Denis Lawson

Acting

Denis Lawson

Born

1947-09-27 (79)

Place of birth

Perthshire, Scotland, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

87 titles

Denis Stamper Lawson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his roles as John Jarndyce in the BBC's adaptation of Bleak House and as Gordon Urquhart in the film Local Hero.

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 10 titles

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker poster
6.2

The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again as the journey of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron continues. With the power and knowledge of generations behind them, the final battle begins.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

2019

Perfect Sense poster
6.9

In Glasgow, Scotland, while a mysterious pandemic begins to spread around the world, Susan, a brilliant epidemiologist, falls in love with Michael, a skillful cook.

Perfect Sense

2011

The Machine poster
5.9

Already deep into a second Cold War, Britain’s Ministry of Defense seeks a game-changing weapon. Programmer Vincent McCarthy unwittingly provides an answer in The Machine, a super-strong human cyborg. When a programming bug causes the prototype to decimate his lab, McCarthy takes his obsessive efforts underground, far away from inquisitive eyes.

The Machine

2013

Broken poster
6.9

Three suburban English families' lives intertwine with tragic consequences.

Broken

2012

The Wee Man poster
5.6

The true life story of the rise to power of Glasgow gangster Paul Ferris.

The Wee Man

2013

A Quiet Night In poster
NR

Gerald owns a beautiful house with lots of beautiful things in it. Beautiful things that are also extremely valuable. The kind of things that might just become the target of an audacious criminal enterprise.

A Quiet Night In

2014

Burns in the USA poster
NR

Robert Burns was well aware of the revolution taking place across the Atlantic as he grew up. The poet was inspired. And America was to be inspired by him. From Abraham Lincoln to Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman to Bob Dylan, some of the most significant figures in American politics and culture have cited Burns as an influence.

Burns in the USA

2017

The Lighthouse Stevensons poster
8.0

The story of the remarkable family who tamed the wild Scottish coastline, told 200 years after the building of their first iconic lighthouse, the Bell Rock. For nearly 150 years, Robert Stevenson, his sons and grandsons designed many of the lighthouses around Scotland's coast. His sons Alan, David and Thomas also became lighthouse engineers. His grandsons (David's sons) David Alan Stevenson and Charles Stevenson designed lighthouses too.

The Lighthouse Stevensons

2011

No artwork available
NR

One-off comedy special. On the mean streets of Vange in Essex, naive police community support officer Len is the victim of a cruel hoax perpetrated by 'proper copper' PC Preston. Meanwhile, there have been a series of bizarre thefts at the station and PCSO Kelly thinks she knows who is responsible. Fellow 'plastic policeman' Perry doesn't know who to help - Len, Kelly or retiring colleague Chester.

Above Their Station

2010

Somnium poster
9.0

Joan Kepler is an intergalactic postal worker. She's top of her game, a senior deliverer in an industry that's been threatened by newer, faster technologies. Keeping Joan company on her endless missions is her ship, PAT 1. He's laconic, lazy and desperate to retire but remains deeply loyal. Together they've explored the outer edges of the galaxy, all the while preserving their 100% delivery record. But on this job, something's different. Three innocuous packages and a trip into uncharted space: it's nothing she hasn't handled before.

Somnium

2019

2000s · 10 titles

Enid poster
6.4

A poignant biography of one of the most successful and wildly-read writers of the 20th century. Her stories enthralled children everywhere but her personal struggles often proved too much.

Enid

2009

This is Stanley Baxter poster
NR

BBC Scotland documentary catching up with and celebrating the life of legendary Scottish comedian Stanley Baxter as he returns to Glasgow for his 75th Birthday.

