John Simm

For the professional footballer of the 1950s, see Johnny Simm. For those of a similar name, see John Sim (disambiguation).

John Simm
Simm in 2008
Born	John Ronald Simm (1970-07-10) 10 July 1970 Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Occupations	Actor director musician
Years active	1992–present
Spouse	Kate Magowan ​ (m. 2004)​
Children	2

John Ronald Simm (born 10 July 1970) is an English actor, director and musician. He has been nominated twice for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor, and is a Laurence Olivier Award nominee for Best Actor. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, and The Master in Doctor Who. His other television credits include: State of Play, The Lakes, Crime and Punishment, Exile, Prey and Cracker. His films include Wonderland, Everyday, Boston Kickout, Human Traffic and 24 Hour Party People.

Early life

The eldest of three children, Simm was born in Leeds and grew up in a series of places around North West England, including Blackpool, Burnley, Nelson, Colne, and Manchester. He attended Edge End High School, where he was inspired by drama teacher Brian Wellock. His father, Ronald, a Mancunian, was a musician; and from the age of twelve, John sang and played guitar with his father on stage in the working men's clubs.

In 1986, Simm enrolled at Blackpool and the Fylde College in Lytham St. Annes for three years, and starred in Guys and Dolls and West Side Story at Blackpool's Grand Theatre. However, he soon decided that musical theatre did not interest him, so he joined an amateur dramatic group and honed his skills in his spare time, playing the title roles in Billy Liar and Amadeus. He then moved to London to train at the Drama Centre London at the age of 19, where he studied Stanislavski's system of method acting. His acting teacher was Reuven Adiv, whom Simm credits as a major influence on his life. He graduated in 1992.

Career

Independently of his acting, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Simm was a founding member, songwriter, and guitarist with the rock band Magic Alex (named after the Beatles self-styled electronics wizard "Magic Alex" Mardas). The group played support on two British tours with Echo & the Bunnymen. Simm plays guitar on the album Slideling by his friend, Echo & the Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch. Simm also played lead guitar on a few of McCulloch's solo live shows, including one at Wembley Arena as the main support to Coldplay. Magic Alex released one album, Dated and Sexist, before splitting in 2005.

Simm made his professional acting debut in 1992 with the role of Joby Johnson in an episode of the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey (there had been an earlier part in the BBC drama Between the Lines where Simm was in one scene as PC Witty, but the scene was cut). There then followed a variety of roles during which time he honed his craft in front of the camera, including a psycho in The Bill, a lovestruck schoolboy in Heartbeat, and a drugged-up burglar in The Locksmith. He also made two series of the BBC sitcom Men of the World, playing the lead role of Kendle Bains. His next project saw him take the role of Gary Kingston, a deluded murderer, in Chiller.

In 1995, Simm played the troubled teenager Bill Preece in the acclaimed ITV police drama Cracker. This is considered his breakthrough role. He also made his feature film debut in Boston Kickout, beating Dennis Hopper to the Best Actor award at the Valencia Film Festival. In 1996, he made his professional stage debut in the Simon Bent play Goldhawk Road at the Bush Theatre, directed by Paul Miller. In 1997, he won the lead role of Danny Kavanagh in the first series of The Lakes, a BBC series written by Jimmy McGovern. In 1999, he starred in the second series of The Lakes as well as appearing as Jip in the award-winning cult clubbing film Human Traffic and Michael Winterbottom's acclaimed Wonderland. In 2000, he starred in the opening episode of the BBC drama Clocking Off, written by Paul Abbott, with whom he would work again in 2002 when he starred as Cal McCaffrey in the multi-award-winning political thriller series State of Play. Simm also played the lead role of loan shark John Parlour in Tony Marchant's Never Never for Channel 4.

In 2002, Simm featured in another Michael Winterbottom film, 24 Hour Party People, as New Order frontman Bernard Sumner. At a live concert in Finsbury Park that same year, Simm sang the Joy Division song "Digital" onstage with New Order. It was also this year that he played Raskolnikov in the BBC adaptation of Crime and Punishment, adapted by Tony Marchant. Marchant also wrote The Knight's Tale, one of a series of modern reworkings of The Canterbury Tales, in which Simm played Ace. Later that year, Simm starred opposite Christina Ricci and John Hurt in the film Miranda.

In 2004, he played the researcher and charity investigator Daniel Appleton in the BAFTA award-winning Channel 4 drama Sex Traffic. This two-parter followed the plight of two young Moldovan sisters sold into sexual slavery. After playing Dr. Bruce Flaherty in Howard Davies' production of Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange, Simm starred as Detective Inspector Sam Tyler in the 2006 BBC series Life on Mars, playing a police officer sent back in time to 1973. The show won the Pioneer Audience Award for Best Programme at the 2007 BAFTA TV Awards, Simm was nominated but lost out on the award for Best Actor.

