William Gaminara

William Gaminara (born 1956) is a Rhodesian-born British actor, screenwriter and playwright, probably best known for playing pathologist Professor Leo Dalton on the television series ''Silent Witness'', from 2002 to 2013. His plays include ''According to Hoyle'', ''The Three Lions'' and ''The Nightingales''.

Early life and education

Gaminara was born in 1956 in Lusaka, Northern Rhodesia.Rosie Bannister (22 January 2014)
20 Questions with... William Gaminara
WhatsOnStage (accessed 9 October 2022)
He was educated at Winchester College, Hampshire, England, and Lincoln College at the University of Oxford.

Career

Actor and narrator

Gaminara had a minor role in the 1986 film ''Comrades'', directed by Bill Douglas. His early television credits include Dr Andrew Bower in ''Casualty'' (1989–92) and Will Newman in '' Attachments'' (2000–02).

His most notable television role was Professor Leo Dalton in the BBC crime drama series ''Silent Witness''. He played Dalton from 2002 until 2013, and reprised the role in 2017 in the final episode of series 20. The role was at first subsidiary to Sam Ryan, played by Amanda Burton, but when Burton left the series and Gaminara's character Dalton headed the laboratory, the drama evolved into a three-hander between Dalton, Harry Cunningham (Tom Ward) and Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox).

After leaving ''Silent Witness'', Gaminara appeared in several theatrical roles. In 2014, he played the photojournalist Paul Watson in Dan O'Brien's ''The Body of an American'', a two-hander with Damien Molony. Gaminara describes the play as a "challenging and unconventional script which makes challenging and unconventional demands of an actor". Lyn Gardner, writing in ''The Guardian'', describes the acting as "knockout", with the "muscular quality of a contest" whilst being "scrupulously generous"; she highlights the way in which the two actors each embody a large number of characters and are required to swap between roles abruptly. The production was also praised by Dominic Maxwell in ''The Times'' for "superb" acting on the part of both leads.

The following year, he played the lead character, Pastor Paul, in Lucas Hnath's ''The Christians'' at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Festival, giving a "superbly controlled performance", which "nails the slow, measured but warmly faux-colloquial rhetoric of the American church", according to a review in ''The Independent''. Gardner, in ''The Guardian'', describes Gaminara as "suggesting both the charisma and the arrogance" of his character, and Dominic Maxwell, in a review for ''The Times'', considers that Gaminara "propels it all with conviction". Also in 2015, Gaminara took the supporting role of General Groves in the premiere of Tom Morton-Smith's '' Oppenheimer'' by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon. Michael Billington, in a 5-star review for ''The Guardian'', highlights "outstanding performances" from Gaminara among others, as does Kate Kellaway, in a later ''Guardian'' review.

In 2016, he appeared in Ibsen's ''An Enemy of the People'' at the Chichester Festival Theatre, directed by Howard Davies; Gaminara plays the principal antagonist Peter Stockmann "chillingly", according to Christopher Hart's review for ''The Sunday Times''. Susannah Clapp, in a review for ''The Observer'', describes Gaminara's performance as "finely slippery", and Ann Treneman in ''The Times'' praises his "small-town fury".

Since his time on ''Silent Witness'', Gaminara has taken occasional television roles, including in ''The Trial of Christine Keeler'' (BBC One; 2019–20), the crime drama ''Honour'' (ITV; 2020), as well as guest appearances in the sitcom ''Catastrophe'' (Channel 4) and the crime drama '' Death In Paradise'' (BBC One; 2022). He plays Dr Richard Locke in the long-running radio soap opera, ''The Archers''. He also voices audiobooks, including Bernard Cornwell's '' Sharpe'' novels and John Christopher's ''The Tripods''.

Playwright and screenwriter

Gaminara's first play, ''Back Up the Hearse and Smell the Flowers'' (1992), about water-purifier salesmen, is influenced by David Mamet's ''Glengarry Glen Ross''. Michael Billington, in a review of a 1992 production at Hampstead Theatre for ''The Guardian'', praises its encapsulation of the "guile, bluster and conviction" of a "perfect pitch" but criticises its "heavy-handed tendency to moralise". Michael Billington (14 April 1992). Arts: Hampstead Theatre - Back Up The Hearse. ''The Guardian'', p. 34 The director Dominic Dromgoole describes it as "smoothly accomplished, but unambitious".Dominic Dromgoole. ''The Full Room'', p. 96 (Bloomsbury Academic; 2000)

His second play, ''According to Hoyle'' (1995), takes a comedic approach to male identity and the relationships between men using the setting of a poker game. Dromgoole describes it as "quite wonderful", but overshadowed by the success of ''Dealer's Choice'', a play on the same topic by Patrick Marber, which came out at almost the same time. Lyn Gardner, in a review of a 1995 production at Hampstead Theatre for ''The Guardian'', describes it as a "feisty, sharply entertaining comedy" with a "rather nifty construction" employing interleaved timelines, and praises the "whiplash severity" of its dialogue. Benedict Nightingale, in a review for ''The Times'', writes that Gaminara has a "gift for funny dialogue" and considers the play's conclusion to demonstrate the independence of his viewpoint.Benedict Nightingale (13 December 1995). Jokers and wild cards are aces: According to Hoyle: Hampstead. ''The Times'' (65449), p. 35 During this period Gaminara also wrote episodes for the television series ''This Life'' (1997) and '' The Lakes'' (1999), as well as the screenplay for the BBC
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