Blake Ritson Biography

Blake Ritson (born 14 June 1980) is an English actor and director.

Early life

Ritson attended the Dolphin School in Reading, Berkshire until 1993, before going to St Paul's School in West London on an academic scholarship. He then attended Jesus College, Cambridge, where he studied English and Medieval Italian, graduating in 2000. While a student he acted on both stage and screen, playing Paul Etheridge in White Chameleon, Fleance in Macbeth, and Augustus in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia (1996) at the National Theatre in productions directed by Richard Eyre and Trevor Nunn.

Career

Ritson is best known in recent years for portraying King Edward III in the World Without End (2012), the Duke Of Kent in Upstairs Downstairs (2010-2012), Mr Elton in the BBC 2009 adaptation of Emma and Edmund Bertram in the 2007 ITV adaptation of Mansfield Park, Giles Vicary in the BBC series Red Cap and for playing sidekick Robert Presley in A Touch of Frost. He also played the part of Justin in The League of Gentlemen, Idek in God on Trial, and the comic lead in For Elsie, an Oscar winning short film, which he also co-produced. He has just been playing the main antagonist in David Goyer's upcoming Da Vinci's Demons, coming out in April 2013.

Ritson writes and directs with his older brother, Dylan Ritson. The Ritson brothers' latest short film, Love Hate, starring Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell was completed in May 2009 and was selected for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival, London BFI Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Foyle, Omaha, Encounters, Berkshire International Film Festival, Sofia Film Fest (Bulgaria), Tofifest International Film Festival (Poland), West Hollywood International, LA Shorts Fest, Short Shorts Film Festival (Japan). It was the winner of the Jury Award at Palm Springs International Shortsfest and won the Best International Short award at Cinema St. Louis Film Festival. "Crisply shot and superbly acted, it's also a sly comment on repression and everyday insanity. It will be great to see what the Ritsons do next." (Empire)

The brothers first directed the short film Out of Time. Starring Mark Heap and Raquel Cassidy, the film won the Global Audience Award at the first CON-CAN Movie Festival and was runner up at Minimalen and the Berlin Film Festival. It also screened at the London, San Paulo and Dresden film festivals. Their second short film, More More More, starring The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss, was a runner-up in the Turner Classic Movies Competition. Their third film, shot in 2009 with Hayley Atwell as Hate, was entitled Love Hate. The Ritson brothers have also shot a fourth short film, Good Boy, starring Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson), Reece Shearsmith, Nicholas Burns, Joanna Page and Blake Ritson's fiancee Hattie Morahan.

The Ritson Brothers were selected for the front cover of Screen International's Stars Of Tomorrow 2009.

Ritson played the banjolele on Douglas Hodge's 2006 album Cowley Road Songs, which was recorded in four days at the Blue Moon Studios in Banbury. He describes the banjolele as "a hybrid instrument between a ukulele and a banjo; teamed up with the gazoo it's a winning combination."

Personal life

Ritson is the brother of Dylan Ritson, with whom he directs and writes. Dylan also attended Cambridge, where he wrote and directed plays for Footlights and the Edinburgh Festival which received numerous awards and excellent reviews in the national press.

Ritson's fiancée is the stage and screen actress Hattie Morahan, who was also the costume designer and script supervisor on one of the films he and his brother directed.

Selected credits

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1996	Breaking the Code	Christopher Morcom	TV
	Different for Girls	Young Prentice
1997	Knight School	Sir Roger de Courcey	TV (2 episodes)
1999	Shooting the Past	Nick	TV
	Titus	Mutius
2000	The League of Gentlemen	Justin Smart	TV (2 episodes)
2001	London's Burning	Dermot	TV (2 episodes)
	Me Without You	Tim
	Urban Gothic	Dave Matthews	TV (1 episode: "The End")
	Red Cap	Lt. Giles Vicary	TV
2002	A Box	Delivery Boy	Short
	The Cicerones	Guide 1 'Foreign'	Short
	AKA	Alexander Gryffoyn
2003	Adventure Inc.	Byron Haycroft	TV (1 episode: "Angel of St. Edmunds")
	Red Cap	Giles Vicary	TV (12 episodes)
2004	Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King	Angelo	Voice
2005	If...	Ben Swales	TV (1 episode: "If...We Stopped Giving Aid to Africa")
	Strauss: The Waltz King	Older Johann Strauss II	TV
	The Bill	Gavin Murray	TV (1 episode: "374")
2006	The Romantics	Percy Bysshe Shelley	TV
	Casualty	Daniel Tasker	TV (1 episode: "Worlds Apart")
	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Graham Marshall	TV (1 episode: "Chinese Walls")
	Killzone: Liberation	Colonel Cobar	Voice
	A Touch of Frost	D.C. Robert Presley	TV (1 episode: "Endangered Species")
2007	Mansfield Park	Edmund Bertram	TV
	The Commander: The Devil You Know	John Littlewood	TV
2008	God on Trial	Idek	TV
	RocknRolla	Johnny Sloane
2009	Love Hate	Rob	Short
	Emma	Mr. Elton	TV (4 episodes)
	Dead Man Running	Jarvis
2010	Upstairs Downstairs	The Duke of Kent	TV (2 episodes)
2011	The Crimson Petal and the White	Bodley	TV (3 episodes)
2011	El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron	Enoch	Voice
2011	For Elsie	Glenn	Short
2012	Upstairs Downstairs	The Duke of Kent	TV (6 episodes)
2012	World Without End	Edward III	TV (8 episodes)
2013	Da Vinci's Demons	Girolamo Riario	TV (7 episodes)