This is Stanley Baxter

2001

Breaking the Mould poster
5.5

A historical drama that tells the story of the development of penicillin in the 1930's/40's, by a group of scientists in Oxford at The Dunn School of Pathology

Breaking the Mould

2009

The Thieving Headmistress poster
7.0

A Headmistress steals from her own school. As a young girl Colleen McCabe asks a priest in confessional "What is sin?" Thirty years later she is found out for practising it. An ex-nun,she leaves the convent because she becomes disillusioned with spiritual matters and goes into teaching, being appointed headmistress of the John Rigby School in London. Along with a small coterie of chosen staff members to act as her spies,she misappropriates half a million pounds from school funds which she spends on luxury goods and a trip on the Orient Express. Meanwhile the school suffers,having to use ancient text books and pupils as cleaners. She is tried,although admitted to hospital for depression on the trial day, and sentenced to five years in jail, later reduced to four. The film alternates dramatized scenes of Colleen's misbehaviour with interviews with those who knew her.

The Thieving Headmistress

2006

Lucky Jim poster
7.0

A rollicking adaptation of Kingsley Amis's first novel, Lucky Jim stars Stephen Tompkinson as Jim Dixon, a luckless lecturer at a provincial British university, trying to make a splash with his pompous boss, Professor Neddy Welch (Robert Hardy). Jim is also trying to make it with the woman of his dreams, Christine Callaghan (Keeley Hawes, Othello and Wives and Daughters), while simultaneously being pursued by the woman of his nightmares, fellow lecturer Margaret Peel (Helen McCrory, Anna Karenina). One (of many) complications is that Christine is the girlfriend of Professor Welch's egotistical artist son, Bertrand. Another is that Margaret keeps attempting suicide to get Jim's attention. But despite his misadventures, Jim keeps his eyes on the prize: a leg up on the ladder to a professorship in medieval history.

Lucky Jim

2003

The Black Death poster
NR

The Black Death, a pandemic disease that ravaged in the 1300s, caused a never-before-seen human catastrophe of frightening magnitude. Over the course of three terrible years, more than a third of Europe's population was wiped out.

The Black Death

2004

A New Body at Last poster
8.0

The cast and crew discussing the transition from Tom Baker to Peter Davison, including exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the regeneration.

A New Body at Last

2007

No artwork available
9.0

Leonard is the victim of obsessive compulsive behaviour; meticulous and insular, his world is at home. When his long-lost son, Callum, turns up on the doorstep, seeming to be the epitome of Leonard's worst paranoias, their differences appear irreconcilable.

Leonard

2001

No Holds Bard poster
10.0

Comedy following the lives of five people as they prepare to vie for the 2009 Cup O'Kindness, the trophy awarded to the champion in Robert Burns poetry recital. The film captures the ups and downs of each participant's progress as the pressure intensifies, the poems are recited and the champion is crowned. Held in Alloway, the birthplace of Burns himself, this prestigious competition is the centrepiece of the annual celebrations devoted to the Bard's immortal memory. And this year it may prove memorable for all the wrong reasons.

No Holds Bard

2009

No artwork available
8.0

TV Movie documentary exploring the secret life of Hughie Green.

The Real Hughie Green

2001

1990s · 5 titles

Bejewelled poster
4.9

An American's family jewels are stolen during her trip to London and she reluctantly teams up with a private investigator-in-training to try and recover them.

Bejewelled

1991

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

Born Kicking poster
9.0

Roxanne (known as Roxy) is a star performer in her local soccer team. Her natural talent is noticed by local team owner Victor Grace who signs her up. However it's not so easy being the only female professional soccer star in the country.

Born Kicking

1992

A Royal Scandal poster
7.6

The doomed marriage of the Prince Regent and Caroline of Brunswick.

A Royal Scandal

1997

Fried Crumbed Brains poster
7.5

After a big car accident, caused by his brother Valerio, Antonio is mentally-ill, fallen to a childlike regression. They live together in Trieste. Valerio is totally absorbed by his job and by looking after Antonio that call him Papà (Daddy). One day Valerio decide to have a trip on a house-boat with Marianna, his fiancée, and they bring Antonio with them. Antonio unexpectedly drives the boat far away till it gets stuck on a sandbank. Valerio leaves his brother and Marianna alone on the boat and goes searching for help. A storm obliges the two to spend a night together on an island. During that night Marianna discovers, step by step, the poetic and childish world of Antonio, starting to appreciate the different resources of mentally handicapped persons.

