Brendan Coyle (born 2 December 1962) is a British-Irish actor. He won the Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for The Weir in 1999. He also played Nicholas Higgins in the miniseries North & South, Robert Timmins in the first three series of Lark Rise to Candleford, and more recently Mr Bates, the valet, in Downton Abbey, which earned him a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Brendan Coyle was born David Coyle in Corby, Northamptonshire, on 2 December 1962, the son of a Patrick B Coyle and Bedelia M B Anderson. He has an older brother named Shaun Due to his British birth and Irish heritage, he holds both British and Irish citizenship. He is the great-nephew of football manager Sir Matt Busby. He studied drama in Dublin in 1981 and received a scholarship to Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London in 1983.
Coyle received a Laurence Olivier Award in 1999 for his performance in Conor McPherson's The Weir and won a New York Critics Theater World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut for the same play in its New York production. In 2001, Coyle appeared in the film Conspiracy as Gestapo Chief Heinrich Müller. He played Kaz Sweeney in the British drama True Dare Kiss, and Nicholas Higgins in North & South for the BBC.
From 2008 he played Robert Timmins in three BBC series based on the Lark Rise to Candleford novels, written by Flora Thompson. In 2010, he began playing John Bates, valet and former British Army batman to the Earl of Grantham in Julian Fellowes's period drama series, Downton Abbey. Fellowes wrote the part for Coyle, and it won him nominations for a BAFTA and IFTA as well as a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Awards as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2012. He also won three Screen Actors Guild Awards 2013–16. Coyle also played the character of Terry Starling in the short-lived Sky comedy series Starlings.
Drama · Romance
Lou Clark, a directionless 26-year-old from the English countryside, takes a job at the local castle as a caregiver and companion to a wealthy young banker, Will Traynor. Wheelchair-bound from an accident two years prior, the once adventurous Will has all but given up — that is until Lou determines to show him that life is worth living.
7.92016
Adventure · Action
A deranged media mogul is staging international incidents to pit the world's superpowers against each other. Now James Bond must take on this evil mastermind in an adrenaline-charged battle to end his reign of terror and prevent global pandemonium.
6.41997
Drama · History
In 1561, Mary Stuart, widow of the King of France, returns to Scotland, reclaims her rightful throne and menaces the future of Queen Elizabeth I as ruler of England, because she has a legitimate claim to the English throne. Betrayals, rebellions, conspiracies and their own life choices imperil both Queens. They experience the bitter cost of power, until their tragic fate is finally fulfilled.
6.52018
Crime · Thriller
A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.
6.32012
Drama · Romance
The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance.
7.22019
Sci-Fi & Fantasy · Drama
The provocative story of Cole, a time traveler from a decimated future in a high-stakes race against the clock. Utilizing a dangerous and untested method of time travel, he journeys from 2043 to the present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will all but annihilate the human race.
7.42015
Drama
Margaret Hale is a southerner from a country vicarage newly settled in the industrial northern town of Milton. In the shock of her move, she misjudges charismatic cotton mill-owner John Thornton, whose strength of purpose and passion are a match for her own pride and willfulness. When the workers of Milton call a strike, Margaret takes their side, and the two are brought into deeper conflict. As events spiral out of control, Margaret - to her surprise - begins to fall in love with Thornton...
8.12004
Drama · Romance
Lou Clark, a directionless 26-year-old from the English countryside, takes a job at the local castle as a caregiver and companion to a wealthy young banker, Will Traynor. Wheelchair-bound from an accident two years prior, the once adventurous Will has all but given up — that is until Lou determines to show him that life is worth living.
7.92016
Adventure · Action
A deranged media mogul is staging international incidents to pit the world's superpowers against each other. Now James Bond must take on this evil mastermind in an adrenaline-charged battle to end his reign of terror and prevent global pandemonium.
6.41997
Drama · History
In 1561, Mary Stuart, widow of the King of France, returns to Scotland, reclaims her rightful throne and menaces the future of Queen Elizabeth I as ruler of England, because she has a legitimate claim to the English throne. Betrayals, rebellions, conspiracies and their own life choices imperil both Queens. They experience the bitter cost of power, until their tragic fate is finally fulfilled.
6.52018
Drama · Mystery
A military veteran goes on a journey into the future, where he can foresee his death and is left with questions that could save his life and those he loves.
6.92005
Crime · Thriller
A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.
6.32012
Drama · Romance
The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance.
7.22019
Drama · Romance
The Crawley family goes on a grand journey to the south of France to uncover the mystery of the dowager countess's newly inherited villa. Meanwhile, a Hollywood director seeks to film his latest production at Downton.
7.22022
History · Drama
At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.
7.32001
Drama · Romance
When Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial strife, the entire household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change as the staff prepares for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.
Crime · Drama
The real-life story of Dublin folk hero and criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off two daring robberies in Ireland with his team, but attracted unwanted attention from the police, the I.R.A., the U.V.F., and members of his own team.
6.71998
Action · Comedy
A gangster named Perrier looks to exact his revenge on a trio of fugitives responsible for the accidental death of one of his cronies.
