# Cal MacAninch

Cal MacAninch (born 24 November 1963) is a Scottish actor, who is known for portraying the character of DI John Keenan in police drama HolbyBlue on BBC1 (from 2007 to 2008). Other notable appearances were his roles as Mr Thackeray in the ITV period drama, Mr Selfridge, and Henry Lang in Downton Abbey, but he has played many leading roles in British television and film over the last 30 years.

## Biography

MacAninch played Rowan Collins in Series 4 of the ITV drama series Wild at Heart. He returned to the show for its fifth series as a main cast member. He also played Tauren, a sorcerer in the BBC television series Merlin in the episode "To Kill the King". He starred in the 2001 BBC miniseries The Best of Both Worlds with Alice Evans. He appeared as Henry Lang, a valet, in the second series of Downton Abbey.

## Family, personal life

MacAninch and his wife, actress Shauna Macdonald, have three daughters and live in the Portobello district of Edinburgh. MacAninch is a keen marathon runner.

## Radio

| Date | Title | Role | Director | Station |
| 23 April 2004 | The Lights | Liam | Toby Swift | BBC Radio 4 Friday Play |
| 11 June 2004 | Soft Fall the Sounds of Eden | Andy | Gaynor Macfarlane | BBC Radio 4 Friday Play |
| 11 July 2004 | How Many Miles to Basra? | | Toby Swift | BBC Radio 3 Drama on 3 |
| 6 November 2005 | The Gunpowder Plot | King James I | David Hunter | BBC Radio 3 Drama on 3 |
| 31 October 2011 – 4 November 2011 | The Pillow Book (series 4) | Yukinari | Lu Kemp | BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama |
| 30 September 2013 – 3 October 2013 | The Blackhouse | DI Fin Macleod | Kirsteen Cameron | BBC Radio Scotland |
| 1 June 2018 | The Poet and the Echo: Grey Evening | Reader | Gaynor Macfarlane | BBC Radio 4 |
| 28 January 2019 – 1 February 2019 | Silence | Erling Kagge | Eilidh McCreadie | BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week |

## Television

Television :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1990 | Taggart | Heckler | Episode: "Hostile Witness" |
| 1990 | The Paradise Club | Angel Eyes | Episode: "Chinese Whispers" |
| 1991 | The Advocates | Milligan | 3 episodes |
| 1991 | Screen One | Axle | Episode: "Alive and Kicking" |
| 1991 | The Chestnut Soldier | Evan Llyr | TV miniseries |
| 1993‍–‍94 | The Riff Raff Element | Declan | TV series: main cast |
| 1995 | A Mind to Murder | Philip Tippett | TV film |
| 1995 | The Big One | Jeff | TV film |
| 1995 | Dangerous Lady | Geoff Ryan | TV miniseries |
| 1995 | Screen Two | Tom Kelso | Episode: "Nervous Energy" |
| 1996 | Taggart | Dr David Argylle | Episode: "Devil's Advocate" |
| 1998 | Cooking Pigeons | | TV film |
| 1999 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Finn | Episode: "The Lake of Darkness" |
| 1999 | Warriors | Sgt Andre Sochanik | TV serial |
| 2000 | Little Bird | Tony O'Neill | TV film |
| 2001 | Best of Both Worlds | Mark Landucci | 3 episodes |
| 2001 | Waking The Dead | Alex Bryson/Sam Keel | Episode: "A Simple Sacrifice" |
| 2002‍–‍03 | Rockface | Ben Craig | TV series: main cast |
| 2003 | Silent Witness | Michael Patterson | Episode: "Fatal Error" |
| 2004 | Murphy's Law | DS Nic Winters | Episode: "Bent Moon on the Rise" |
| 2005 | The Ghost Squad | Mike | Episode: "Hardcore" |
| 2006 | Sorted | Radge | TV series: main cast |
| 2007‍–‍08 | HolbyBlue | DI John Keenan | TV series: main cast |
| 2008 | Merlin | Tauren | Episode: "To Kill the King" |
| 2009‍–‍10 | Wild at Heart | Rowan Collins | |
| 2010 | Strike Back | Major Chris Pemberton | Episode: "Iraq: Part One" |
| 2011 | Downton Abbey | Henry Lang | Episodes: "Matthew's Return" and "General Sir Herbert Strutt" |
| 2011 | Garrow's Law | Richard Lucas | 1 episode |
| 2013 | Midsomer Murders | Alan Robson | Episode: "The Sicilian Defence" |
| 2013 | Silent Witness | David Loader | Episode: "Legacy" |
| 2014‍–‍15 | Mr Selfridge | Mr Thackeray | 11 episodes |
| 2015 | Banished | Sergeant Timmins | TV serial |
| 2015 | DCI Banks | Detective Sergeant Martin Heston | Episode: "Ghosts" |
| 2015 | Katie Morag | Mr Cavendish | Episode: "Katie Morag and the Worst Day Ever" |
| 2016 | Scott & Bailey | Craig Widnes | Episodes: "Nobody's Fool" and "Change" |
| 2018 | Frontier | Angus | Season 3 |
| 2019 | The Victim | Christian Graham | TV miniseries |
| 2019 | The Small Hand | Hugo Snow | TV film |
| 2020 | Father Brown | George Oakley | Episode: "The Tower of Lost Souls" |
| 2020 | Vera | Thomas Walden | Episode: "Parent Not Expected" |
| 2020 | Des | Neil Sinclair | TV Mini-Series: 2 episodes |
| 2021 | Time | PO Galbraith | 3 episodes |
| 2021 | Vigil | Ben Oakley | TV serial |
| 2022 | Trigger Point | Inspector Lee Robins | 6 episodes |
| 2022 | The Essex Serpent | Michael Seaborne | Episode: "The Blackwater" |
| 2022 | Mayflies | Tibbs | |

