Paul Copley

Acting

Paul Copley

Born 1944-11-25 · Denby Dale, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Paul is a long established and much respected British actor and voiceover artist. Born in Denby Dale, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 25th November 1944 he grew up beside a dairy farm. His father, Harold, was involved with local amateur dramatic productions, as were the rest of his family. He went to Penistone Grammar School, then the Northern Counties College of Education in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he received an Associate of the Drama Board (ADB) in Drama. He taught English and Drama in Walthamstow, before he joined the Leeds Playhouse Theatre-in-education Company in 1971. In 1976, Paul won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a New Play for his role in John Wilson's For King and Country. With many and varied roles to follow, Paul soon established himself as one of the UK's leading stage, film, television and radio actors. In 2011-2015 Paul gained worldwide recognition appearing in 16 episodes of the hugely popular television series Downton Abbey playing the popular role of farmer Mr Mason. Paul is married to the actress Natasha Pyne. They married in 1972, after both performing in a Leeds Playhouse production of Frank Wedekind's Lulu, adapted by Peter Barnes, directed by Bill Hays in 1971.

Acting credits

Enola Holmes poster
7.2

While searching for her missing mother, intrepid teen Enola Holmes uses her sleuthing skills to outsmart big brother Sherlock and help a runaway lord.

Enola Holmes

2020

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale poster
7.1

When Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial strife, the entire household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change as the staff prepares for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

2025

Downton Abbey: A New Era poster
7.2

The Crawley family goes on a grand journey to the south of France to uncover the mystery of the dowager countess's newly inherited villa. Meanwhile, a Hollywood director seeks to film his latest production at Downton.

Downton Abbey: A New Era

2022

A Bridge Too Far poster
7.2

The story of Operation Market Garden—a failed attempt by the allies in the latter stages of WWII to end the war quickly by securing three bridges in Holland allowing access over the Rhine into Germany. A combination of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two crack German panzer divisions meant that the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine) was doomed to failure.

A Bridge Too Far

1977

The Remains of the Day poster
7.4

A rule-bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper who falls in love with him in post-WWI Britain. The possibility of romance and his master's cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude.

The Remains of the Day

1993

The Shadow in the North poster
6.6

Sally Lockhart crosses paths with the nefarious industrialist Axel Bellman, the richest and most powerful man in Europe. She's determined to prove him guilty of corruption and fraud, whilst Bellman will stop at nothing to destroy her case.

The Shadow in the North

2007

Blow Dry poster
5.9

The annual British Hairdressing Championship comes to Keighley, a town where Phil and son Brian run a barbershop and Phil's ex-wife Shelly and her lover Sandra run a beauty salon.

Blow Dry

2001

Jude poster
6.3

In late 19th-century England, Jude aspires to be an academic, but is hobbled by his blue-collar background. Instead, he works as a stonemason and is trapped in an unloving marriage to a farmer's daughter named Arabella. But when his wife leaves him, Jude sees an opportunity to improve himself. He moves to the city and begins an affair with his married cousin, Sue, courting tragedy every step of the way.

Jude

1996

Zulu Dawn poster
6.1

In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership.

Zulu Dawn

1979

Big Winners poster
NR

A story about Edith and Arthur Thistle – for fifty-three years, they have managed to get by—never rich, never extravagant, but always together. That all changes in an instant when they win fourteen million pounds in the lottery. Arthur dreams of spending big, finally tasting the high life. But before the celebrations can begin, Edith drops a bombshell: she wants a divorce. Big Winners is about opportunity, who gets to seize the day and who gets left behind. A thrilling, funny, deeply emotional exploration of lives lived, and lives missed.

Big Winners

2025

Hornblower: Mutiny poster
7.4

Hornblower and his comrades come under the command of a revered but mentally unstable captain and are forced to mutiny in order to save their ship, the HMS Renown.

Hornblower: Mutiny

2001

Happy poster
NR

They train people to look after lads like Gary at the centre. So why does Vernon persist in keeping his brother at home?

Happy

1980

Hornblower: Loyalty poster
7.3

Hornblower must deliver a French nobleman to a secret rendezvous near Brest, all while coping with enemy agents in his own ranks.

Hornblower: Loyalty

2003

The 12 Days of Christine poster
NR

Christine Clarke brings a new man back to her flat from a New Year's Eve party, and immediately her life starts to unravel. Who is the terrifying stranger that keeps appearing in the flat at night?

The 12 Days of Christine

2015

Death of a Princess poster
7.8

A journalist investigates a newspaper story of the execution of an Arab princess.

Death of a Princess

1980

Mucking Out poster
NR

'I'm an expert on pigs now. How many people can claim they've castrated 1.000 baby pigs? Not many.' Brian is enthusiastic about his new job, but Thomas has seen it all before.

Mucking Out

1978

Hornblower: Retribution poster
7.3

Hornblower and the other officers of the Renown must return to Jamaica to face a court-martial and possible execution for their actions in relieving their unstable captain.

Hornblower: Retribution

2001

Hornblower: The Even Chance poster
7.5

Portsmouth, 1794. Under thundery skies and in lashing rain, 17-year-old midshipman Horatio Hornblower takes the first tentative steps of his naval career, but a feud with a shipmate causes complications.

Hornblower: The Even Chance

1998

Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters poster
7.2

Lieutenant Hornblower and his shipmates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.

Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters

1999

Silas Marner poster
5.9

Adaption of George Eliot's novel. When a respectable weaver is wrongfully accused of theft, he becomes a virtual hermit until his own fortune is stolen and an orphaned child is found on his doorstep.

Silas Marner

1985

Marian, Again poster
4.6

School teacher Chris Bevan is a dutiful husband to his dull wife, Josie, and ingrate daughters. His best friend knows Chris' heart always belonged to Marian, his vibrant, flippant fiancée, who mysteriously disappeared years ago. Suddenly he sees her in a shop and can't help following her. He gives up as she has a new identity, as wife of plumber Bernie Sullivan. Bernie's real passion is Houdini-era 'real' magic, while in fact she's his terrified captive, forced to replace his late assistant. Furthermore one of Bevan's daughters has a phone-relationship he forbids, deeming it dangerous on principle, ignoring this is real and ties in to Marian's plight.

Marian, Again

2005

Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant poster
7.5

Acting Lieutenant Hornblower attempts to study for his promotion examination, but becomes distracted by the serious supply problems that face his crew.

Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant

1998

Hornblower: Duty poster
7.3

Admiral Pellew interrupts Hornblower's wedding reception and tasks him to locate a British ship which has disappeared off the French coast, where Napoleon's troops are engaged in covert activities.

Hornblower: Duty

2003

The Sound of Music Live! poster
7.7

The popular musical is brought to life on soundstages at London's Three Mills Studio, in a live TV dramatisation of the timeless story of Maria and the Von Trapp Family singers, one of the world's best-known concert groups in the era immediately preceding World War II.

The Sound of Music Live!

2015

Behind the camera