Matthew Cottle (born 16 February 1967) is an English film, stage, radio and television actor. He is best known for his role in

Citizen Khan ''Citizen Khan'' is a British sitcom produced by the BBC and created by Adil Ray. Five series have been shown so far. It is set in Sparkhill, South Birmingham, described by its lead character, a British Pakistani man Mr Khan (Ray), as "the capita ...

as Dave.

Early life

Cottle was born in

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, and studied drama at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sen ...

Film

Cottle appeared in

Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisio ...

's 1992 ''

Chaplin Chaplin may refer to: People * Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), English comedy film actor and director * Chaplin (name), other people named Chaplin Films * '' Unknown Chaplin'' (1983) * ''Chaplin'' (film) (1992) * ''Chaplin'' (2011 film), Ben ...

'' (as

Stan Laurel Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was one half of the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Ha ...

), and in David Jones' 1999 adaptation of ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

''. Cottle also appeared in ''

The Personal History of David Copperfield ''The Personal History of David Copperfield'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Armando Iannucci, based on the 1850 novel ''David Copperfield'' by Charles Dickens. It stars Dev Patel as the title character, along with Aneurin B ...

'' in 2019.

Theatre

Cottle's recent theatre work includes ''The Deep Blue Sea'' and ''The Chalk Garden'' at Chichester Festival Theatre, Wonderland at the Nottingham Playhouse, ''

How the Other Half Loves ''How the Other Half Loves'' is a 1969 play in two acts by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is a farce following the consequences of an adulterous affair between a married man and his boss’s wife and their attempts to cover their tracks ...

'' at the Haymarket Theatre and the Duke of York's, ''

Our Country's Good ''Our Country's Good'' is a 1988 play written by British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel ''The Playmaker''. The story concerns a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales, ...

'', ''

A Small Family Business ''A Small Family Business'' is a play by Alan Ayckbourn about the eponymous business and dealing with the Thatcherism of the time. It premiered at the Olivier stage of the Royal National Theatre on 20 May 1987, where it won the Evening Standard ...

'' ''

The Habit of Art ''The Habit of Art'' is a 2009 play by English playwright Alan Bennett, centred on a fictional meeting between W. H. Auden and Benjamin Britten while Britten is composing the opera ''Death in Venice''. It premiered on 5 November 2009 at the Lytte ...

'' at the National Theatre and ''

Quartermaine's Terms ''Quartermaine's Terms'' is a play by Simon Gray which won The Cheltenham Prize in 1982. Plot The play takes place over a period of two years in the 1960s in the staffroom at a Cambridge school for teaching English to foreigners. It deals with ...

'', directed by

Richard Eyre Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director. Biography Eyre was born in Barnstaple, Devon, England, the son of Richard Galfridus Hastings Giles Eyre and his wife, Minna Ma ...

, at Wyndham's Theatre. Cottle also appeared in ''A Chorus Of Disapproval'', directed by

Trevor Nunn Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas f ...

(

Harold Pinter Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

), and '' Comic Potential'', directed by

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of ...

( Lyric Theatre). Other theatre roles include ''

Communicating Doors ''Communicating Doors'' is a play written in 1994 by Alan Ayckbourn. The setting is a hotel suite that moves through time from 1974 to 2014. The central character, Poopay, must save herself from the murderous Julian by preventing the murders ...

'' Menier Chocolate Factory ''

Neighbourhood Watch Neighbourhood Watch in the United Kingdom is the largest voluntary crime prevention movement covering England and Wales with upwards of 2.3 million household members. The charity brings neighbors together to create strong, friendly and active comm ...

'' (in Scarborough and New York), '' Racing Demon'' (Sheffield

Crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

), ''

Taking Steps ''Taking Steps'' is a 1979 farce by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is set on three floors of an old and reputedly haunted house, with the stage arranged so that the stairs are flat and all three floors are on a single level (hence the pla ...

'' (

Orange Tree Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, Richmond), ''What the Women Did'' at the

Southwark Playhouse Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London, located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations. History The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They identified the need for a h ...

and several tours and seasons at repertory theatres up and down the country.

Television

Cottle has appeared as a regular in a number of television series, including ''Murder on the Blackpool Express'', two series of ''

The Windsors ''The Windsors'' is a British sitcom and parody of the British royal family, the House of Windsor. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 in April 2016 and stars Harry Enfield, Haydn Gwynne, Hugh Skinner, Louise Ford, Richard Goulding, Tom Durant ...

'' for Channel 4, three series as Martin in

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's flat-share

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' Game On'' and four series of ''

''. He has also appeared as a regular in several other series, including '' Fried'', '' Get Well Soon'', ''

A Perfect State ''A Perfect State'' was a 1997 British situation comedy starring Gwen Taylor, Richard Hope, Trevor Cooper, Emma Amos and Danny Webb. It debuted on BBC1 on Thursday 27 February 1997 and ran for seven episodes. Taylor took the leading role of ...

'' and '' Life Begins''. Cottle has also appeared in many other TV shows, including ''Endeavour'' for ITV, ''Defending the Guilty'' for BBC2, ''Outlander'' for Amazon Prime, ''Pure'' for Channel 4, ''

Plebs In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizenship, Roman citizens who were not Patrician (ancient Rome), patricians, as determined by the capite censi, census, or in other words "commoners". Both ...

'' for ITV 2, ''

Unforgotten ''Unforgotten'' is a British crime drama television series, which initially aired on ITV on 8 October 2015. It was created and written by Chris Lang and directed by Andy Wilson. The programme follows a team of London detectives led by DCI Cass ...

'' for ITV, ''

The Dresser ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'',

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's '' Man Down'',

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

's comedy series ''

Hoff the Record ''Hoff the Record'' is a British television comedy show starring David Hasselhoff, which was screened on Dave in June 2015. It follows a mockumentary fly-on-the-wall format with David Hasselhoff playing a fictionalised version of himself in the a ...

'', ''

The Job Lot ''The Job Lot'' is a British sitcom. The series is set in a busy West Midlands Job Centre, and focuses on the relationships between the staff, and the job-seekers. The series was commissioned following a successful pilot, written by Claire Do ...

'', ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', and pr ...

''. ''

Doctors Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

'' and ''

Pramface ''Pramface'' is a British sitcom starring Scarlett Alice Johnson and Sean Michael Verey. Written by Chris Reddy, the first series, comprising six half-hour episodes, piloted on 23 February 2012. The second series, which was commissioned by the B ...

''.

Personal life

He is an

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

supporter and has two children, a daughter, Hannah, born in 1997 and a son, Harry, born in 2000.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cottle, Matthew Living people 1967 births Alumni of RADA English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors Male actors from Oxfordshire People from Henley-on-Thames People educated at Redroofs Theatre School