Anthony Flanagan
Encyclopedia
Anthony Flanagan is an English
actor most widely known for his portrayal of policeman Tony in Channel 4
's comedy-drama series Shameless.
.
's play 'A Russian In The Woods' (Flanagan would later reflect on the experience of appearing on stage naked). This led to a collaboration with writer and theatre critic Richard Edmonds on a one-man show on the life of Baudelaire entitled King of a Rainy Country.
Notable work includes roles in Vincent
, Cracker
(where his roles as Kenny Archer in the 2006 TV film was almost universally praised despite mixed critical reaction to the comeback show itself), Life on Mars
, Foyle's War
, All About George, Casualty
, Holby City
, The Bill
, Spooks
, Spooks: Code 9, Doctor Who
, Survivors
and Red Riding
. He played his first major lead role in the short serial Instinct
, broadcast in February 2007 and was due to appear in the West End
in Glengarry Glen Ross
in October 2007 but withdrew due to 'personal reasons'.
Flanagan appeared in the BBC TV docudrama
Heroes and Villains
as Spartacus
, first broadcasted in 2008. He breaks the character of 'virile Roman hero' and appears full of doubt, irascible and Shakespearean. The series was successful in Europe and USA, and was noted for the credibility of its historic sources. He took on the role of villain Dexter in ITV's Survivors
(2009–2010); the character is killed in series 2 episode 3 (ITV later announced that the shooting of season 3 would be cancelled). In 2009 he played the dogged but doomed journalist Barry Gannon in Red Riding
; set in 1974, it is the first film in the Red Riding Trilogy. Initially a Channel 4 series, the trilogy has been successful all over the world, and regularly featured on the European film festival circuit, winning many awards. Flanagan was scheduled to appear in the film 'Acts of Godfrey', which filmed in early 2010; however, he didn't appear due to theatre commitments. He briefly appears in Glorious 39 (2009), a UK production written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff
.
2010 was the year of Flanagan's theatre comeback. The ex-RSC came to the Birmingham Rep Theatre for a new adaptation of Chekov's Cherry Orchard beside Josie Lawrence, where his performance was very well received.
In 2011, Flanagan will appear in the role of Steve in Life On The Line, a short film by Jamie Donaghue.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor most widely known for his portrayal of policeman Tony in Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's comedy-drama series Shameless.
Biography
After leaving school, Flanagan worked as a joiner and a painter and a decorator. At 16 he went to London, taking on occasional odd jobs and for a time slept on the streets. Flanagan has described this as "a very bad period." Flanagan decided to become an actor after seeing a friend of his sister perform at RADARada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
.
Career
After studying acting at Oldham College, Flanagan's first professional job was in a lead role at the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) in the 2001/2 season, playing Pat Harford in Peter WhelanPeter Whelan
Peter Whelan is a British playwright.Whelan was born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, England. His works includes seven plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the first of which was Captain Swing, in 1979...
's play 'A Russian In The Woods' (Flanagan would later reflect on the experience of appearing on stage naked). This led to a collaboration with writer and theatre critic Richard Edmonds on a one-man show on the life of Baudelaire entitled King of a Rainy Country.
Notable work includes roles in Vincent
Vincent (TV series)
Vincent is an ITV drama series. An initial series was made and aired in 2005 and starred Ray Winstone, in the title role, and Suranne Jones as two members of a team of private eyes hired by people to spy on their partners or indeed anyone else they need to keep tabs on. The four part series also...
, Cracker
Cracker (UK TV series)
Cracker is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV and created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. The series is centered on a criminal psychologist , Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane. Set in Manchester, it consists of three series which were...
(where his roles as Kenny Archer in the 2006 TV film was almost universally praised despite mixed critical reaction to the comeback show itself), Life on Mars
Life on Mars (TV series)
Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....
, Foyle's War
Foyle's War
Foyle's War is a British detective drama television series set during World War II, created by screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz, and was commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse came to an end in 2000. It has aired on ITV since 2002...
, All About George, Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
, Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
, Spooks: Code 9, Doctor Who
42 (Doctor Who)
"42" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 19 May 2007, and is the seventh episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series....
, Survivors
Survivors (2008 TV Series)
Survivors is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC. It depicts the lives of a group of people who survived a virulent strain of heretofore unknown influenza which has wiped out most of the human race...
and Red Riding
Red Riding
Red Riding is a television adaptation of English author David Peace's Red Riding Quartet. Published between 1999 and 2002, the quartet comprises the novels Nineteen Seventy-Four , Nineteen Seventy-Seven , Nineteen Eighty and Nineteen Eighty-Three...
