Adrian Dunbar makes charm convincing by leaving a little awkwardness in it, and brings quiet authority to his police roles. We rate him more highly than some of the detective material that has come his way.
Fi1m perspective
In Hear My Song (1991), Adrian Dunbar’s Micky O’Neill has a club to run and a singer to find. His search for Josef Locke gives him plenty of opportunity to make a nuisance of himself. Dunbar keeps his enthusiasm personal, allowing an awkwardness beneath the charm that stops Micky becoming tiresome. We warmed to him because Dunbar lets us see how much effort that charm takes. It is a useful place to start with an actor now so closely associated with authority.
He also co-wrote the screenplay with director Peter Chelsom, and the film understands the appeal of an enthusiast better than it knows when to leave him alone. Tara Fitzgerald’s Nancy Doyle brings a less strenuous presence to the romance; Dunbar benefits from having someone who does not match every effort to please. Ned Beatty helps keep the search engaging, too. The weakness comes when Chelsom keeps pressing for tenderness after the actors have already earned our affection. Dunbar gives us a reason to stay with the film through passages that seem determined to ask for our approval again.
Supporting work in The Crying Game (1992) and an appearance as Kelly in Cracker (1993) suggest a different path from that early comic lead. Dunbar worked steadily across film and television before Superintendent Ted Hastings in Line of Duty (2012–2021) brought wider recognition. That part makes full use of his understated authority, a considerable change from Micky’s awkward efforts to charm.
Ridley (2022) gives him a detective lead and room to sing, but also shows the limits of this later casting. His ability to suggest private despair is useful here, though the conventional material asks less of him than it might. To see him outside a police role, start with Hear My Song, and allow for Chelsom’s occasional insistence on being liked.
Biography
Adrian Dunbar is a Northern Irish actor, director and singer. Born on 1 August 1958 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, he trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
He co-wrote and starred in the 1991 film Hear My Song, which received a BAFTA nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His other film roles include Peter in My Left Foot (1989) and Maguire in The Crying Game (1992). On television he has appeared as Kelly in Cracker (1993), John Marriat in Inspector Morse, a guest in Inside No. 9 and Superintendent Ted Hastings in Line of Duty (2012–2021).
