Darren John Boyd is an English actor. He starred in the Sky One series Spy, for which he won the 2012 BAFTA TV Award for Best Male Comedy Performance. His work in television and film spans comedy and drama.
Early life Boyd was born in Hastings, Sussex, and began acting at the age of 16, in local theatre productions.
Career
Television Boyd co-starred in the BBC comedy Kiss Me Kate (1998), which ran for three years and led to starring roles in British comedies including Hippies (1999), with Simon Pegg, and Smack the Pony (1999). In 2001, Boyd was co-creator and co-writer with Victoria Pile on Los Dos Bros, an off-beat sitcom exploring physical comedy and the relationship between Boyd and Cavan Clerkin as the titular half brothers. The show won a silver rose at Montreux in 2002. During this time Boyd starred alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the NBC series Watching Ellie.
Boyd returned to the UK in 2005, and took roles including Dr. Jake Leaf in the second series of Green Wing (2006) and Jonathan in Steve Coogan's Saxondale. In 2009, he appeared in the two-part adaptation of May Contain Nuts, based on John O'Farrell's novel Personal Affairs for BBC Three, and Royal Wedding (2010), which follows the 1981 Royal Wedding through the perspective of events in a Welsh mining village, written by Abi Morgan and starring Jodie Whittaker.
Boyd starred as Bib in the 2010 BBC sitcom Whites, and co-starred in the BBC Four drama Dirk Gently playing Dirk Gently's business partner Richard MacDuff from 2010 to 2012. In 2011 Boyd played John Cleese in Holy Flying Circus, a 90-minute dramatisation of the controversy over the 1979 release of Monty Python's Life of Brian.
From 2011 to 2013, Boyd starred in the Sky One series Spy, which won him BAFTA Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance, and also starred in two ITV dramas, Case Sensitive, a series adapted from Sophie Hannah's novel Point of Rescue alongside Olivia Williams, and three-part drama The Guilty.
In 2014, Boyd was reunited with his Watching Ellie costar Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a guest appearance on her HBO series Veep in the episode "Special Relationship".
Boyd played Markus Huseklepp as part of the ensemble cast of Sky Atlantic drama series Fortitude, which premiered in 2015. He briefly returned to comedy in the lead role of Matthew Bunting in the ITV sitcom The Delivery Man.
In 2016, he appeared in dramatic roles opposite Idris Elba in the fourth series of Luther, and opposite James Nesbitt in Stan Lee's Lucky Man.
In 2018, Boyd played Frank Haleton in the British BBC drama series Killing Eve. In 2019, Boyd provided the voice of Mr. Brown in The Adventures of Paddington which aired on the Nick Jr. Channel in 2020.
He played Supt. Dave Minty in the fact-based 2020 BBC drama The Salisbury Poisonings.
Cameos include an evangelical vicar in Rev. and ex-athlete Dave Wellbeck in BBC Olympics mockumentary Twenty Twelve.
In 2021, Boyd appeared in the BBC series The Outlaws.
Film Boyd has appeared in feature films including High Heels and Low Lifes (2002), Imagine Me & You (2005), Magicians (2007), Chris Morris' Four Lions (2010), The World's End (2013), Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013), Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor (2017) and The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019).
Radio Boyd starred as a reluctant arms dealer in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom Safety Catch. He co-starred in ElvenQuest, another Radio 4 sitcom, as Vidar the Elf Lord. In 2018, he appeared as a suspect in the Radio 4 drama, A Small Town Murder.
Filmography Film YearTitleRole Notes 2001 High Heels and Low Lifes Ray 2005 Imagine Me & You Cooper 2007 Magicians Otto Johnson 2010 Four Lions Sniper2011 Spoon Daniel Spoon Holy Flying Circus John Cleese 2012 Asylum Seekers Mike Short film2013 The World's End Shane Hawkins Underdogs Amadeo (voice) UK version Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa Detective Sergeant Martin Finch American title: Alan Partridge 2014 The Longest Drive Man Short film 2016 Bridget Jones's Baby Jeremy 2017 Journey Beyond Sodor Theo (voice) UK and U.S. versions 2019 The Personal History of David Copperfield Edward Murdstone
Television YearTitleRole Notes 1998–2000 Kiss Me Kate Craig Chapman 22 episodes 1999 Hippies Hugo Yemp 6 episodes 1999–2003 Smack the Pony Various characters 26 episodes 2002–2003 Watching Ellie Ben 16 episodes 2003 Little Robots Additional Voices (voice) Unknown episodes 2006 Green Wing Jake Leaf 5 episodes 2008 Little Dorrit Tite Barnacle Junior 4 episodes 2010 Whites Bib 6 episodes 2010–2012 Dirk Gently Richard MacDuff 4 episodes2011 Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge Daniel Langford 3 episodes Twenty Twelve Dave Wellbeck Episode: "Raising The Bar" 2011–2012 Spy Tim Elliot Lead role 2014 Warren United Warren Kingsley (voice) 6 episodes Veep Peter Mitchell Season 3, episode 72015 The Delivery Man Matthew Bunting 6 episodes Luther DCI Theo Bloom Series 4, episode 1 2015–2018 Fortitude Markus Husekleppe 18 episodes 2016 National Treasure Hamish Episode: "#1.4" 2016–2018 Stan Lee’s Lucky Man Detective Sergeant Steve Orwell Series 1–3 2018 Killing Eve Frank Haleton 5 episodes 2019 Flack Jeremy Episode: "Brooke" 2020 The Salisbury Poisonings Supt. Dave Minty TV seriesSoulmatesPeterEpisode 1 2020–2025 The Adventures of Paddington Mr. Brown (voice) 2020–present Trying Scott24 episodes 2021–2024 The Outlaws John 17 episodes 2024–present We Might Regret This Abe 10 episodes 2025 Down Cemetery Road C.8 episodes
Awards and recognition Los Dos Bros was winner of a Silver Rose for Best Sitcom at the Montreux Festival in 2002. Boyd won the Best TV Comedy Actor award at The British Comedy Awards in 2011. Nominated for Best Actor in a comedy at the Royal Television Society Awards, 2012. Boyd won the British Academy Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2012.
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