5.82010
Drama
Christina Noble overcomes the harsh difficulties of her childhood in Ireland to discover her destiny on the streets of Saigon. A true story.
6.42014
Drama · War
After a bomb kills their company commander in Iraq, British soldiers Treacle and Shane are ordered to round up suspects and use torture on the detainees. Back home, the press gets the story and the pair achieves instant infamy.
5.22007
Drama
The movie starts at the 1998 bomb attack by the Real IRA at Omagh, Northern Ireland. The attack killed 31 people. Michael Gallagher one of the relatives of the victims starts an examination to bring the people responsible to court.
6.62005
Drama · Comedy
In the small Swedish town of Stensfors, the local football team faces dissolution unless it can win its remaining matches. Team member Kent recruits former 1980s Premier League star Duncan Miller to help, only to discover their hero is out of shape, alcoholic, and far from match-ready.
5.32006
Drama
A writer struggles with her daughter's decision to drop out of college and live on the streets.
4.82016
Drama · Comedy
A darkly humorous look at the lives and loves of four modern women, each with their own remarkable, intriguing and often tragic stories.
6.22007
Drama
The film concerns an old Irish immigrant living in London who is looking back over his life. He recalls his early life in the west of Ireland, his first love, emigrating to England, searching for his brother Joe, who disappeared after he emigrated several years previously. His marriage and wife's later depth is also remembered.
4.61999
Crime · Drama
While investigating the murder of a rich benefactor and the theft of children's presents at a Christmas charity pageant, Murdoch discovers suggestions that a Christmas monster, a Krampus, may be involved. A Merry Murdoch Christmas is the first stand-alone two hour Christmas special that aired on December 21, 2015 in Canada, and on December 20, 2015 in France.
7.62015
Drama
After a violent incident in Lucy's public school, her atheist parents Stuart and Alison decide to find her a safe 'traditional' school. The only one they can afford is St. Mary of the Veil, run by nuns whose 'preference' for Catholic families is de facto exclusivity, given the waiting list. So they pose as devout, and get his murky mate Eddie to find them a priest they can 'bribe' for a parish reference, while Lucy is genuinely converted. It works, but when Stuart overhears a dark secret things take a tragic turn.
4.62006
Drama
About the relationship between Dean, a young deaf man who is accused of murdering his flatmate, and Penny, the sign language interpreter assigned to his case.
3.22006
Drama
Though it is late in the punk rock movement, four Dublin youths get together in 1979 to form their own band. Accurately recounting the energy and rawness of the era, this drama follows their tumultuous and ill-fated journey on the rocky road to success. It takes three long years of unpaid performing for Reena, her lover Jessop, bassist Joe and drummer Petie to make a name for The Dead Patriots. Just as they are about to find real success, internal difficulties arise that leave each of them suspicious and mistrustful of the other.
3.01997
Drama
13 year-old David and nine year-old Danni live in a children's home, where despite the best of adult intentions, there is conflict and sudden tragedy. When the pair escape the home, they embark upon a daring adventure in search of the beach.
6.01998
Crime · Drama
A dramatized speculation of what happened in November 1983 when Micky McAvoy and some of his mates planned a heist and were surprised when they discovered they'd stumbled across a large stash of gold. But getting the gold away without getting caught is only the beginning of their troubles. Realizing the riches the gold represents is difficult, and honor among thieves may only be a myth.
Thriller
Hired to draw a map of tourist sites in a small Northern Ireland town, cartographer Richie Markey (Brian F. O'Byrne) uncovers a dark secret and realizes that his map may hold the key to the mysterious disappearance of another surveyor. The missing man had been accused of informing on two IRA soldiers, and when Markey discovers his body, it doesn't take long for him to draw the conclusion that he may be next on the group's list.
9.02001
Drama
Set in affluent, contemporary, south-side Dublin, the Cahills appear to have the world at their feet. Dad Aidan, is a successful property tycoon, his wife Michelle, a successful estate agent and their fashion model daughter, Emma's 21st birthday party at the family home should be a night to remember. That night however, a rape at the party shatters their seemingly perfect lives. With the key suspect released on bail, and dark family secrets coming to the fore, Emma's life begins to free-fall. Slowly, having made radical changes to her life, Emma builds towards recovery - until a chance meeting with her rapist bolsters her conviction that she'll need to confront him in court before she can get on with her life.
1.02007
Drama
Troubled author John Kennedy Toole's struggle to bring A Confederacy of Dunces to print.
When a Spanish immigrant who's trying to invent teleportation in his garage sucks too much power from the electrical grid, a Department of Water and Power inspector vows to shut him down, putting both his invention and his relationship with his pregnant wife at risk.
Drama
A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.
8.12010
Sci-Fi & Fantasy · Drama
The provocative story of Cole, a time traveler from a decimated future in a high-stakes race against the clock. Utilizing a dangerous and untested method of time travel, he journeys from 2043 to the present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will all but annihilate the human race.
