Don Warrington

Don Warrington MBE (born Donald Williams, 23 May 1951) is a Trinidadian-born British actor.[1][2] He is best known for playing Philip Smith in the ITV sitcom Rising Damp (1974-78), and Commissioner Selwyn Patterson in the BBC detective series Death in Paradise (2011-present).

This article is about the British actor. For the Canadian football player, see Don Warrington (Canadian football).

Don Warrington
MBE
Born
Donald Williams

(1951-05-23) 23 May 1951
Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies
OccupationActor
Years active1974 – present
Children2

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.[3]

Early life

Warrington was born in Trinidad, but moved to England with his mother and brother at a young age, while his sister stayed in Trinidad. He was brought up in Newcastle upon Tyne.[4] His father, Basil Kydd, was a Trinidadian politician who died in 1958.[5]

Warrington attended Harris College (now the University of Central Lancashire) and trained as an actor at the Drama Centre London.[6] As there was already an actor called Don Williams when he joined Equity, he took the stage surname "Warrington" after Warrington Road, the street he grew up on. He started acting in repertory theatre at the age of 17.[7]

Career

Television and Film

Warrington is best known for playing Philip Smith in Rising Damp, from 1974 to 1978, alongside Leonard Rossiter, Richard Beckinsale, and Frances de la Tour. Warrington also appeared as series regular in the crime drama C.A.T.S. Eyes, as government contact Nigel Beaumont (1985–1987); in Impact Earth (2007) playing General Harris; and in New Street Law as Judge Ken Winyard.

In 1993 Warrington played television reporter Graham Gaunt in To Play The King, the second part of the BBC's House of Cards trilogy.

He has had smaller roles in many programmes including Red Dwarf, Lovejoy, Manchild, and Diamond Geezer. Warrington portrayed the founder of Time Lord society, Rassilon, in several Doctor Who audio plays, and also appeared as the President of an alternate universe Great Britain in the Doctor Who episode "Rise of the Cybermen" (2006) as well as the episode "The End of Time". Soon after, he recorded an abridged audio book of the Doctor Who novel The Art of Destruction by Stephen Cole.

He is one of the interviewees on the BBC 2 series Grumpy Old Men, and he appears in a series of Kenco coffee advertisements in the United Kingdom in which he plays an African coffee plantation owner. He regularly provides voice-overs for both BBC TV and radio.

Warrington has also appeared in BBC1 sitcom The Crouches, which aired from 9 September 2003 until 2005. He played Bailey, who was Roly's boss at a London Underground station in South London. Roly was played by Robbie Gee. Warrington played the role of the Hospital Chaplain in Casualty, assuming the role of Trevor. He also starred in the 2010 film It's a Wonderful Afterlife. He also appeared in Grange Hill as Mr Peters, the father of pupil Lauren Peters.

He has provided voiceover links, reading out the various methods of contacting the show on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, which has been broadcast since 11 January 2010.

Since 2011, Warrington has played Commissioner Selwyn Patterson in the BBC show Death in Paradise.[8][9]

He also appeared as jazz musician Frederick J. Louden in a BBC radio production of The Devil's Music, written by Alan Plater. In 2011, Warrington played the father of a suspected terrorist in the last series of the BBC drama Waking the Dead.

In 2012 he played master of the college Marcus Harding in “Generation of Vipers”, S6:E2 of Lewis.

His film roles included the movie version of Rising Damp (1980), the Kenny Everett horror comedy Bloodbath at the House of Death (1983), The Lion of Africa (1987), Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), Peter Greenaway's 8½ Women (1999) and the horror film Lighthouse (1999).

Theatre

Warrington is also a theatre actor and has performed with the National Theatre,[10] the Royal Shakespeare Company, Bristol Old Vic and the Royal Exchange, Manchester.