Fried Crumbed Brains

1996

1980s · 9 titles

The Empire Strikes Back poster
8.4

The epic saga continues as Luke Skywalker, in hopes of defeating the evil Galactic Empire, learns the ways of the Jedi from aging master Yoda. But Darth Vader is more determined than ever to capture Luke. Meanwhile, rebel leader Princess Leia, cocky Han Solo, Chewbacca, and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 are thrown into various stages of capture, betrayal and despair.

The Empire Strikes Back

1980

Return of the Jedi poster
7.9

Luke Skywalker leads a mission to rescue his friend Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, the Emperor prepares to crush the Rebellion with a more powerful Death Star, and the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the space station. Luke Skywalker confronts Darth Vader in a final climactic duel before the evil Emperor.

Return of the Jedi

1983

Local Hero poster
6.8

An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.

Local Hero

1983

The Chain poster
7.0

Comedy featuring interweaving stories of seven households caught up in a property chain on moving day, each one dependent on the other.

The Chain

1984

The Flipside of Dominick Hide poster
5.0

Dominick Hide, a time traveller from the year 2130, is studying the London transport system of 1980. Time travellers are supposed to be observers, and are strictly forbidden to land their flying saucers. One time traveller who broke this rule accidentally killed a dog, changing history and causing many future people to disappear. Inspired by his Great Aunt Mavis, Dominick decides to find his great great grandfather. He begins to land in 1980, where his strange clothes and speech make him seem an eccentric oddball. His quest brings him into contact with beautiful boutique owner Jane, and they fall in love. As Dominick's visits become more frequent and more prolonged, he increasingly risks his indiscretion being discovered by his boss, Caleb Line, and every moment he spends in the past increases the danger that he will catastrophically change the future

The Flipside of Dominick Hide

1980

No artwork available
8.0

Set in an open prison, where a former trade union activist subjects his more passive cell mate to an incessant barrage of union mumbo-jumbo.

Bitter Cherry

1983

The Zip poster
9.0

A man wakes one day to find a zip on the front of his body. Dare he see what's inside?

The Zip

1988

Love After Lunch poster
NR

Miles Henderson has a few problems. His job, his marriage and his car are all falling apart at the same time. The last thing he needs is to be followed by a beautiful woman and a pair of private detectives - in that order.

Love After Lunch

1987

No artwork available
NR

James Carlisle is a successful architect who sees his children every weekend following his divorce from Lyn. When Lyn falls in love with the unstable Bernard, James is forced to take drastic action.

One Way Out

1989

1970s · 9 titles

Star Wars poster
8.2

Princess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo team together with the loveable robot duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess and restore peace and justice in the Empire.

Star Wars

1977

The Man in the Iron Mask poster
6.4

Years have passed since the Three Musketeers, Aramis, Athos and Porthos, have fought together with their friend, D'Artagnan. But with the tyrannical King Louis using his power to wreak havoc in the kingdom while his twin brother, Philippe, remains imprisoned, the Musketeers reunite to abduct Louis and replace him with Philippe.

The Man in the Iron Mask

1977

Providence poster
6.6

On the eve of his 78th birthday, ailing, alcoholic writer Clive Langham spends a painful and sleepless night mentally composing and recomposing scenes for a novel in which characters based on his own family are shaped by his fantasies and memories, alongside his caustic commentary on their behaviour.

Providence

1977

Holocaust 2000 poster
5.8

An executive in charge of a nuclear power plant in the Mid-East must stop his son-- who turns out to be the Anti Christ -- from blowing it up.

Holocaust 2000

1977

The Merchant of Venice poster
8.5

An Edwardian take on the Shakespeare play starring Laurence Olivier.

The Merchant of Venice

1973

No artwork available
9.0

A man is kidnapped and brainwashed by political extremists. He is then sent on a mission.

The Girl Who Walked Quickly

1978

Fearless Frank poster
NR

The outrageous – and not entirely reliable – memoirs of Irish writer Frank Harris, sometime cowboy in the Old West, friend to the famous in the literary world, essayist and critic, and seducer of beautiful women.