Stage

• Rope - Brandon (Almeida, dir. Roger Michell)
• Tender - (Donmar Warehouse, dir. Seth Sklar-Heyn)
• Violet - Mio (Royal Court, dir. Indu Rubasingham)
• Love Is Blind - Manolito Trevelez (Royal Court, dir. Nathalie Abrahami)
• The Importance of Being Earnest - Jack Worthing (ADC Theatre, 1999, dir. Phillip Breen)
• Arcadia - Septimus (Bristol Old Vic, dir. Rachel Kavanaugh)
• HappyTime Park - Xavier (Riverside Studios, devised and dir. Dylan Ritson)
• In Praise of Love - Joey (Theatre Royal Bath, dir. Deborah Bruce)
• Arcadia - Augustus (Theatre Royal Haymarket, - National Theatre/Michael Codron - dir. Trevor Nunn)
• Macbeth - Fleance (National Theatre, Olivier, dir. Richard Eyre)
• White Chameleon - Paul Etheridge (National Theatre, Cottesloe, dir. Richard Eyre)
• The Luke Files - Bartholomew (RT Productions, dir. Paul McKusker)
• Romeo and Juliet - Benvolio (Immersive, dir. Mark Rosenblatt)

Radio and Voice Over Work

• Publish and be Damn'd - Argyle (BBC Radio 4, Ellen Dryden)
• The Go-Between - Hugh Trimingham (BBC Radio 3, Matt Thompson)
• Gods And Monsters - Hurmzid (Big Finish, Ken Bentley)
• The Diary of Samuel Pepys - Edward Montagu (BBC Radio 4, Kate McAll)
• Doctor Who - Foe from the Future - Shibac (Big Finish, Ken Bentley)
• Freud: The Case Histories: The Wolf Man - Sergei Pankejeff (BBC Radio 4, Nadia Molinari)
• Richard II - Henry Bolingbroke (BBC Radio 4, Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer)
• Money - Evelyn (BBC Radio 3, Samuel West)
• The American Senator - John Morton (BBC Radio 4, Tracey Neale)
• Poetry Please - Various Roles (BBC Radio 4, Christine Hall)
• Death in Genoa - Dr. Carlo Bazzani (Independent Drama, written Thomas Wright)
• The Absolutist - Reader (BBC Book at Bedtime, dir. Heather Larmour)
• Saint Joan - Charles (BBC Radio 3, dir. Jonquil Panting)
• Sunk - Bert Selphin (BBC Radio 4, dir. Gemma McMullan)
• Leverage - David (BBC Radio 4, dir. Sasha Yevtushenko)
• A Month in the Country - Moon (BBC Radio 4, dir. David Hunter)
• The Far Pavilions - Ash (BBC Radio 4, dir. Jessica Dromgoole and Marc Beeby)
• With Great Pleasure - Reader (BBC Radio 4, dir. Christine Hall)
• Two on a Tower - Swithin St.Cleeve (BBC Radio 4, dir. Stefan Escreet)
• Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast - (BBC Radio 4, dir. Sam Hoyle)
• The Wings of the Dove - (BBC Radio 4, dir. Nadia Molinari)
• The Killing - (BBC Radio 4, dir. Sasha Yevtushenko)
• The Man Who Shot the 60s - (BBC4, dir. Linda Brusasco)
• Six Windows of the Muslim World - (Crescent Films, dir. Ned Williams)
• Dragon Quest VIII - Journey of the Cursed King - Video game
• Xenoblade Chronicles - Video game (Alvis)
• The Last Story - Video game (Jirall)
• Killzone: Liberation - Video game
• Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire - Video game
• Babel - Video game
• Dark Souls - Video game (Griggs of Vinheim)