. He played his first major lead role in the short serial Instinct
Instinct (TV serial)
Instinct is a two-part drama serial which premièred on ITV on 26 February 2007. It was created and written by Lizzie Mickery, and produced by Tightrope Pictures for ITV...
, broadcast in February 2007 and was due to appear in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1984 play written by David Mamet. The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts—from lies and flattery to bribery, threats, intimidation and burglary—to sell...
in October 2007 but withdrew due to 'personal reasons'.
Flanagan appeared in the BBC TV docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
Heroes and Villains
Heroes and Villains (TV series)
Heroes and Villains was a 2007-2008 BBC Television docudrama series looking at key moments in the lives and reputations of some of the greatest warriors of history. Each hour long episode featured a different historical figure, including Napoleon I of France, Attila the Hun, Spartacus, Hernán...
as Spartacus
Spartacus
Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
, first broadcasted in 2008. He breaks the character of 'virile Roman hero' and appears full of doubt, irascible and Shakespearean. The series was successful in Europe and USA, and was noted for the credibility of its historic sources. He took on the role of villain Dexter in ITV's Survivors
Survivors (2008 TV Series)
Survivors is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC. It depicts the lives of a group of people who survived a virulent strain of heretofore unknown influenza which has wiped out most of the human race...
(2009–2010); the character is killed in series 2 episode 3 (ITV later announced that the shooting of season 3 would be cancelled). In 2009 he played the dogged but doomed journalist Barry Gannon in Red Riding
Red Riding
Red Riding is a television adaptation of English author David Peace's Red Riding Quartet. Published between 1999 and 2002, the quartet comprises the novels Nineteen Seventy-Four , Nineteen Seventy-Seven , Nineteen Eighty and Nineteen Eighty-Three...
; set in 1974, it is the first film in the Red Riding Trilogy. Initially a Channel 4 series, the trilogy has been successful all over the world, and regularly featured on the European film festival circuit, winning many awards. Flanagan was scheduled to appear in the film 'Acts of Godfrey', which filmed in early 2010; however, he didn't appear due to theatre commitments. He briefly appears in Glorious 39 (2009), a UK production written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff
Stephen Poliakoff
Stephen Poliakoff, CBE, FRSL is an acclaimed British playwright, director and scriptwriter, widely judged amongst Britain's foremost television dramatists.-Early life and career:...
.
2010 was the year of Flanagan's theatre comeback. The ex-RSC came to the Birmingham Rep Theatre for a new adaptation of Chekov's Cherry Orchard beside Josie Lawrence, where his performance was very well received.
In 2011, Flanagan will appear in the role of Steve in Life On The Line, a short film by Jamie Donaghue.
Select Filmography
- ShamelessShamelessShameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...
(2004–2006), Tony - Life on MarsLife on MarsScientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. Fictional Martians have been a recurring feature of popular entertainment of the 20th and 21st centuries, but it remains an open question whether life currently exists on...
(2006), Pete Bond - CrackerCracker (UK TV series)Cracker is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV and created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. The series is centered on a criminal psychologist , Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane. Set in Manchester, it consists of three series which were...
(2006), Kenny Archer - InstinctInstinct (TV serial)Instinct is a two-part drama serial which premièred on ITV on 26 February 2007. It was created and written by Lizzie Mickery, and produced by Tightrope Pictures for ITV...
(2007), D.C.I. Thomas Flynn - Heroes and VillainsHeroes and Villains (TV series)Heroes and Villains was a 2007-2008 BBC Television docudrama series looking at key moments in the lives and reputations of some of the greatest warriors of history. Each hour long episode featured a different historical figure, including Napoleon I of France, Attila the Hun, Spartacus, Hernán...
(2007-8), Spartacus - Red RidingRed RidingRed Riding is a television adaptation of English author David Peace's Red Riding Quartet. Published between 1999 and 2002, the quartet comprises the novels Nineteen Seventy-Four , Nineteen Seventy-Seven , Nineteen Eighty and Nineteen Eighty-Three...
(2009), Barry Gannon - SurvivorsSurvivorsSurvivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977...
(2008–10), Dexter - Life on the lineLife on the LineLife on the Line is the second studio album released by pub rock band Eddie and the Hot Rods. It is mixed by Ed Hollis and Steve Nicol, produced by Ed Hollis and engineered by Steve Lillywhite...
(2011), Steve