David Morrissey makes men in authority worth watching even when they give little away. We rate him most highly in patient ensemble dramas, where his restraint can unsettle us; the risk is being asked to look troubled once too often.
Fi1m perspective
In State of Play (2003), David Morrissey's Stephen Collins is hard to read, and worth the effort. John Simm gives Cal McAffrey an urgency that helps us follow the story; Morrissey asks us to pay closer attention to the man speaking. We were uneasy watching Collins because Morrissey's restraint left us uncertain how to read him. Yates gives the performance time, and Morrissey makes that patience worthwhile. This is where we rate him most highly, playing someone whose authority does not tell us everything we need to know about him.
His screen career began with One Summer (1983), but the useful starting point for understanding his work is the pair of dramas that brought wider recognition in 2003. Alongside Collins came Gordon Brown in The Deal (2003), directed by Stephen Frears. These are the kinds of roles he suits: public figures whose credibility need not make us comfortable with them. The Hollywood work has been less consistent, with Basic Instinct 2 (2006) among the setbacks.
He has often been cast as authority figures, from detective Maurice Jobson in Red Riding (2009) to the Governor in The Walking Dead (2012–2015). The latter widened his international profile; Sherwood (2022), as DCS Ian St Clair, continued his work in British television drama. His size and reserve can make authority convincing before much has been said, and can make it threatening with little outward effort. Repeated casting as stern, troubled men does risk making a performance seem familiar before it has begun. We would welcome more parts that do not require him to arrive looking burdened.
State of Play remains our recommendation because Paul Abbott's writing and the ensemble give that reserve something to work against. The complicated story can leave us keeping track of details when we would rather stay with a character, and Morrissey is one reason we feel the loss. Beside Simm's urgency and Kelly Macdonald's directness as Della Smith, Collins is someone we have to work harder to understand. He does not need to make every scene his, which matters in a programme with this much to follow. Start there, and give him the attention Yates does.
Biography
David Morrissey is an English actor and director. Born on 21 June 1964 in Everton, Liverpool, he trained at the Everyman Youth Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his screen debut in the 1983 series One Summer and later worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.
Morrissey gained wider recognition for his performances as Stephen Collins in the 2003 series State of Play, for which he received a British Academy Television Award nomination, and as Gordon Brown in The Deal (2003), which earned him a Royal Television Society Award for Best Actor. His other notable credits include roles in The Walking Dead (2012–2015), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), Nowhere Boy (2009) and Centurion (2010). He has also directed and produced television drama.
