Jonathan Coy

Acting

Jonathan Coy

Born

1953-04-24 (73)

Place of birth

Hammersmith, London, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

79 titles

Jonathan Coy (born 24 April 1953) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series Downton Abbey (2010–2014), as well as appearing in the feature film follow-up Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022).

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 5 titles

Great Expectations poster
6.4

Orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

Great Expectations

2012

Much Ado About Nothing poster
8.3

Two young lovers, Claudio and Hero, are to be married imminently but the devious scheming of a resentful Prince looks set to thwart the nuptials. Meanwhile, marriage seems inconceivable for reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick whose endless witty sparring threatens to keep them apart forever. Directed by Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s great plays and reminds us all of the failings and triumphs of the human condition in our never ending search for perfect love.

Much Ado About Nothing

2011

National Theatre Live: The Magistrate poster
6.0

Academy Award nominee and Tony Award-winner John Lithgow (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Shrek, 3rd Rock from the Sun) takes the title role in Arthur Wing Pinero’s uproarious Victorian farce, directed by Olivier Award-winner Timothy Sheader (Crazy for You and Into the Woods, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London). In a similar vein to the National Theatre’s smash-hit classic comedies, She Stoops to Conquer and London Assurance, The Magistrate is sure to have audiences doubled up with laughter. When amiable magistrate Posket (John Lithgow) marries Agatha (Olivier Award-winner Nancy Carroll, After the Dance), little does he realise she’s dropped five years from her age – and her son’s. When her deception looks set to be revealed, it sparks a series of hilarious indignities and outrageous mishaps.

National Theatre Live: The Magistrate

2013

National Theatre Live: The Hard Problem poster
7.3

Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love, Arcadia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) returns to the National Theatre with his highly-anticipated new play The Hard Problem, directed by Nicholas Hytner (Othello, Hamlet, One Man, Two Guvnors). Hilary, a young psychology researcher at a brainscience institute, is nursing a private sorrow and a troubling question at work, where psychology and biology meet. If there is nothing but matter, what is consciousness? This is ‘the hard problem’ which puts Hilary at odds with her colleagues who include her first mentor Spike, her boss Leo and the billionaire founder of the institute, Jerry. Is the day coming when the computer and the fMRI scanner will answer all the questions psychology can ask? Meanwhile Hilary needs a miracle, and she is prepared to pray for one.

National Theatre Live: The Hard Problem

2015

Reunited poster
2.0

Six former friends reunite eight years after their houseshare ended in acrimony and recrimination. But is newly-engaged Martin playing with fire by seeing old flame Hannah?

Reunited

2010

2000s · 14 titles

Conspiracy poster
7.3

At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.

Conspiracy

2001

To Kill a King poster
5.8

A recounting of the relationship between General Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, as they try to cope with the consequences of deposing King Charles I.

To Kill a King

2003

Alien Autopsy poster
5.7

Humouristic reconstruction of the 1995 scandal when two British lads were accused of having faked a documentary from the Roswell incident in 1947.

Alien Autopsy

2006

Longitude poster
7.4

Parallel stories: 18th century Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea; 20th century Gould is obsessed with restoring it.

Longitude

2000

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby poster
7.6

A young, compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his cold-hearted, grasping uncle.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

2001

The Old Curiosity Shop poster
5.0

A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.

The Old Curiosity Shop

2007

Plain Jane poster
9.0

Drama set in 1911 about a love triangle concerning a father, his son and their maid, Jane.

Plain Jane

2002

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

Shoreditch poster
5.5

London 1939. In the weeks before the beginning of the Second World War, the Say When jazz club keeps London's Shoreditch swinging. Run by Thomas (Richie) and his wife Massie (Natasha Wightman), it's a place where gangsters and aristocrats, home office gents, and loose women can kick back and relax. Thomas' job is to keep everything running smoothly. But when he starts having an affair with singer Butterfly (Joely Richardson), this carefully balanced world disintegrates into blackmail, drugs, and suicide.

