Midsomer Murders | Village doctor | Episode: "Who Killed Cock Robin" |
| 2001 | Armadillo | Ivan | 2 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 2002 | Relic Hunter | Harry Kane | Episode: "Fountain of Youth" |
| 2003 | Frank Herbert's Children of Dune | Baron Vladimir Harkonnen | 3 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 2004 | Spartacus | Lentulus Batiatus | 2 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 2004 | Spooks | Judge | Episode: "Persephone" |
| 2004–2022 | Doc Martin | Bert Large | 78 episodes |
| 2005 | The Last Detective | Raymond Price | Episode: "Three Steps to Hendon" |
| 2005–2007 | Rome | The Newsreader | 20 episodes |
| 2007 | New Tricks | Michael Meadowcroft | Episode: "Big Topped" |
| 2008 | Lewis | Reverend Francis King | Episode: "Life Born of Fire" |
| 2009 | Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer | Cassius Dio (Historian) | TV film |
| 2010–2011 | Doctor Who | Winston Churchill | 4 episodes |
| 2010 | Jonathan Creek | Father Roderick Alberic | Episode: "The Judas Tree" |
| 2012 | The Mystery of Edwin Drood | Mayor Sapsea | 2 episodes (TV mini-series) |
| 2021 | Foundation | Master Statistician Tivole | Episode: "Barbarian at the Gate" |
| 2022 | The Sandman | Bartender | Episode: "The Sound of Her Wings" |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983 | Grizzly II: The Concert | Bernie | |
| 1983 | Voice Over | "Fats" Bannerman | |
| 1984 | Top Secret! | Blind souvenir salesman | |
| 1986 | Whoops Apocalypse | Thrush | |
| 1987 | Personal Services | Harry | |
| 1987 | 84 Charing Cross Road | Bill Humphries | |
| 1987 | Cry Freedom | | Uncredited |
| 1987 | The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne | Bernard Rice | |
| 1988 | The Raggedy Rawney | Farmer | |
| 1989 | Valmont | Azolan | |
| 1990 | 1871 | Prince of Wales | |
| 1990 | The Russia House | Merrydew | |
| 1991 | Secret Friends | First Businessman | |
| 1992 | Year of the Comet | Ian | |
| 1993 | Don't Leave Me This Way | Oscar Ghilardi | |
| 1994 | No Escape | King | |
| 1995 | Funny Bones | Stanley Sharkey | |
| 1995 | The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain | George Garrad | |
| 1995 | Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls | Fulton Greenwall | |
| 1997 | The Beautician and the Beast | Iva Grushinsky | |
| 1997 | A Life Less Ordinary | Mayhew | |
| 1998 | How to Make the Cruelest Month | Peggy Asks | |
| 1999 | The Auteur Theory | Sir Maximilian Fair Brown | |
| 1999 | The Cherry Orchard | Pishchik | |
| 2000 | The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz | Inspector | |
| 2001 | Anazapta | Bishop | |
| 2001 | The Body | Dr. Sproul | |
| 2001 | Town & Country | Peter Principal | |
| 2001 | The Fourth Angel | MI5 officer Lewison | |
| 2001 | From Hell | Dr. Robert Drudge | |
| 2002 | Amnèsia | Doug Chandler | |
| 2002 | Man and Boy | Nigel Batty | |
| 2002 | The Final Curtain | Priest | |
| 2003 | Chaos and Cadavers | Harry Kane | |
| 2003 | I'll Be There | Graham | |
| 2003 | Blackball | Hugh the Sideburns | |
| 2004 | Freeze Frame | Forensic Profiler Saul Seger | |
| 2004 | Around the World in 80 Days | Colonel Kitchener | |
| 2004 | The Rocket Post | Alex Miln | |
| 2004 | Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | Quizmaster | |
| 2005 | White Noise | Raymond Price | |
| 2005 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Kwaltz | Voice only |
| 2005 | Oliver Twist | Limbkins | |
| 2006 | The Black Dahlia | Coroner | |
| 2008 | Day of the Dead | DJ Paul | |
| 2008 | Valkyrie | Joachim von Kortzfleisch | |
| 2008 | Just Because You’re Paranoid… | The Therapist | Short film |
| 2012 | Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger | Mr. Peterson Senior | |
| 2017 | The Man Who Invented Christmas | Edward Chapman | |
| 2017 | The House of Screaming Death | The Architect | |
| 2023 | Napoleon | Louis XVIII | |
| 2024 | We Are Tourists | Harry | |