His next project, in March 2007, was The Yellow House for Channel 4, a biographical drama produced by Talkback Thames, based on the book of the same name by Martin Gayford about the turbulent relationship of artists Vincent van Gogh (Simm) and Paul Gauguin (John Lynch). In the same year, Simm also returned to the theatre as the title character in Paul Miller's acclaimed Bush Theatre staging of Simon Bent's version of Elling, a comedy about two men just out of a psychiatric hospital adjusting to normal life and to each other. Following positive press reviews and an extended, sell-out run, the production was transferred to the Trafalgar Studios 1 in July 2007 and Simm was nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance.

In 2007, Simm was chosen by Russell T. Davies to play The Master, the nemesis of The Doctor in the long-running BBC series Doctor Who. He appeared in the final three episodes of series three: "Utopia", "The Sound of Drums", and "Last of the Time Lords". When originally cast in the third series of Doctor Who, it was announced that he would be playing a character by the name of Mr Saxon, a name that was later revealed as an alias of the character he was portraying. He reprised the role in the 2009 two-part special "The End of Time". In 2008, Simm played Edward Sexby in The Devil's Whore, a four-part English Civil War epic for Channel 4. He performed at the Royal Variety Performance with Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, and starred in the film Skellig, broadcast on Sky1 in April 2009.

Simm became involved in an ongoing project with Michael Winterbottom called Everyday, to be filmed in real time over five years. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012, and was in competition at the 2013 London Film Festival. Simm returned to the West End stage in autumn of 2009 to critical acclaim, starring in the Andrew Bovell play Speaking in Tongues at the Duke of York's Theatre. In September 2010, Simm played Hamlet at the Sheffield Crucible.

In 2011, Simm starred in Mad Dogs on Sky 1. He played Baxter in the project, that reunited him with Philip Glenister and Marc Warren along with Max Beesley and Ben Chaplin. Mad Dogs became a critical and ratings success and received a BAFTA nomination for best drama serial, and a second and third series were commissioned. The second series was shot in Mallorca and Ibiza in late 2011, and appeared on Sky 1 in January 2012, the same time as the third series was being shot in South Africa. A final series aired in January 2014. On BBC One in May 2011, Simm starred as Tom Rondstadt in Exile. His performance earned him his second BAFTA nomination for Best Actor.

From 17 May to 9 June 2012, Simm starred as Jerry in a revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal at the Crucible Theatre. He played John Middleton in The Village, a six-part BBC drama which portrays life in a Derbyshire village during World War I.

From May to August 2013, he returned to Trafalgar Studios in London's West End to star opposite Simon Russell Beale in a new production of Harold Pinter's The Hothouse, directed by Jamie Lloyd. He then completed work on the three-part thriller, Prey, in which he plays detective Marcus Farrow. The mini-series began airing on 28 April 2014 on ITV. The second series starred Philip Glenister in the leading role.

In February 2014, Simm began filming the BBC America eight-parter Intruders in Vancouver, British Columbia. He plays ex-LAPD officer Jack Whelan. The series aired on BBC America in August 2014, and also starred Mira Sorvino, James Frain and Millie Bobby Brown. It was cancelled after only one season. In addition to this, he completed the second season of The Village in Derbyshire. Later that year, Simm played Alec Jeffreys, the man who discovered DNA fingerprinting, in Code of a Killer, a two-part drama for ITV.

In 2015, he took a break from the screen to concentrate on theatre. He appeared for the first time at The National Theatre, playing the role of Rakitin to great acclaim, in Patrick Marber's Three Days in the Country, (a version of Turgenev's A Month in the Country) and was reunited with Jamie Lloyd, playing the role of Lenny in the 50th anniversary production of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming in London's West End.

In 2016, Simm was invited to the US to act in The Catch for ABC. Starring Mireille Enos and Peter Krause, the show was executive produced by Shonda Rhimes and filmed at Sunset Bronson studios and on location around Los Angeles. Simm played the character of Rhys Griffiths, a recurring character in season 1 and a regular in season 2. The show was cancelled after the second season.

On 6 April 2017, the BBC confirmed that Simm would be reprising his role as the Master in the tenth series of Doctor Who; he appears in the two-part finale, World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls.

In 2018, he starred as Dan Bowker opposite Adrian Lester in Mike Bartlett's Trauma on ITV. The same year he also played the role of Labour MP David Mars in Collateral, written by David Hare, opposite Carey Mulligan and Billie Piper for the BBC.

He then starred in Strangers on ITV, starring as Jonah Mulray, a professor whose life comes crashing down when his wife is killed in a car crash in Hong Kong.

In 2018/2019, Simm returned to the West End stage in Jamie Lloyd's staging of Pinter at the Pinter—a groundbreaking season of Harold Pinter's one-act plays. He starred in Pinter Six, consisting of Party Time and Celebration.

He took the title role of Macbeth in the Chichester Festival Theatre production that ran from 21 September to 26 October 2019.

On 13 December 2019, Simm was announced to be reprising his role as the Master again in Masterful, an audio drama from Big Finish Productions, alongside several other actors who have played the role, including Derek Jacobi, Mark Gatiss, and Geoffrey Beevers. Michelle Gomez will also return as Missy.. It is due to be released in January 2021.

He will also be playing DS Roy Grace in Grace, an adaptation of the first two of Peter James's crime fiction series novels. .

