Jason Watkins Biography

Jason Barrington Watkins (born 30 July 1966 in Wokingham, Berkshire) is a BAFTA award-winning British stage, film and television actor, best known for playing William Herrick in Being Human, Gavin Strong in Trollied, Simon Harwood in W1A and appearing as Gordon Shakespeare in the Nativity! film series.

He played the lead role in two-part drama The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor.

Career

Since training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he has established himself as a stage actor, and is a member of the National Theatre company.

He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2001 (2000 season) for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in A Servant For Two Masters (Young Vic, subsequently transferred to New Ambassadors Theatre).

Other theatre work includes Rafts and Dreams at the Royal Court Theatre, Philistines and Landscape with Weapon (by Joe Penhall) at the National Theatre, London (2007) and A Laughing Matter (by April De Angelis) at the Liverpool Playhouse in 2003 (for which he was hailed as "magnificent" for his portrayal of the actor David Garrick).

Television

Watkins' most prominent television roles have included vampire leader William Herrick in Being Human, crime suspect Jason Buliegh in Conviction, Bradley Stainer in Funland and dog-walking crime witness Francis Cross in Five Days. He played Oswald Cooper in "The Great and the Good" episode of Lewis, Plornish in the 2008 BBC production of Little Dorrit, and Cabbage Patterson in the BBC adaptation of Lark Rise to Candleford. Watkins had a cameo in episode seven of the second series of Life on Mars, as Gene Hunt's dissolute lawyer Colin Merric. In 2006 he played real life pioneering radiologist Ernest Wilson in BBC pilot Casualty 1906. He then featured in the second series of the BBC's comedy Psychoville, as Peter Bishop, owner of Hoyti Toyti, an antique shop specialising in toys. Since 2011, he has also appeared in the Sky1 sitcom Trollied as the store manager Gavin. In early 2012 he joined the cast of the BBC drama Prisoners' Wives, appeared as Detective Gilks in Dirk Gently and portrayed a smooth Church of England PR man in Twenty Twelve.

On 11 May 2013 he appeared in the Doctor Who story Nightmare in Silver featuring the Cybermen in their current design. The episode and written by Neil Gaiman.

In 2013, he played an anaesthetist in The Wrong Mans. In 2014, he appeared as Simon Harwood in BBC comedy series W1A. A second series aired in 2015 and a third will be broadcast in 2016.

In 2014, he played the lead role in a two part ITV drama entitled The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, about the innocent initial suspect in the 2010 murder of Joanna Yeates, for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor.

In 2016, Watkins played the role of Pastor Hansford in the four-part ITV drama The Secret, which also starred James Nesbitt. Watkins appeared in two episodes of The Hollow Crown and played Solomon Coop in the BBC mini-series Taboo.

He played the role of Malcolm Turner in the BBC sitcom series Love, Nina in 2016. He also narrated the Channel 4 documentary series The Job Interview in the same year. Watkins appeared as Tony Michaels in an episode of Friday Night Dinner.

Watkins has been cast as the role of Mr. Humphries in the BBC revival of Are You Being Served?, a role previously played by the late John Inman. The one-off special is scheduled to be broadcast in September 2016.

In 2017, Watkins will star in the second series of ITV drama Safe House.

Film

Watkins' most prominent film role to date has been the vividly camp gay wedding planner Gregory Hough in the 2006 comedy Confetti. He has also played smaller roles in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Golden Compass, Wild Child and Nativity! and its follow-up Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger. His son, Freddie, played his pupil in Nativity!.

Personal life

In 2011, Watkins's two and a half year old daughter Maude died of sepsis. He dedicated his 2015 BAFTA award to her.

Awards

Year	Ceremony	Award	Nominated work	Result
2001	Olivier Awards	"Best Supporting Actor"	Jason Watkins - A Servant To Two Masters
2002	Helen Hayes Awards	"Outstanding Lead Actor"	Jason Watkins - A Servant of Two Masters
2015	British Academy Television Awards	"Leading Actor"	Jason Watkins - The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies
		"Mini-Series"	The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies
2016	Royal Television Society Awards	"Best Drama Serial"	The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009-2012	Being Human	William Herrick	Recurring role
2010-2012	Dirk Gently	DI Gilks	Recurring role
2011-	Trollied	Gavin Strong
2013	Doctor Who	Webley	Guest role
	The Wrong Mans		Guest role
2014-	W1A	Simon Harwood	Third series to air in 2016
2014	The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies	Christopher Jefferies	Two-part series; won two Television BAFTAs
2016	The Secret	Pastor Hansford	Four-part drama
	The Hollow Crown	Suffolk	2 episodes: "Henry VI Part I" and "Henry VI part II"
	Taboo	Solomon Coop	Mini-series
	Love, Nina	Malcolm Turner	Sitcom series
	The Job Interview	Himself, narrator	Documentary series
	Friday Night Dinner	Tony Michaels	Episode "The Two Tonys"
	Are You Being Served?	Mr. Humphries	TV special
2017"?	Safe House	TBA	Series 2 onwards

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	High Hopes	Wayne
1997	Tomorrow Never Dies	Principal Warfare Officer
2004	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Charlie Parker-Knowles
2006	Confetti	Gregory Hough
2007	The Golden Compass	Bolvangar Official
2008	Wild Child	Mr. Nellist
2009	Nativity!	Mr. Gordon Shakespeare
2012	Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger	Mr. Gordon Shakespeare
2014	Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?	Mr. Gordon Shakespeare