Arthur Darvill

Thomas Arthur Darvill (born 17 June 1982) is a British actor and musician.[1] He is known for playing Rory Williams, one of the Eleventh Doctor's companions in the television series Doctor Who (2010–2012), Rip Hunter in Legends of Tomorrow (2016–2018) and as Rev. Paul Coates in Broadchurch (2013–2017).[2] From 2013 to 2014 he appeared in the lead role in the theatre musical Once in the West End and on Broadway.

Arthur Darvill
Darvill at Paradise City Comic Con, December 2016
Born	Thomas Arthur Darvill 17 June 1982 Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor, musician
Years active	2000–present

Early life

Darvill's mother Ellie is an actress; during Arthur's early childhood, she worked with masks, puppets and live acting as a member of Cannon Hill Theatre, which was based at Midlands Arts Centre, and toured Britain and the world. She is also known as the puppeteer and voice behind Why Bird from Playdays. His father, Nigel, played the Hammond organ for artists including Edwin Starr, Ruby Turner, Fine Young Cannibals and UB40.[3] Darvill attended Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire from 1993 to 2000.[1]

Career

Early work

Darvill joined Stage2 Youth Theatre Company at the age of 10.[3] He was a member from 1991 to 2000 and had an early job on CITV in 2000, presenting the continuity links between the shows; during this time he was billed as Tom Darvill.[4] He left in 2001, founded his own theatre company (called Fuego's Men), and performed in the Midlands. At the age of 21, Darvill moved to London with four friends from youth theatre, each having secured a place at a drama school. They moved into a house in White City together. Darvill trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is trained in stage combat.[3][5]

Darvill made his professional stage debut playing condemned criminal Harrison in Edmund White's Terre Haute, which ran at the Assembly Rooms during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His performance was praised by Nicholas de Jongh of the Evening Standard and Susannah Clap of The Observer.[6][7] Darvill appeared in Terra Haute's transfer to Trafalgar Studios in 2007.[8] His performance gained him a Best Newcomer nomination at the 2007 Evening Standard Theatre Awards.[9]

Darvill played Rob in the 2007 monologue Stacy, in a performance The Times described as "compelling".[10] Later that year, he appeared in the Vaudeville Theatre's production of Swimming with Sharks with Christian Slater, Helen Baxendale and Matt Smith (which gained him a London Newcomer Award nomination).[11]

Television, film and theatre

Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill at Comic-Con 2012.

In 2008, Darvill made his television acting debut in the ITV crime drama He Kills Coppers. The same year, he played Edward "Tip" Dorrit in the BBC serial Little Dorrit.[12] Darvill began playing Rory Williams, companion to the Eleventh Doctor, in the fifth series of the BBC's science fiction show Doctor Who (reuniting with his Swimming with Sharks co-star Matt Smith. He became a regular character in the sixth series, and confirmed that he would be appearing in the seventh series;[13] before he and his co-star Karen Gillan (on-screen wife Amy Pond) left in the fifth episode.[14]

Darvill had a minor role as a stable groom in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, and played Mick Gallagher in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. In the summer of 2011, he played Mephistopheles "an agent of the Devil in human form" in Doctor Faustus at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London,[3][5] a production which was subsequently issued as a DVD. After his departure from Doctor Who he was cast in the drama Broadchurch as vicar Paul Coates, alongside David Tennant and Olivia Colman.[15]

On 19 April 2013 he took over the lead male role of Guy from the musical Once, on Broadway, New York, opposite new co-star Joanna Christie. The two also made an appearance on the 2013 Tony Awards to perform a number and to present the award for best scenery.[16][17][18] Darvill continued the role in the West End production from 17 March 2014 until 10 May 2014.[19]

In March 2015 Darvill was cast as the time-traveller Rip Hunter in the series Legends of Tomorrow.[20] He was written out of the show in 2018, by the end of the third season.[21] In 2019, Darvill took on the role of Oscar Lindquist in the new West End production of Sweet Charity.

Music and audio work

Darvill is also a musician and a composer; he has written songs and music for the Bush Theatre, and composed the score for Che Walker's 2008 play The Frontline at Shakespeare's Globe.[3] In June 2009, the musical Been So Long, based on Ché Walker's 1998 play, opened at the Young Vic and in September 2013 another collaboration, The Lightning Child, opened at the Globe. Darvill had worked with Walker for a number of years since they had first met at RADA, developing the songs and music for the show. The musical was performed at the Latitude Festival in July and had a run at the Traverse Theatre in August. Darvill received a Judge's Discretionary Award from MTM for his music.[22][23] In 2010, Darvill helped promote the solo album of Fyfe Dangerfield, playing with him on sessions for Graham Norton's show and on Xfm.[3]

Darvill has undertaken a number of radio and voice projects, including Doctor Who audiobooks. In December 2011, he played Keith Moon for BBC Radio 4's Burning Both Ends. In 2012, he voiced Gulliver in Radio 4's Gulliver's Travels and Sam in the short film Penguin.[24]

He collaborated with playwright Sam Holcroft on a musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox which premiered at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, in November 2016.

