Derek Riddell

Acting

Derek Riddell

Born

1967-01-11 (59)

Place of birth

Glasgow, Scotland

Known for

Acting

Credits

53 titles

Derek Riddell (born 11 January 1967) is a Scottish television and theatre actor. He is best known for the portrayal of Richard Cawood in the BBC One television series Happy Valley. He is also known for Gentleman Jack, Industry and The Missing. He has guest-starred in Doctor Who, Ugly Betty, Silent Witness, Waterloo Road, and Shetland. Riddell was born in Glasgow, the son of teacher and former actress Hope Ross and former St Mirren and Berwick Rangers footballer Ian Riddell. He graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a degree in business, before training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, graduating in 1990.

Known for

Doctor Who poster
7.6

The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.

Doctor Who

2005

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Death in Paradise poster
7.4

A brilliant but idiosyncratic British detective and his resourceful local team solve baffling murder mysteries on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie.

Death in Paradise

2011

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

Shetland poster
7.5

Created from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland follows DI Jimmy Perez and his team as they investigate crime within the close knit island community. In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing.

Shetland

2013

Waterloo Road poster
7.1

Waterloo Road is a British television drama series set in a comprehensive school of the same name, first broadcast on BBC One on 9 March 2006, and concluding its original run on 9 March 2015. It was recommissioned in 2021, and resumed starting 9 January 2023. At the failing comprehensive school, and later academy of the same name, the professional and personal lives of the students and staff are examined. Affairs, scandals, blackmail and many, many headteachers. Who said education was easy?

Waterloo Road

2006

Film credits

2010s · 3 titles

2000s · 8 titles

Much Ado About Nothing poster
8.2

Tensions mount in the TV studio when a take-charge anchor is reunited with a man she has a "history" with.

Much Ado About Nothing

2005

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey poster
6.0

When a broken hearted boy loses the treasured wooden nativity set that links him to his dead father, his worried mother persuades a lonely ill-tempered woodcarver to create a replacement, and to allow her son to watch him work on it.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

2007

Micro Men poster
7.1

In 1979 Clive Sinclair, British inventor of the pocket calculator, frustrated by the lack of home investment in his project,the electric car, also opposes former assistant Chris Curry's belief that he can successfully market a micro-chip for a home computer. A parting of the ways sees Curry, in partnership with the Austrian Hermann Hauser and using whizz kid Cambridge students, set up his own, rival firm to Sinclair Radionics, Acorn. Acorn beat Sinclair to a lucrative contract supplying the BBC with machines for a computer series. From here on it is a battle for supremacy to gain the upper hand in the domestic market.

Micro Men

2009

A Previous Engagement poster
4.3

When Julia Reynolds talks her husband into a family vacation in Malta she has a secret agenda: a date made twenty-five years earlier with her first love.

A Previous Engagement

2009

No artwork available
NR

Tumshie McFadgen is a sensualist, his trouble starts when he comes up with the notion of cross-pleasuring. what would it be like to experience the maximum whoopee in all five senses at the same time? well I can tell you, it was a bloody disaster all round.

Tumshie McFadgen's Bid for Ultimate Bliss

2004

Forgiven poster
4.0

Suburban housewife Liz discovers that husband Stephen is abusing their daughter. She confronts him and reports him to the authorities, but also decides to try to help him recover from what must be "a sickness". Stephen is tried and imprisoned. When he leaves prison, Liz arranges for him to receive treatment at a residential clinic for sex offenders, where he undergoes intensive therapy. Stephen finally faces his guilt and the consequences of his abuse. The family decide to rebuild their lives together. Is this right? Is it even possible? And – if they do - what's the emotional cost?

Forgiven

2007

Meat the Campbells poster
NR

When Mark hears the urban myth about the dietary habits of the new kid in school, the last thing he wants is to be invited round to dinner. His worst fears are realised when he has to endure a three-course meal at the Campbell family residence.

Meat the Campbells

2005

No artwork available
NR

The Project follows the lives of a group of young Labour party activists from their final days of university to Westminster's corridors of power. Their journey takes us deep into the world of New Labour headquarters in Millbank, and later Downing Street, exposing the machinations behind the party's transformation into the sharp, media-aware voice of professional, middle-England.

The Project

2002

Series credits

Doctor Who poster
7.6

The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.

Doctor Who

2005

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Death in Paradise poster
7.4

A brilliant but idiosyncratic British detective and his resourceful local team solve baffling murder mysteries on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie.

Death in Paradise

2011

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

Shetland poster
7.5

Created from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland follows DI Jimmy Perez and his team as they investigate crime within the close knit island community. In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing.