Fearless Frank

1978

The Paradise Run poster
NR

Johnny has joined the army because he likes canoeing, but ends up in a war-torn city and is compromised into helping the enemy. However, desertion will not be a solution, and he finds himself more distressed than ever.

The Paradise Run

1976

Jumping Bean Bag poster
8.0

At an end-of-term school play, Ozzie and his band join in with a hard rock contribution. However, this leads to the unexpected fame of the schoolboy rock group, and they find that there is a darker down-side to fame and being successful music stars.

Jumping Bean Bag

1976

Series credits

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

Holby City poster
5.8

Drama series about life on the wards of Holby City Hospital, following the highs and lows of the staff and patients.

Holby City

1999

The One Show poster
4.3

A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.

The One Show

2006

Father Brown poster
7.7

Father Brown is based on G. K. Chesterton's detective stories about a Catholic priest who doubles as an amateur detective in order to try and solve mysteries.

Father Brown

2013

Play for Today poster
6.6

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Play for Today

1970

Play for Today poster
6.6

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Play for Today

1970

Star Wars: Visions poster
7.1

This anthology of animated shorts from around the world celebrates the mythos of Star Wars through unique cultural lenses.

Star Wars: Visions

2021

Agatha Christie's Marple poster
7.8

The adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.

Agatha Christie's Marple

2004

Natural World poster
7.4

Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.

Natural World

1983

New Tricks poster
7.3

New Tricks is a British comedy-drama that follows the work of the fictional Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad of the Metropolitan Police Service. Originally led by Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman, it is made up of retired police officers who have been recruited to reinvestigate unsolved crimes.

New Tricks

2004

Bergerac poster
7.0

Jim Bergerac is a detective sergeant in The Foreigners Office who likes to do things his own way. While dealing with his own personal demons Bergerac has a knack of finding trouble, and sometimes causing it.

Bergerac

1981

Hustle poster
7.7

A motley group of London con artists pull of a series of daring and intricate stings.

Hustle

2004

Tales from the Crypt poster
8.0

Cadaverous scream legend the Crypt Keeper is your macabre host for these forays of fright and fun based on the classic E.C. Comics tales from back in the day. So shamble up to the bar and pick your poison. Will it be an insane Santa on a personal slay ride? Honeymooners out to fulfill the "til death do we part" vow ASAP?

Tales from the Crypt

1989

Inside No. 9 poster
8.1

An anthology of darkly comic twisted tales, each one taking place behind a door marked 'number 9'.

Inside No. 9

2014

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

Victoria poster
7.4

The story of Queen Victoria, who came to the throne at a time of great economic turbulence and resurgent republicanism – and died 64 years later the head of the largest empire the world had ever seen, having revitalised the throne’s public image and become “grandmother of Europe”.

Victoria

2016

Sister Boniface Mysteries poster
6.5

First there was Father Brown. Now, say hello to Sister Boniface. This clever, moped-riding nun is the police's secret weapon for solving murders in this divine Father Brown spin-off.

Sister Boniface Mysteries

2022

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

Timeshift poster
7.0

Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.

Timeshift

2002

Pie in the Sky poster
8.3

Pie in the Sky is a British offbeat police comedy drama programme starring Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed, created by Andrew Payne and first broadcast in five series on BBC1 between 13 March 1994 and 17 August 1997 as well as being syndicated on other channels in other countries, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series departs slightly from other police dramas in that the protagonist, Henry Crabbe, while still being an on-duty policeman, is also the head chef of the title restaurant set in the fictional town of Middleton and county of Westershire.

Pie in the Sky

1994

Hornblower poster
7.8

Set during the 18th century Napoleonic Wars, Horatio Hornblower, a young and shy midshipman, rises through the ranks to become an admiral.

Hornblower

1998

Robin Hood poster
6.9

Robin of Loxley returns to England after 5 years of fighting in the crusades alongside King Richard. After losing his estates and being branded an outlaw, he takes on the title of Robin Hood and assembles a ragtag band of outlaw companions. Together they steal from the rich and give to the poor - all the while avoiding and outwitting their enemies Sir Guy of Gisborne and the evil Sheriff of Nottingham.

