Richard Harrington (born 12 March 1975) is a Welsh actor.

Early and personal life

Harrington was born in

Gurnos Gurnos is a community of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in Wales, United Kingdom. It consists principally of the Gurnos Estate. The population in 2011 5,280. Background The Gurnos Estate is a large housing estate established by Merthyr Tydfil Coun ...

and brought up in Heolgerrig,

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

. Harrington speaks

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

as a second language; he came from an English-speaking family but studied in a Welsh Medium school in Merthyr. He has said that filming ''Y Gwyll'' improved his fluency significantly. Harrington has two children with a former girlfriend and a son, born in 2019, with his partner

Hannah Daniel Hannah Daniel (born 20 January 1986) is a Welsh actress from Cardiff, Wales, best known for her roles on TV series ''Y Gwyll, Hinterland'', ''Keeping Faith (TV series), Keeping Faith'' and ''Holby City (TV series), Holby City''. Early life Hann ...

, with whom he lives in

Crystal Palace, London Crystal Palace is an area in south London, England, named after the Crystal Palace Exhibition building, which stood in the area from 1854 until it was destroyed by fire in 1936. Approximately south-east of Charing Cross, it includes one of t ...

. Harrington took part in the 2012 and 2013

Snowdonia Marathon The Snowdonia Marathon ( cy, Marathon Eryri) was established in 1982 with the idea of being a dramatic alternative to the numerous city and town races that were becoming so popular. The route makes a circumnavigation of the Snowdon massif, sta ...

alongside his friend and fellow actor

Mark Lewis Jones Mark Lewis Jones (born 31 August, 1964) is a Welsh actor, whose roles include that of a First Order Captain Moden Canady in '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'', a police inspector in BBC drama series ''55 Degrees North'', a whaler in the film '' Mast ...

. They both ran

Marathon des Sables ''Marathon des Sables'', or MdS, (French for Marathon of the Sands, also known as Sahara Marathon) "Facing Africa NOMA : The Marathon des Sables", FacingAfrica.org, 2010, webpage: -->pages/mds/default.asp FA8. is a six-day, ultramaratho ...

in 2014.

Career

Harrington has had starring roles in the Welsh show ''Hinterland'' (known as ''

Y Gwyll ''Hinterland'' () in the original Welsh language version is a Welsh noir police procedural series broadcast on S4C in Welsh. The main character, DCI Tom Mathias, is played by Richard Harrington. On 27 November 2013, a second series was ...

'' in Welsh), ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...

'',

Jimmy McGovern James Stanley McGovern (born September 1949) is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for creating the drama series '' Cracker'' (1993–1995), for which he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. He als ...

's '' Gunpowder, Treason & Plot'', and

Gavin Claxton Gavin Claxton (born 19 July 1966, in Derby, England) is a British film producer, producer, screenwriter and film director, director of the feature film comedy The All Together starring Martin Freeman and Danny Dyer. He is also producer, co-writer ...

's comedy feature film ''

The All Together ''The All Together'' is a 2007 comedy film written and directed by Gavin Claxton and starring Martin Freeman, Corey Johnson, Velibor Topic and Danny Dyer. Plot Frustrated TV producer Chris is a self-opinionated wannabe screenwriter (with a p ...

''. He has also had roles in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'', '' Spooks'', ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Hustle'', ''

Dalziel and Pascoe Detective Superintendent Andrew "Andy" Dalziel and Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector, Peter Pascoe are two fictional Yorkshire detectives featuring in a series of novels by Reginald Hill. Characterisation and style Dalziel is ...

'', ''

Silent Witness ''Silent Witness'' is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC, which focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in 1996, the series was created by Nigel McC ...

'', ''

Lark Rise to Candleford ''Lark Rise to Candleford'' is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels by Flora Thompson about the countryside of north-east Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England, at the end of the 19th century. The stories were previously published s ...

, and

Poldark ''Poldark'' is a series of historical novels by Winston Graham, published from 1945 to 1953 and continued from 1973 to 2002. The first novel, '' Ross Poldark'', was named for the protagonist of the series. The novel series was adapted twice ...

.'' He won a

BAFTA Cymru BAFTA Cymru (or BAFTA in Wales or WAFTA) is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and was founded in 1987.

Award for his portrayal of a young gay hustler in the BBC film ''Dafydd'', part of the ''

Wales Playhouse Wales Playhouse is a 30-minute UK dramatic anthology series produced by and airing on BBC Wales. Twenty-two episodes aired from 1990–96. Guest stars included Brenda Blethyn, Jack Wild, and Andrew Howard Andrew Howard (born June 12, 196 ...

'' programme. On stage, Harrington has toured with Fiction Factory/Y Cwmni's productions of Ed Thomas's plays ''House of America'', ''Gas Station Angel'' and ''Stone City Blue''. He also appeared in the 1997 film version of ''

House of America ''House of America'' is a 1997 British film directed by Marc Evans. The film, set in a depressed Welsh mining town, centres on a dysfunctional family unit of brothers Boyo and Sid, their sister Gwenny and their controlling mother. The film tack ...

''. In 2015, Harrington won another BAFTA Cymru Award for his role as DCI Tom Matthias in ''Y Gwyll'' / ''Hinterland''. In April 2017, Harrington presented the BBC Two Wales programme ''Richard Harrington: My Grandfather's War'', in which he followed the journey his grandfather had made through Spain in 1937 in order to fight against fascism in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. In February 2021, speaking of the first year of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Harrington revealed that he had worked as a

Deliveroo Deliveroo is a British online food delivery company founded by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski in 2013 in London, England. It operates in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait ...

driver to supplement his income during lockdown, due to the lack of work.

Filmography

Theatre * ''

'' – Fiction Factory * ''Gas Station Angel'' – Royal Court * ''Stone City Blue'' – Theatre Clwyd * ''Art and Guff'' – Soho Theatre * ''Other Hands'' – Soho Theatre * ''

Look Back in Anger ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet i ...

'' – Theatre Royal, Bath * ''Coriolanus'' – NTW * ''Home I'm Darling'' – National Theatre

External links

BBC Bleak House profile

Richard Harrington
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrington, Richard Living people Welsh male television actors People from Merthyr Tydfil People educated at Ysgol Gyfun Garth Olwg Welsh-speaking actors 1975 births