Shoreditch

2003

Harold Shipman: Doctor Death poster
7.0

James Bolam portrays serial killer Dr. Harold Shipman in this made-for-TV drama. The film follows the story of Shipman, a general practitioner who throughout his career is believed to have killed as many as 250 of his patients. When the high death rate of his practice was investigated, it was discovered that he had given lethal doses of diamorphine to a vast number of his patients. He was put on trial where he was convicted of 15 murders and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Harold Shipman: Doctor Death

2002

The Falklands Play poster
7.0

The Falklands Play is a dramatic account of the political events leading up to, and including, the 1982 Falklands War. The play was written by Ian Curteis, an experienced writer who had started his television career in drama, but had increasingly come to specialise in dramatic reconstructions of history. It was originally commissioned by the BBC in 1983, for production and broadcast in 1986, but was subsequently shelved by Controller of BBC One Michael Grade due to its alleged pro-Margaret Thatcher stance and jingoistic tone. This prompted a press furore over media bias and censorship.The play was not staged until 2002, when it was broadcast in separate adaptations on BBC Television and Radio.

The Falklands Play

2002

Hell's Pavement poster
NR

The film follows five years in the life of a young girl as she struggles against an onslaught of good intentions. From her first encounter with the social care system, through a range of foster placements, to a haunting climax, we are challenged to question how it is that so many well-intentioned people can do so much unintended damage. And how it is that the £4bn a year that people in the UK spend on children in care has failed to break the cycle of abuse, addiction and abandonment. Written by Tim Kemp

Hell's Pavement

2009

Dangerous Liaisons poster
NR

When detectives investigate a seemingly natural death of an old man, they discover a disturbing tape in his possession which alongside old family memories also features the murder of a woman. After tracking down the dead man's ex-wife and his estranged son they try to discover a link between the mans death and the horrific videotape.

Dangerous Liaisons

2007

Starting Over poster
4.5

An aristocratic woman is forced to cope with the end of her marriage and the death of her brother. Left to the run the failing family estate, the woman is intrigued by her new lodger, a charming professor.

Starting Over

2007

1990s · 8 titles

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

Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil poster
7.2

Acting Lieutenant Hornblower and his crew are captured by the enemy while escorting a Duchess who has secrets of her own.

Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil

1999

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

Cuts poster
NR

A British TV company wants to make a big blockbuster TV series and to add to their chances of success they call in the services of Henry Babbacombe, a nervous man who has only written a small book on nature before. As the production on the series continues, Henry has to make many changes on his scripts as things change on the series and he falls in love with Cynthia Hyde-Lennon. However both she and the TV company wants Henry to write and do stuff that is completely against his morals but he finds itself going along until the TV company and Cynthia turns and savagely stabs him in the back...

Cuts

1996

Adam Bede poster
7.2

Rich and languorous, this adaptation of George Eliot's classic tale perfectly evokes rural England in the 18th Century. But beneath the tranquil surface of this pastoral idyll run deep passions and the bitter gall of betrayal.

Adam Bede

1992

102 Boulevard Haussmann poster
7.5

In 1916 author Marcel Proust is leading a reclusive life in Paris. He hires a quartet of musicians and befriends one of them, a wounded serviceman.

102 Boulevard Haussmann

1990

Gobble poster
8.0

As Christmas celebrations get under way, Britain is rocked by a deadly new food scare - "mad turkey disease".

Gobble

1997

Mosley poster
6.0

Jonathan Cake, Jemma Redgrave and Hugh Bonneville lead an outstanding cast in this mini-series tracing the turbulent political career and tempestuous private life of Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists during the 1930s. The mini series charts Mosley's rise to political notoriety through his personal life – from youthful rising star of the Conservative Party to potential leader of the Labour Party, and later abandonment of conventional party politics to become a figurehead of burgeoning fascism.

Mosley

1998

1980s · 8 titles

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase poster
5.7

A Dickensian mock-Gothic tale of resourceful children, evil governesses, forged wills, cruel orphanages, and goodness triumphant set against an isolated country house, in an alternate 19th century where savage packs of wolves roam the snowbound countryside.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

1989

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

Northanger Abbey poster
6.3

A young girl, whose head is full of romantic and melodramatic notions, goes to stay with the wealthy Tilney family. Through her adventures, Catherine Morland comes to learn that marriage in the society of her day is determined not by true love but by wealth and social status.