In 2012–13 he toured with Gwen Taylor in the new stage version of Driving Miss Daisy.[11]

In 2013 Warrington played the lead role of Joe Keller, in Talawa Theatre Company's all-black revival of Arthur Miller's tragedy All My Sons at the Manchester Royal Exchange,[12] directed by Michael Buffong – a production that The Guardian reviewer called "flawless", giving it a five-star rating.[13]

Warrington performed as King Lear in the 2016 Talawa Theatre Company and Manchester Royal Exchange.[14][15] "King Lear review at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester – ‘outstanding’"][16]

Warrington appeared as George in David Mamet's Glengarry Glenn Ross between October 2017 and February 2018 at the Playhouse Theatre alongside Christian Slater, Robert Glenister, Kris Marshall and Daniel Ryan.[17]

He appeared as the central protagonist Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman at the Royal Exchange Theatre from October to November 2018.[18]

Strictly Come Dancing

In 2008 Warrington competed in the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with the 2005 and 2006 British National Champion in Latin American dance, Lilia Kopylova.[19] After Week 4, Warrington was joint seventh out of the remaining 12 contestants with an average of 24.5 points. In Week 5 he was eliminated, having lost the dance-off against Heather Small, with the first three judges all voting for Small over Warrington.

He joined the show to step out of his comfort zone, and he appreciated the opportunity to learn to dance.[20]

Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Horwood Phillips Goodman Tonioli Total
1 Cha-Cha-Cha / "Let's Groove Tonight" 3 5 6 5 19 Dance Off
3 Tango / "Whatever Lola Wants" 7 7 8 8 30 Safe
5 American Smooth / "Can't Smile Without You" 6 6 7 6 25 Eliminated

Selected television roles
YearTitleRole
1974–1978Rising DampPhilip Smith
1985–1987C.A.T.S. EyesNigel Beaumont
1992 Red Dwarf Binks ("Holoship")
1993To Play the KingGraham Gaunt
2002–2003ManchildPatrick
2003–2005The CrouchesBailey
2006–2007New Street LawJudge Ken Winyard
2006Doctor WhoThe President ("Rise of the Cybermen")
2009–2010CasualtyHospital Chaplain Trevor
2011–Death in ParadiseCommissioner Selwyn Patterson
2014Chasing ShadowsChief Superintendent Harley Drayton
2016The FiveRay Kenwood

Footnotes
  1. "Don Warrington MBE" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The British Blacklist.
  2. Dominic Cavendish, "Don Warrington: Rigsby's a racist – but that's not the real issue", The Telegraph, 15 May 2013.
  3. "No. 58729". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2008. p. 24.
  4. Dominic Cavendish, "Don Warrington: Rigsby's a racist – but that's not the real issue", The Telegraph, 15 May 2013.
  5. Don Warrington biography, from Caribbean Britain: The Cultural and Biographical Directory by Marjorie H. Morgan. Historical Biographies, 1 October 2012.
  6. Don Warrington biography, ATG Tickets.
  7. "Don Warrington", Ultimate Strictly.
  8. Characters, Death in Paradise, BBC One.
  9. "Don Warrington", Internet Movie Database.
  10. Don Warrington page Archived 4 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Royal National Theatre.
  11. Marion McMullen, "Driving force behind Don Warrington's stage return" Archived 4 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Coventry Telegraph, 8 February 2013.
  12. "All My Sons" Archived 4 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Talawa Theatre Company. Clare Brennan, "All My Sons – review", The Observer, 6 October 2013.
  13. Alfred Hicking, "All My Sons – review", The Guardian, 2 October 2013.
  14. Claire Allfree, "Don Warrington's King Lear is a heartbreaking tour de force"
  15. Mark Shenton, [https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2016/king-lear-review-at-the-royal-exchange-theatre-manchester/
  16. "King Lear Reviewed", Talawa.
  17. "Glengarry Glen Ross". www.glengarrywestend.com.
  18. "Death of a Salesman - Royal Exchange Theatre". www.royalexchange.co.uk.
  19. "Don Warrington & Lilia Kopylova", Strictly Come Dancing, BBC One.
  20. Alex Fletcher, "Don Warrington ('Strictly Come Dancing')", Digital Spy, 22 October 2008.

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