In 2018, Darvill started the new musical collective Paperlands with Ines De Clercq. The collective performed at St Pancras Old Church on 22 November 2018.[25] They took some time to record in a studio in December of that year.[26]

In 2020, Darvill appeared on the concept album for Vikki Stone and Kate Mulgrew's musical #ZoologicalSociety.[27][28] Despite the concert being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the album featuring Darvill was released digitally on 27 March 2020.

On 13 June 2020 it was confirmed that Darvill would reprise his role as Rory Williams with Big Finish Productions, in a multi-boxset series entitled 'The Lone Centurion', chronicling the character's time between the episodes The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang.[29]

Personal life

Darvill plays the guitar and keyboard and formed an indie band called Edmund in his teenage years, named after Edmund Pevensie, his favourite character in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.[3] He enjoys cooking and attending the theatre and music concerts. He collects taxidermy.[3] He is close friends with his Doctor Who former co-stars Karen Gillan and Matt Smith.[30]

Darvill was one of the celebrities, along with Tom Hiddleston, Jo Brand, E. L. James and Rachel Riley, to design and sign his own card for the UK-based charity Thomas Coram Foundation for Children. The campaign was launched by crafting company Stampin' Up! UK and the cards were auctioned off on eBay during May 2014.[31]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Sooty	Tom
2008	He Kills Coppers	Police constable
	Little Dorrit	Edward "Tip" Dorrit	7 episodes
2010–2012; 2020	Doctor Who	Rory Williams	Recurring role (series 5); main role (Series 6, 7)
2012	The Paradise	Bradley Burroughs	1 episode
2013–2017	Broadchurch	Reverend Paul Coates	23 episodes
2013	The White Queen	Henry Stafford	2 episodes
2016–2018	Legends of Tomorrow	Rip Hunter	Main role (season 1–2); recurring role (season 3)[32]
2019	Sticky	Dr. Boot	BBC 3 Sitcom
	World on Fire	Vernon Hunter	3 episodes
2020	Unprecedented	Danny	Episode: "#1.2"

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Pelican Blood	Cameron
2010	Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll	Mick Gallagher
	Robin Hood	Groom
2013	Crazy for You	Charlie	Short Film
2014	Captcha	Mel
2014	Penguin	Sam	Short film Voice
2015	Danny and the Human Zoo	Jonesy	TV Movie
2017	In Wonderland	Michael	Short Film
2018	Bertie	Tom
	Shut Up and Dig	Ben

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Little Shop of Horrors	Seymour Krelborn	Midlands Arts Centre[33]
2006	Terre Haute	Harrison	Wildman Room, Assembly Rooms Trafalgar Studios
2007	Stacy	Rob	Arcola Theatre
	Swimming with Sharks	Rex	Vaudeville Theatre
2010	Marine Parade	Christopher	Old Market, Hove, East Sussex
2011	Doctor Faustus	Mephistopheles	Shakespeare's Globe
2012	Our Boys	Parry	Duchess Theatre
2013–2014	Once	Guy	Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Phoenix Theatre
2014–2015	Treasure Island	Long John Silver	Royal National Theatre National Theatre Live
2017	Honeymoon in Vegas	Jack Singer	London Palladium
2018	Genesis Inc.	Miles/Abraham	Hampstead Theatre
2019	Sweet Charity	Oscar	Donmar Warehouse
	The Antipodes	Dave	Royal National Theatre
2020	Rare Earth Mettle	Hershel Fink	Royal Court Theatre

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Doctor Who: The Gunpowder Plot	Rory Williams	Voice and likeness

Audio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Dark Shadows: Speak No Evil	Tad Collins	Big Finish
	Road Trip	Doctor Jared Jones
	Skarlet	Jake Lawton	Audible
2013	Dark Shadows: Beneath the Veil	Alfie Chapman
2014	Frankenstein	Victor Frankenstein	Big Finish
2018	Torchwood: Believe	Frank Layton
2020	Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious Echoes Of Extinction	Cooke
2021-2022	The Lone Centurion	Rory Williams