Robin Hood

2006

BBC2 Play of the Week poster
7.0

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

BBC2 Play of the Week

1977

Celebrity Gogglebox poster
6.6

A rolling cast of famous faces, some of Britain's best loved personalities, turn their hand to being the country's most opinionated viewers, sharing their opinions on what they have been watching during the week.

Celebrity Gogglebox

2019

The Weakest Link poster
6.0

Romesh Ranganathan takes charge of the back-stabbing big money game show. Can the contestants create a chain of answers and avoid the boot?

The Weakest Link

2021

Boon poster
5.8

Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV. It revolved around the life of a modern-day Lone Ranger and ex-firefighter, Ken Boon.

Boon

1986

Screen One poster
7.2

Anthology drama series.

Screen One

1989

Screen One poster
7.2

Anthology drama series.

Screen One

1989

Cold Feet poster
7.8

Follow the lives and loves of a group of thirtysomethings in a heart-warming comic drama as they try to find true love - or at least keep their relationships on track. In this wry and funny look at a generation which is as confused as it is liberated by the choices it faces, will the chill in their feet put out the passion that burns in their hearts?

Cold Feet

1998

Bleak House poster
8.0

The generous John Jarndyce, struggling with his own past, and his two young wards Richard and Ada, are all caught up, like Lady Dedlock, in the infamous case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, which will make one of them rich beyond imagination if it can ever be brought to a conclusion. As Tulkinghorn digs deeper into Lady Dedlock's past, he unearths a secret that will change their lives forever, and which is almost as astounding as the final outcome of the Jarndyce case.

Bleak House

2005

Survivors poster
7.9

Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an accidentally released plague – referred to as "The Death" – that kills nearly the entire human population of the planet.

Survivors

1975

Criminal Justice poster
7.6

Thriller by Peter Moffat about the challenges and politics of the criminal justice system seen through the eyes of the accused.

Criminal Justice

2008

Jekyll poster
7.5

Tom Jackman is learning to cope with his alter ego, the dark and mysterious Hyde, who threatens his life and family. They also have to live in the same body while on the run from a mysterious organization that is hunting them.

Jekyll

2007

Armchair Thriller poster
4.7

Armchair Thriller is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in two series in 1978 and 1980. Owing something to some of the off-shoots of the earlier Armchair Theatre, the new series used scripts adapted from published novels and stories. Although not properly a horror series it included several supernatural elements. Armchair Thriller was produced by Thames Television, but it included serials made by Southern Television.

Armchair Thriller

1978

The Ambassador poster
6.5

The Ambassador is a British television drama series produced by the BBC written by Hugh Costello. The series starred Pauline Collins in the title role as Harriet Smith, the new British ambassador to Ireland and dealt with the personal and professional pressures in Harriet's life, as well as wider political themes. Other notable cast members were Denis Lawson and Peter Egan. Two series were made between 1998 and 1999.

The Ambassador

1998

Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV poster
7.9

Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV is a British sketch comedy series created by and starring comedian Victoria Wood with Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Susie Blake and Patricia Routledge. The show broadcast on BBC Two between 1985 and 1987, and included sketches that became famous in the United Kingdom; these included one-offs like Two Soups and regular features such as Acorn Antiques, as well as musical performances by Wood including her most well-known number, The Ballad of Barry and Freda.

Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV

1985

Sensitive Skin poster
7.4

Bittersweet comedy about a 61-year-old former model trying to cope with life in London.

Sensitive Skin

2005

The Passion poster
5.3

The Passion is a television drama serial that tells the story of the last week in the life of Jesus.

The Passion

2008

No artwork available
NR

Series of plays examining various aspects of contemporary woman at different ages. The theme song, sung by Charles Aznavour, was a big hit in the summer of 1974.

Seven Faces of Woman

1974

No artwork available
7.0

Sunday night dramas on subjects as diverse as a dodgy doctor and a tale of cat lovers and the social circle they inhabit.

Sunday Premiere

1986

Behind the camera