7.42015
Drama
Margaret Hale is a southerner from a country vicarage newly settled in the industrial northern town of Milton. In the shock of her move, she misjudges charismatic cotton mill-owner John Thornton, whose strength of purpose and passion are a match for her own pride and willfulness. When the workers of Milton call a strike, Margaret takes their side, and the two are brought into deeper conflict. As events spiral out of control, Margaret - to her surprise - begins to fall in love with Thornton...
8.12004
Comedy · Drama
The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. Whilst they won't admit it, they need help and find it in Steve, a young middle class lad who falls for Fiona, the oldest sibling, and increasingly finds himself drawn to this unconventional and unique family. Anarchic family life seen through the eyes of an exceptionally bright fifteen year old, who struggles to come of age in the context of his belligerent father, closeted brother, psychotic sister and internet porn star neighbors.
7.62004
Crime · Drama
A team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.
7.61996
Crime · Drama
Highly skilled Detective Inspector Jane Tennison battles to prove herself in a male dominated world.
7.81991
Mystery · Drama
In 1994, a toddler disappeared from a small Welsh village, never to be seen again. 23 years later, in London, the mother of rising cello star Matilda Gray commits suicide, without apparent reason. Among her possessions, Matilda discovers tantalising evidence, linking her mother to the Welsh girl's disappearance all those years ago.
6.22018
Drama
When dozens of babies in Corby are born with disabilities, their mothers embark on a battle to hold those responsible to account.
7.02025
Crime · Drama
The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
6.81984
Crime · Mystery
A detective team apply new techniques to old crimes as they solve cold cases.
7.22001
Drama · Crime
In London, the life of Jean, a troubled crime scene cleaner, is turned upside down when his outlaw brother Martin crash lands into his world, entangling them in the deadly dynamics of organized crime.
6.62015
Drama
Set in the small hamlet of Lark Rise and the wealthier neighbouring market town, Candleford, the series chronicles the daily lives of farm-workers, craftsmen and gentry at the end of the 19th Century. Lark Rise to Candleford is a love letter to a vanished corner of rural England and a heart-warming drama series teeming with wit, wisdom and romance.
8.42008
Crime · Drama
Blue Murder is a British crime drama television series based in Manchester. Shown on ITV from 2003 until 2009 when it was cancelled by the network, it starred Caroline Quentin as DCI Janine Lewis.
6.72003
Drama
Stephen Richards has built a cosmetics empire, but when he suffers a stroke, his family's secrets and lies rise to the surface and the future of his multi-million-pound company is at stake.
5.82022
Crime · Drama
The Ghost Squad was a 2005 British crime drama series produced by Company Pictures, for Channel 4. The show was created by Tom Grieves. Inspired by the real life "Ghost Squad" that existed between 1994 and 1998, secretly investigating police corruption, the premise of the series is that the squad continued to operate in secret after officially being shut down. It starred Elaine Cassidy as a police constable recruited into the squad and Jonas Armstrong as her handler. The show was cancelled after a single seven episode series.
5.82005
Drama · Crime
Keen detectorist Martin and his wheeler dealer soon to be son-in-law Ashley who, while on a boys bonding trip in the idyllic fields of rural Somerset, discover a hoard of buried Saxon treasure worth millions.
5.82024
Drama
Clare Blake, a high-ranking, ambitious officer in the Metropolitan Police's Serious Crimes Unit, leads complex murder investigations that often blur the line between her professional and personal lives.
6.42003
Comedy
Paths to Freedom was a popular comedy on the Irish television network RTÉ Two. The shows stars two characters, Jeremy and Rats, who have both recently been released from a Dublin prison. The show takes the format of a mockumentary, with a fly-on-the-wall camera crew following the two characters, who are from thoroughly different backgrounds, as they try to reintegrate back into society. There were six episodes of the show produced, the first airing on November 1, 2000, and the final episode airing one month later. The series was followed-up by a movie based on the character Rats, Spin the Bottle. The show was written by Michael McElhatton, and directed by Ian Fitzgibbon.
7.52000
Drama · Crime
Jericho is an ITV British crime drama series which was transmitted in 2005. It was created and written by Stewart Harcourt and starred Robert Lindsay as Detective Inspector Michael Jericho, who is loved by the public but who is embarrassed by his status as a hero. The series was set in London in 1958.
7.32005
Drama
In 19th century England, wealthy young Annabella Lagrange lives a comfortable and secluded life on her family's country estate, where her parents own a glass works. As a child, she develops a special friendship with the charming stable boy Manuel Mendoza. When she turns 18, she marries her cousin Stephen and sees what the world is really like.
7.51995
Drama
True Dare Kiss is a British television drama produced for BBC One. It is written by Debbie Horsfield and produced by Marcus Wilson and features Dervla Kirwan, David Bradley and Lorraine Ashbourne. It concerns the reunion of four sisters and a brother following the death of their estranged father, uncovering the truth, hiding secrets, and a cataclysmic event in the past. The series, set in the city of Manchester in the North-West of England, was aired in six parts from 28 June 2007. Filming for the series began on 8 January 2007.
7.02007