Northanger Abbey

1987

Countdown to War poster
6.8

Based on a play, the story details the dramatic negotiations between UK, France, Poland, Nazi-Germany and USSR from the day Czechoslovakia fell, until Britain's declaration of war on Germany caused by Hitler's invasion of Poland.

Countdown to War

1989

The Life and Death of King John poster
7.3

The reign of England's King John is threatened by Philip of France who demands that John's nephew Arthur be placed on the throne. Pragmatic and decisive, King John moves to plactate the French, but there are others who seek disputre his authority.

The Life and Death of King John

1984

Monster Maker poster
6.7

A young boy wants to work with a famous creature/fx man but gets more than he bargained when one of the creatures, The Ultra-Gorgon, takes him under his wing. Literally.

Monster Maker

1989

Maschenka poster
9.0

Film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's debut novel, 'Mary'.

Maschenka

1987

Rumpole's Return poster
5.8

A bored Rumpole, living in Florida retirement, uses an inquiry from Phyllida as a pretext to re-establish himself back in chambers.

Rumpole's Return

1980

1970s · 2 titles

Series credits

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

Agatha Christie's Poirot poster
8.2

From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.

Agatha Christie's Poirot

1989

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

Downton Abbey poster
8.1

A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.

Downton Abbey

2010

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

Andor poster
8.3

In an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue, Cassian Andor will discover the difference he can make in the struggle against the tyrannical Galactic Empire. He embarks on a path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.

Andor

2022

A Touch of Frost poster
7.6

Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.

A Touch of Frost

1992

Tales of the Unexpected poster
6.8

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Tales of the Unexpected

1979

Sherlock Holmes poster
8.2

Sherlock Holmes uses his abilities to take on cases by private clients and those that the Scotland Yard are unable to solve, along with his friend Dr. Watson.

Sherlock Holmes

1984

Screen Two poster
7.1

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Screen Two

1985

Endeavour poster
8.1

The early days of a young Endeavour Morse, whose experiences as a detective constable with the Oxford City Police will ultimately shape his future.

Endeavour

2013

Foyle's War poster
7.9

As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.

Foyle's War

2002

Inspector Morse poster
7.9

Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.

Inspector Morse

1987

Rumpole of the Bailey poster
7.1

Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It stars Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients, and has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes.

Rumpole of the Bailey

1975

Soldier Soldier poster
6.9

The daily lives of a group of soldiers in 'B' Company, 1st Battalion The King's Fusiliers.

Soldier Soldier

1991

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

Secret Army poster
7.8

World War II drama about covert organisation Lifeline helping allied airmen escape after being shot down in occupied Europe, working with the Resistance and hiding from the Gestapo.

Secret Army

1977

Lovejoy poster
7.4

The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.

Lovejoy

1986

Lovejoy poster
7.4

The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.

Lovejoy

1986

The Hack poster
6.6

Set between 2002 and 2012, the drama deftly interweaves two real life stories, the uncovering of phone hacking at the News of the World, and running parallel, the investigation into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan.

The Hack

2025

Murder Most Horrid poster
6.9

Comedienne Dawn French tackles dark, tongue-in-cheek thrillers as her various characters embark on a different mystery every episode. In one way or another, she is involved with murder — either committing the crime or even getting bumped off herself!

Murder Most Horrid

1991

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates poster
7.3

Instead of spending her golden years lying down, the indomitable Hetty Wainthropp found her calling late in life. Combining common sense, her husband, and her pocketbook, this senior sleuth takes on all the cases the police deem too minor.

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates

1996

Anatomy of a Scandal poster
7.0

Sophie's privileged life as the wife of powerful politician James unravels when scandalous secrets surface — and he stands accused of a shocking crime.

Anatomy of a Scandal

2022

The Darling Buds of May poster
7.9

An idyllic picture of 1950's rural England as seen through the lives of the Larkins, a farm family living in Kent. The show revolves around Pa Larkin, a man of a kind and mischievous nature with a penchant for getting into scrapes and talking his way out of them with equal equanimity; and his daughters, as they deal with growing up and discovering the joys and sorrows of young love.