Shetland

2013

Waterloo Road poster
7.1

Waterloo Road is a British television drama series set in a comprehensive school of the same name, first broadcast on BBC One on 9 March 2006, and concluding its original run on 9 March 2015. It was recommissioned in 2021, and resumed starting 9 January 2023. At the failing comprehensive school, and later academy of the same name, the professional and personal lives of the students and staff are examined. Affairs, scandals, blackmail and many, many headteachers. Who said education was easy?

Waterloo Road

2006

Industry poster
6.9

In the cutthroat world of international finance, a group of young graduates compete for a limited set of permanent positions at a top investment bank in London. The boundaries between colleague, friend, lover, and enemy soon blur as they immerse themselves in a company culture defined as much by sex, drugs and ego as it is by deals and dividends.

Industry

2020

Spooks poster
7.7

Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.

Spooks

2002

Ugly Betty poster
6.4

Wannabe writer Betty Suarez is a plain girl from Queens, who is smart, hardworking and savvy but lacks a fashionable sense of style. When publishing mogul Bradford Meade puts his son Daniel in charge of Mode magazine, he hires Betty to be Daniel's new assistant -- mostly because he knows that she may be the only woman in Manhattan with whom the younger man won't sleep.

Ugly Betty

2006

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles poster
7.5

The series picks up four years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day with John and Sarah Connor trying to stay under-the-radar from the government, as they plot to destroy the computer network, Skynet, in hopes of preventing Armageddon.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

2008

Dalziel and Pascoe poster
6.4

In the fictional Yorkshire town of Wetherton, the unlikely duo of politically incorrect elephant-in-a-China-shop-copper DS Andrew Dalziel (pronounced Dee-ell) and his more sensitive and university educated sidekick DS, later DI, Peter Pascoe is always on hand to solve the classic murder mystery, while maintaining down-to-Earth wit and humour.

Dalziel and Pascoe

1996

Ripper Street poster
7.4

A drama set in the East End of London in 1889, during the aftermath of the "Ripper" murders. The action centres around the notorious H Division – the police precinct from hell – which is charged with keeping order in the chaotic streets of Whitechapel. Ripper Street explores the lives of characters trying to recover from the Ripper's legacy, from crimes that have not only irretrievably altered their lives, but the very fabric of their city. At the drama's heart our detectives try to bring a little light into the dark world they inhabit.

Ripper Street

2012

Taggart poster
6.6

Taggart is a Scottish detective television program. The series revolves around a group of detectives initially in the Maryhill CID of Strathclyde Police, though various storylines have happened in other parts of the Greater Glasgow area, and as of the most recent series the team have operated out of the fictional John Street police station across the street from the City Chambers.

Taggart

1983

Law & Order: UK poster
7.0

Adapted from the hit US series, Law & Order: UK follows a team of police detectives and prosecutors representing the public interest in the criminal justice system.

Law & Order: UK

2009

Happy Valley poster
8.0

Happy Valley is a dark, funny, multi-layered thriller revolving around the personal and professional life of Catherine, a dedicated, experienced, hard-working copper. She is also a bereaved mother who looks after her orphaned grandchild.

Happy Valley

2014

M.I. High poster
6.1

A team of undercover teenage spies working for the fictional British secret intelligence agency MI9 who have to balance their school life with their jobs as secret agents.

M.I. High

2007

Bodies poster
7.1

One victim, found dead on a London street. Four detectives, in four different time periods, must solve the mystery to protect Britain's future.

Bodies

2023

Gentleman Jack poster
7.9

Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, 1832. Anne Lister attempts to revitalize her inherited home, Shibden Hall. Most notably for the time period, a part of her plan is to help the fate of her own family - by taking a wife.

Gentleman Jack

2019

The Village poster
7.3

The Village is a BBC television drama created and written by Peter Moffat. Consisting of two six-episode series—the project intended as a 42-hour televised epic—the first series covers 1914 to 1920; the second continued the story into the 1920s. However, it was not commissioned for a third series. An epic drama charting the turbulent times experienced by one English village throughout the 20th century; births, deaths, political events and rebellions are among the events that occur during the time. Bert Middleton lives across the entire 100-year period, and his story from boyhood to old age forms the crux of the story, seen via flashbacks as Bert is interviewed in the present day by a documentarian working on a project about the second eldest man in the United Kingdom and his village.

The Village

2013

Crime poster
6.5

Detective Inspector Ray Lennox investigates the disappearance of a schoolgirl while battling cocaine addiction and a mental breakdown.

Crime

2021

No Angels poster
5.9

No Angels is a critically acclaimed British television comedy drama series, produced by the independent production company World Productions for Channel 4, which ran for three series from 2004 to 2006. It was devised by Toby Whithouse.

