Daniel Renton Skinner gives absurd characters a steady manner and sitcom households someone worth keeping around. We value his ensemble work, though The Kennedys is a useful reminder that agreeable company cannot repair uncertain writing.
Fi1m perspective
Angelos Epithemiou, Daniel Renton Skinner’s hapless burger-van owner, gets much of his effect from being played with a straight face. Skinner sustains the character’s oddness without continually explaining the joke. His early sketch and ensemble work led to Shooting Stars (2009–2011), where he worked with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. The Angelos Epithemiou Show followed in 2012. That character is a good reason to notice Skinner, but we would not judge him solely by it.
In The Kennedys (2015), he plays Tony Kennedy, the practical husband and father in a sitcom set in 1970s Stevenage. Katherine Parkinson’s Brenda and Lucy Hutchinson’s Emma complete the central trio, and their company is the programme’s strongest attraction. We warmed to the household because these performers make spending time there appealing while the writing is still finding its feet. That is the basis of our cautious recommendation, not a claim that Skinner can straighten out the programme’s uncertain comic direction. Tony also gives us a useful way of judging him separately from the character that made his name.
His film work puts that separation to further use. He plays Simmons in Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise (2015) and Mr. Zabek in Alice Lowe’s Prevenge (2017). The more revealing change of task is Notes on Blindness (2016), in which he plays John Hull using Hull’s recorded diaries. Lip-syncing to another person’s voice leaves little room for a performer’s familiar verbal habits. It is a demanding restriction for an actor known for sustaining a comic character through distinctive speech as well as physical behaviour.
His comedy has also found a format with no face to watch. He co-created Brian and Roger (2018), playing Roger in a podcast built around voicemail messages. Here the characters have to emerge through their voices, an interesting contrast with the borrowed recordings of Notes on Blindness. For a quieter introduction, start with that film; Angelos can wait.
Biography
Daniel Renton Skinner (born 25 January 1973) is an English actor and comedy writer. He trained at Middlesex University, graduating with a BA (Hons) in Drama in 1997, and began his career in stage work and sketch comedy, including with the troupe The Benders. He is known for performing as the character Angelos Epithemiou, notably on Shooting Stars.
Skinner has appeared in numerous television comedies, including Coupling (2000), Friday Night Dinner (2011) as Jeremy Phillips, Yonderland (2013–2016) and The Kennedys (2015) as Tony Kennedy. His film roles include High-Rise (2015) and Swallows and Amazons (2016). He is also one half of the Brian and Roger podcast and has written for television.