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	The Tales of Max Carrados	Max Carrados	BBC Radio 4
	Burning Both Ends: When Oliver Reed Met Keith Moon	Keith Moon
2012	Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels	Gulliver
2017	Into the Water	Mark
2018	Billy Ruffian	Maitland
	Hi Spec	Ben
	Seven Songs for Simon Dixelius	Simon Dixelius

References

1. "Two Old Bromsgrovians chosen for BBC Adaptation" (PDF). Bromsgrovian News Review. Spring 2010. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
2. Raeside, Julia (15 September 2012). "Doctor Who: Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill on life with the timelord". The Guardian. London.
3. Curtis, Nick (27 May 2011). "Is this the end for Rory?". Evening Standard. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
4. Wightman, Catriona (20 June 2016). "What happened to the CITV presenters, from Pat Sharp to Arthur Darvill?". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
5. "Arthur Darvill goes from Doctor Who to Doctor Faustus". BBC. 10 June 2011.
6. De Jongh, Nicholas (17 August 2006). "Terrorist's duel on Death Row". Evening Standard (Associated Newspapers): p. 34.
7. Clapp, Susannah (20 August 2006). "A bright shiny Troy". The Observer (Guardian News & Media): p. 15.
8. Spencer, Charles (26 May 2007). "Must See Theatre". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group): p. 18.
9. Jury, Louise (31 October 2007). "Too much talent on London stage for a shortlist, say judges". Evening Standard (Associated Newspapers): p. 1.
10. Marlowe, Sam (12 February 2007). "Stacy". The Times (Times Newspapers): p. 21.
11. Slim, John (18 January 2008). "Youth theatre celebrates its 20th birthday". Birmingham Mail: p. 55.
12. Edward Dorrit. BBC Online. Retrieved on 4 February 2010.
14. "Gillan and Darvill to leave next series". Digitalspy.co.uk. 15 December 2011.
15. Bowie-Sell, Daisy (28 September 2012). "Arthur Darvill interview: 'I'm done with Doctor Who'". The Daily Telegraph. London.
16. David Gordon (30 May 2013). "Broadway's Once Celebrates 500th Performance and Welcomes Joanna Christie and Dr. Who's Arthur Darvill". TheaterMania.com.
17. Tony Awards 2013 – Once with Arthur Darvill and Johanna Christie. 10 June 2013 – via YouTube.
18. "Tony Awards 2013 live blog". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 June 2013.
19. Amer, Matthew (21 February 2014). "Arthur Darvill to lead London Once". Official London Theatre. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
20. "CW's 'Flash'/'Arrow' Spinoff Casts Time Traveler With 'Doctor Who' Alum". The Hollywood Reporter. 30 March 2015.
21. "Legends of Tomorrow Season 4: Rip Hunter Won't Return". ScreenRant. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
22. Been So Long. Young Vic. Retrieved on 4 February 2010.
23. Marlowe, Sam (19 June 2009). "Been So Long". The Times (Times Newspapers): p. 16.
24. "What Rory Did Next — Arthur Darvill Is Sam The Penguin". Penguin. Bleeding Cool. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
25. Desk, BWW News. "Declan Bennett and Arthur Darvill to Appear at St Pancras Old Church". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
26. PAPERLANDS (2 December 2018). "Preparing for a week in the studio. Warming up our digits to make sure we put them in the right place at the right time". @paperlandsmusic. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
27. RattyBurvil (27 March 2020). "Hey Twitter peeps. How are you all?". Retrieved 11 April 2020. I play a sexually challenged panda. Of course.
28. Alex Wood (13 March 2020). "#ZoologicalSociety musical album and concert to star Sharon D Clarke, Arthur Darvill and more". WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
29. "Rory Williams is The Lone Centurion! - News - Big Finish". www.bigfinish.com.
30. Susanna Lazarus. "Arthur Darvill: I will definitely work with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan again". RadioTimes.
31. Rebecca Pocklington (6 May 2014). "Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Jo Brand and more celebrities design and sign cards for UK's first children's charity". Mirror Online. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
32. "Comic-Con 2017: Rip Hunter, Captain Cold and Damien Darhk Returning to Legends of Tomorrow". IGN. 22 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
33. "Stage2 Youth Theatre &No. 124; 1996". Stage2.org. Archived from the original on 14 June 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2013.

External links

• Arthur Darvill at IMDb
• Arthur Darvill RADA profile – includes list of plays while in training
• Arthur Darvill on Twitter
• Arthur Darvill on Instagram