## Film

Film :
| Year | Title | Role |
| 1993 | Splitting Heirs | CID Officer |
| 1997 | The Woodlanders | Dr. Fitzpiers |
| 1998 | Speak Like a Child | Billy, Age 30 |
| 1998 | Sentimental Education | August |
| 1999 | The Lost Son | Martin |
| 2000 | Best | Paddy |
| 2000 | Breathtaking | Mick Wilmott |
| 2001 | The Point Men | Horst |
| 2004 | Dear Frankie | Davey |
| 2005 | Rag Tale | Paul (Mac) MacAvoy, Sports Editor |
| 2007 | Jetsam | Jack |
| 2011 | Screwed | Eddie |
| 2018 | Calibre | Al McClay |
| 2019 | Intrigo: Dear Agnes | Erich Neumann-Hansen |
| 2019 | Intrigo: Samaria | Erich Neumann-Hansen |
| 2020 | The Reckoning | Ben Tuttle |
| 2021 | Nobody Has to Know | Peter |

## Theatre

| Date | Title | Role | Director | Company / Theatre |
| – | Macbeth | Macbeth | Colin Ellwood | Unnatural Acts Theatre |
| – | How Like An Angel | Peter | Alan Sharpe | Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh |
| – | Tis Pity She's A Whore | Grimaldi | Philip Prowse | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow |
| – | Frankenstein | Walton/Clerval | Jon Pope | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow |
| 1992 – | Not About Heroes | Wilfred Owen | Stephen MacDonald | Heroes Theatre Company |
| – | The Cherry Orchard | The Passer By | Robert Robertson | Dundee Repertory Theatre |
| – | The Philanthropist | John | Neil Murray | Dundee Repertory Theatre |
| – | A Tale of Two Cities | Defence | Philip Prowse | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow |
| – | Enrico Four | Arialdo | Philip Prowse | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow |
| 16 March 1994 – 26 March 1994 | Oedipus Rex | Oedipus | Claire Venables | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow |
| 27 September 1996 – 19 October 1996 | Hamlet | Hamlet | Philip Prowse | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow |
| 19 June 1997 – Oct 1997 | The Wood Demon | Wood Demon | Anthony Clarke | Playhouse Theatre, London |
| – | A Whistle in the Dark | Harry Carney | Roxana Silbert | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow |
| 20 July 2006 – 12 August 2006 | Under the Black Flag | John Silver | Roxana Silbert | Shakespeare's Globe |
| – | The Bacchae | Pentheus | John Tiffany | National Theatre of Scotland Lincoln Center, New York |
| – | Peter Pan | Captain Hook | John Tiffany | National Theatre of Scotland |
| – | Wee Andy | The Surgeon | Paddy Cuneen | Òran Mór, Glasgow |
| – | Anna Karenina | Vronsky | Nancy Meckler | Shared Experience |
| – | King Lear | Duke of Cornwall | Dominic Hill | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow |
| 2 March 2012 – 24 March 2012 | Betrayal | Robert | Dominic Hill | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow |
| 6 September 2012 – 13 October 2012 | The Judas Kiss | Robbie Ross | Neil Armfield | Hampstead Theatre |
| 15 October 2012 – 20 October 2012 | The Judas Kiss | Robbie Ross | Neil Armfield | Gaiety Theatre, Dublin |
| 22 October 2012 – 27 October 2012 | The Judas Kiss | Robbie Ross | Neil Armfield | Theatre Royal Bath |
| 29 October 2012 – 3 November 2012 | The Judas Kiss | Robbie Ross | Neil Armfield | Richmond Theatre |
| 5 November 2012 – 10 November | The Judas Kiss | Robbie Ross | Neil Armfield | Theatre Royal, Brighton |
| 12 November 2012 – 17 November 2012 | The Judas Kiss | Robbie Ross | Neil Armfield | Cambridge Arts Theatre |
| 9 January 2013 – 6 April 2013 | The Judas Kiss | Robbie Ross | Neil Armfield | Duke of York's Theatre, London |
| 22 March 2016 – 1 May 2016 | The Judas Kiss | Robbie Ross | Neil Armfield | Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto |
| 11 May 2016 – 12 June 2016 | The Judas Kiss | Robbie Ross | Neil Armfield | Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York |
| 2015 | My Eyes Went Dark | Nikolai Koslov | Matt Wilkinson | Finborough Theatre, London |
| 2016 | My Eyes Went Dark | Nikolai Koslov | Matt Wilkinson | Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh |
| 2017 | My Eyes Went Dark | Nikolai Koslov | Matt Wilkinson | 59E59 Theaters, New York |
| 2019 – | The Mistress Contract | | Eve Nicol | Tron Theatre, Glasgow |