The Darling Buds of May

1991

Born and Bred poster
9.0

In the 1950s at the fictional Lancashire village of Ormston, a father and son, both doctors, navigate the challenges of running a cottage hospital under the newly established National Health Service.

Born and Bred

2002

The Jim Henson Hour poster
9.0

An hour-long anthology series hosted by Jim Henson and generally included two segments. The first, MuppeTelevision, features comedy skits starring the Muppets, as well as frequent guest appearances by popular entertainers. The second often rebroadcasts original productions, primarily The StoryTeller.

The Jim Henson Hour

1989

The Long Shadow poster
7.5

Dramatizing one of the most infamously notorious and shocking serial killer cases in the world, the hunt for Peter Sutcliffe, commonly dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, between October 1975 and January 1981, South Yorkshire police undertook the biggest manhunt in British criminal history. The search for Sutcliffe lasted five years, involved over a thousand officers and changed the way the British police worked forever.

The Long Shadow

2023

Game On poster
7.6

Following the lives of three 20-somethings sharing a flat in Battersea. They're young, bright and sexy - so why aren't they having a good time ? Join Matthew (the agoraphobic, self-obsessed, macho man); Martin (the wimpish, sex-starved underdog) and Mandy (the gorgeous blonde, who always ends up with the wrong men), in this outrageously funny flat-share comedy that is anything but politically correct.

Game On

1995

The Return of Sherlock Holmes poster
7.9

In the second series of the widely celebrated ITV detective programme, Dr John Watson finds a mystery in an empty house, while Holmes and he later solve the mysteries of an abbey grange, the Musgrave ritual, a second stain, a man with a twisted lip, the priory school, and a half-dozen plaster busts of Bonaparte.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

1986

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire poster
7.6

Turning points in ancient Roman history and some of the Empire's greatest stories are brought to life in this drama documentary series.

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire

2006

The Sandbaggers poster
8.2

The Sandbaggers is a British television drama series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and American intelligence specialists.

The Sandbaggers

1978

Des poster
7.2

The story of one of the most infamous cases in UK criminal history, that of serial killer Dennis Nilsen. Told through the prism of three men, the series explores the personal and professional consequences of coming into contact with a man like Nilsen.

Des

2020

Longitude poster
7.0

The fascinating story of John Harrison who, in the 18th century, believed he could make a clock that would work on board a ship—and so solve the problem of finding longitude at sea.

Longitude

2000

Longitude poster
7.0

The fascinating story of John Harrison who, in the 18th century, believed he could make a clock that would work on board a ship—and so solve the problem of finding longitude at sea.

Longitude

2000

The Scarlet Pimpernel poster
7.7

A series of television drama programmes loosely based on Baroness Emmuska Orczy's series of novels, set in 1793 during the French Revolution. It stars Richard E. Grant as the hero, Sir Percy Blakeney, and his eponymous alter ego. The first series also starred Elizabeth McGovern as his wife Marguerite and Martin Shaw as the Pimpernel's archrival, Paul Chauvelin. Robespierre was played by Ronan Vibert. It was filmed in the Czech Republic and scored by a Czech composer, Michal Pavlíček.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

1999

Victorian Scandals poster
10.0

Featuring dramatised versions of true stories that shocked mainstream Victorian society.

Victorian Scandals

1976

Colin's Sandwich poster
7.4

Colin's Sandwich is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC2 in 1988 and 1990 which stars Mel Smith as Colin Watkins, a British Rail clerk who aspired to be a horror writer. The show was written by Paul Smith and Terry Kyan and ran for two series of six episodes. In the second series, Colin manages to achieve some small successes as a writer.

Colin's Sandwich

1988

Madson poster
7.0

After eight years in prison for a crime he didn't commit – the murder of his wife – John Madson has been released and seeks revenge on the policeman that framed him, DI Rourke. He meets Magda, a feisty barrister, willing to help him legally and also gets him a job as an outside clerk in her chambers. As the wheels of justice grind slowly forward, Madson begins to rebuild his life and feels the need to help Magda's other clients, who the law appears to be treating unfairly.

Madson

1996