No Angels

2004

W1A poster
7.7

The follow-up to 'Twenty Twelve' as Ian Fletcher takes up the position of 'Head of Values' at the BBC. His task is to clarify, define, or re-define the core purpose of the BBC across all its functions and to position it confidently for the future, in particular for Licence Fee Renegotiation and Charter Renewal in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

W1A

2014

Five Days poster
5.8

Thriller series which tracks five 24-hour periods in a police investigation.

Five Days

2007

Urban Gothic poster
4.8

Urban Gothic was a horror based series of short stories shown on Channel 5 running for two series between May 2000 and December 2001. Filmed on a low budget and broadcast in a later time-slot, it nonetheless acquired a following. It has also since been repeated on the Horror Channel. Set around London there is an underlying story thread that only becomes clear in the last episodes of each series. Each episode was different in style from the others, running the gamut of documentary-style independent film to spoof, to slick dramas similar in style to The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone.

Urban Gothic

2000

Gunpowder poster
6.8

London, 1605. Robert Catesby, a 33-year old Warwickshire gentleman, devises a plot to blow up Parliament and kill the King.

Gunpowder

2017

Garrow's Law poster
7.7

The true tale of pioneering 18th century barrister William Garrow, who acted as counsel for the accused, introducing the concept of 'innocent until proved guilty' at London's Old Bailey.

Garrow's Law

2009

Boarders poster
5.6

Brace yourselves - the new kids are here. Five talented black scholarship students, and an elite private school with a reputation problem. One of them will have to change...

Boarders

2024

A Confession poster
7.1

The story of how Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher deliberately breached police procedure and protocol to catch a killer, a decision that ultimately cost him his career and reputation.

A Confession

2019

Payback poster
6.5

Lexie Noble lives a great life on the outskirts of Edinburgh… until her husband is murdered. As she struggles to make sense of what happened, she learns he had been laundering money for notorious crime boss Cal Morris. As a partner in her late husband's accountancy firm, both Morris and the police will be interested in controlling her next moves.

Payback

2023

The Virgin Queen poster
6.6

The Virgin Queen explores the full sweep of Elizabeth's life: from her days of fear as a potential victim of her sister's terror; through her great love affair with Robert Dudley; into her years of triumph over the Armada; and finally her old age and her last, enigmatic relationship with her young protégé, the Earl of Essex.

The Virgin Queen

2006

Hard Sun poster
6.4

Two detectives with opposing viewpoints are partnered together five years before the Apocalypse.

Hard Sun

2018

Trust Me poster
6.1

The series revolves around Rothman, Greene, and Moore, a fictional advertising firm. The storylines center on the difficulties of securing accounts and the characters' personal lives.

Trust Me

2009

The Book Group poster
7.2

Clare, a neurotic American, moves to Glasgow and starts a book group to meet new, interesting people. But Kenny, Dirka, Rab, Fist and Janice are more interesting than she bargained for...

The Book Group

2002

ShakespeaRe-Told poster
7.4

Four of Shakespeare's plays are dramatically relocated to the modern day.

ShakespeaRe-Told

2005

Strathblair poster
7.0

Black Watch Sergeant Alec Ritchie and his new wife Jennifer move to a rundown sheep farm in the Scottish countryside.

Strathblair

1992

Undercover poster
6.5

Undercover follows Maya, the first black Director Of Public Prosecutions. Just as she is about to take up the post and her life comes under intense public scrutiny, she learns that that her husband Nick has been lying to her for years. Twenty years ago Nick was a fearless and dedicated undercover officer, infiltrating organisations considered a danger to society because of their political beliefs. Nick built himself a fake past and now with his wife unsuspecting and his conscience killing him – his secret identity may compromise the new Director of Public Prosecutions.

Undercover

2016

The Field of Blood poster
6.3

Adaptation of Denise Mina's thriller set in 1982. When the story of a murder has huge implications for her family, newspaper copy boy Paddy Meehan battles prejudices to get to the truth. As she inches closer to revealing the truth, her investigations place her in mortal danger.

The Field of Blood

2011

Secrets and Words poster
NR

Secrets and Words is a British drama television series shown on BBC One. Each episode is a story on the theme of adult literacy.

Secrets and Words

2012

Frankie poster
7.3

A dedicated and respected nurse, Frankie cares about her patients and their families, but also knows when to keep her distance. As she travels round with her team making house calls, often witnessing the problems and pressures that people have to cope with, Frankie knows that even though it can irritate and frustrate her at times, she still loves her job and wouldn't change it for the world.

Frankie

2013

State of Mind poster
7.0

A look at the private and professional lives of therapists -- and whether or not these professionals are typically crazier than their patients.

State of Mind

2007