Personal life

In April 2004, Simm married actress Kate Magowan in the Forest of Dean; they have a son and daughter. He is a supporter of Manchester United.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Boston Kickout	Phil
1997	Diana & Me	Neil
1999	Human Traffic	Jip
1999	Wonderland	Eddie
2001	Understanding Jane	Oz
2002	24 Hour Party People	Bernard Sumner
2002	Miranda	Frank
2004	Nero	Caligula
2005	Blue/Orange	Dr. Bruce Flaherty
2005	Brothers of the Head	Boatman
2006	Devilwood	Gabriel	Short film
2008	Tu£sday	Silver
2009	Skellig	Dave	Television film
2012	Everyday	Ian	Filmed in real-time over five years

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Rumpole of the Bailey	Joby Jonson	Episode: "Rumpole and the Reform of Joby Jonson"
1993	Oasis	Posh Robert	7 episodes
1993	Heartbeat	Richard Francis	Episode: "Wall of Silence"
1993	The Bill	Paul Jeffries	Episode: "Blind Spot"
1993	Men of the World	Kendle Bains	Series 1–2. Credited as Season 1 title song singer, together with David Threlfall.
1994	A Pinch of Snuff	Clint Heppelwhite	3 episodes
1994	Screen One	Cecil	Episode: "Meat"
1995	Chiller	Gary Kingston	Episode: "Here Comes the Mirror Man"
1995	Cracker	Bill Nash	Episode: "Best Boys"
1997	The Locksmith	Paul	3 episodes
1997–1999	The Lakes	Danny Kavanagh	Series 1–2
2000	Forgive and Forget	Theo
2000	Clocking Off	Stuart Leach	Episode: "The Leaches' Story"
2000	Meet Ricky Gervais	Himself	Episode 6
2000	Never Never	John Parlour	2 episodes
2001	Spaced	Stephen Edwards	Episode: "Back"
2002	Magic Hour	Alex
2002	Crime & Punishment	Raskolnikov	2 episodes
2002	White Teeth	Mr. Hero	Episode: "The Peculiar Second Marriage of Archie Jones"
2003	State of Play	Cal McCaffrey	6 episodes
2003	The Canterbury Tales	Ace	Episode: "The Knight's Tale"
2003	Play Like Champions	Narrator
2004	Monkey Trousers	Various
2004	Sex Traffic	Daniel Appleton	2 episodes
2006–2007	Life on Mars	Sam Tyler	Series 1–2. Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor
2007	The Yellow House	Vincent van Gogh
2007, 2009–2010, 2017	Doctor Who	The Master	7 episodes
2008	The Devil's Whore	Edward Sexby	4 episodes
2010	Moving On	Moose / Mike	Episode: "Malaise"
2011	Exile	Tom Ronstadt	3 episodes. Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor
2011–2013	Mad Dogs	Lloyd Baxter	14 episodes
2013–2014	The Village	John Middleton	12 episodes
2014	Prey	DS Marcus Farrow	3 episodes. Royal Television Society North West Award for "Best Male Performance"
2014	Intruders	Jack Whelan	8 episodes
2015	Code of a Killer	Alec Jeffreys	2 episodes
2015	Toast of London	Himself	Episode: "Global Warming"
2016–2017	The Catch	Rhys Griffiths	Seasons 1-2
2018	Trauma	Dan Bowker	3 episodes
2018	Collateral	David Mars	4 episodes
2018	Strangers	Jonah Mulray	8 episodes
2020	Cold Courage	Arthur Fried	Upcoming
2020	Grace	DS Roy Grace	Upcoming

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Goldhawk Road	Colin	Bush Theatre
2007	Elling	Elling	Bush Theatre Trafalgar Studios 1
2009	Speaking in Tongues	Leon	Duke of York's Theatre
2010	Hamlet	Hamlet	Crucible Theatre
2012	Betrayal	Jerry	Crucible Theatre
2013	The Hothouse	Gibbs	Trafalgar Studios
2015	Three Days in the Country	Rakitin	National Theatre, London (Lyttelton auditorium)
2015	The Homecoming	Lenny	Trafalgar Studios
2018	Party Time / Celebration		Harold Pinter Theatre - Pinter at the Pinter Season
2019	Macbeth	Macbeth	Chichester Festival Theatre (September/October 2019)

Music Video

Year	Title	Artist	Role	Notes
2002	Here to Stay	New Order	Bernard Sumner	Closing track from the movie 24 Hour Party People
2009	So Low	Matt Berry		Album: Witchazel
2013	Some Better Day	I am Kloot		Album: Let It All In
2019	God Has Taken A Vacation	The Leisure Society		Album: Arrivals & Departures

Discography

Album

Year	Title	Artist	Role
2006	Dated and Sexist	Magic Alex	Guitar and backing vocals

Singles

Year	Title	Artist	Role
2003	Sliding	Ian McCulloch	Guitar
2015	Older / Outside	Magic Alex	Guitar and backing vocals

External links

• John Simm at IMDb
• The Man Who Fell to Earth, Sunday Telegraph interview 5 August 2007