Please Rewind Talent Wall

David Bradley

David Bradley has built a career around faces that seem to carry a whole history before he says a word. Whether playing a court fool, a miser, a gangster or a vampire hunter, the York-born British actor brings an alert, weathered presence to the screen—equally suited to dry comedy, period drama and outright menace. His path to acting was not immediate. After leaving school, Bradley completed a five-year apprenticeship with optical instruments maker Cooke, Troughton & Simms, remaining there until 1966. He then moved to London to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Early work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre Company established the stage foundations that have remained central to his career. In 1991, he received a Laurence Olivier Award for playing the Fool in King Lear at the Royal National Theatre. Television gave Bradley an especially broad gallery of characters. He appeared as Eddie Wells in Our Friends in the North, Sir Pitt Crawley in Vanity Fair and Rogue Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend. Later roles made particularly good use of his ability to shift between severity and eccentricity: Lord Walder Frey in Game of Thrones, Professor Abraham Setrakian in The Strain and Ray Johnson in After Life. His connection with Doctor Who has taken an unusual route. After playing Solomon in “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship,” Bradley portrayed original Doctor actor William Hartnell in the 2013 docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time. He subsequently took on the role of the First Doctor in Doctor Who itself, including “Twice Upon a Time” and “The Power of the Doctor.” Bradley’s film work includes Nicholas Nickleby, a small but memorable turn as an illegally armed farmer in Hot Fuzz, Another Year and The World’s End. In television drama, his performance in the first series of Broadchurch earned him the BAFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actor. Across stage and screen, his work is marked by precision, authority and a knack for finding the oddness tucked inside even the sternest character.