Blake Ritson

Blake Adam Ritson (born 14 January 1978)^[1] is an English actor.

Blake Ritson
Blake Ritson at New York Comic-Con (2014)
Born	Blake Adam Ritson (1978-01-14) 14 January 1978 (age 46) London, England
Occupation(s)	Actor, director
Years active	1996–present
Partner	Hattie Morahan
Children	2

Early life

Ritson was born on 14 January 1978 in London and attended the Dolphin School in Reading, Berkshire until 1993, before going to St Paul's School in West London on an academic scholarship. He then attended Jesus College, Cambridge,^[2] where he studied English and Medieval Italian, graduating in 2000.^[3] While a student he acted on both stage and screen,^[4] playing Paul Etheridge in White Chameleon, Fleance in Macbeth, and Augustus in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia (1996) at the National Theatre in productions directed by Richard Eyre and Trevor Nunn.^[3]

Career

Ritson is best known in recent years for playing King Edward III in the TV miniseries World Without End (2012), the Duke of Kent in Upstairs Downstairs (2010–2012), Mr Elton in the 2009 BBC adaptation of Emma, Edmund Bertram in the 2007 ITV adaptation of Mansfield Park,^[5] Giles Vicary in the BBC series Red Cap and for portraying sidekick Robert Presley in A Touch of Frost.^[6] He also played the part of Justin in The League of Gentlemen, Idek in God on Trial, and the comic lead in For Elsie, which he also co-produced. He also portrayed the main antagonist in David Goyer’s Da Vinci’s Demons (2013).

In 2013, Ritson appeared as Colonel Brandon in Helen Edmundson's BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.^[7] in 2020, he starred in the Big Finish reboot of cult adventure series Adam Adamant Lives!.^[8] He had lent his voice to several other productions for the company.

In 2022, Ritson starred as Oscar Van Rijn in The Gilded Age on HBO.

Ritson writes and directs with his brother, Dylan.^[9] The brothers first directed the short film Out of Time. Starring Mark Heap and Raquel Cassidy, the film won the Global Audience Award at the first CON-CAN Movie Festival^[10] and was runner up at Minimalen and the Berlin Film Festival. It also screened at the London, São Paulo and Dresden film festivals. Their second short film, More More More, starring The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss, was a runner-up in the Turner Classic Movies Competition. Their third film, shot in 2009, was entitled Love Hate, and starred Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell. It was chosen for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival, London BFI Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Foyle, Omaha, Encounters, Berkshire International Film Festival, Sofia Film Fest (Bulgaria), Tofifest International Film Festival (Poland), West Hollywood International, LA Shorts Fest and Short Shorts Film Festival (Japan). It won the Jury Award at Palm Springs International Shortsfest and won the Best International Short award at Cinema St. Louis Film Festival.

The Ritson brothers have also shot a fourth short film, Good Boy, starring Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson), Reece Shearsmith, Nicholas Burns, Joanna Page and Blake Ritson's fiancée Hattie Morahan.^[11] The Ritson Brothers were selected for the front cover of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow 2009.

Personal life

Ritson is engaged to actress Hattie Morahan, whom he met at Cambridge University. They have a daughter, Amity, born in August 2016 and a son born in 2020, and are living in North London. Ritson is the brother of Dylan Ritson, with whom he directs and writes.

Ritson played the banjolele on Douglas Hodge's 2006 album Cowley Road Songs,^[12] which was recorded in four days at the Blue Moon Studios in Banbury. He describes the banjolele as "a hybrid instrument between a ukulele and a banjo; teamed up with the gazoo it’s a winning combination."^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1996	Different for Girls	Young Prentice
1999	Titus	Mutius
2001	Me Without You	Tim
2002	AKA	Alexander Gryffoyn
2008	RocknRolla	Johnny Sloane
2009	Dead Man Running	Jarvis
2011	For Elsie	Glenn	Short film
2012	Hyde Park on Hudson	Butler
2014	Serena	Lowenstein
2021	Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard	Gunther

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1996	No Bananas	Pete	Episode: "Blitz"
	Breaking the Code	Christopher Morcom	Television film
1997–1998	Knight School	Sir Roger de Courcey	3 episodes
1999	Shooting the Past	Nick	3 episodes
2000	The League of Gentlemen	Justin Smart	2 episodes
2001	London's Burning	Dermot	2 episodes
	Urban Gothic	Dave Matthews	Episode: "The End"
	Red Cap	Lt. Giles Vicary	Television film
2003	Adventure Inc.	Byron Haycroft	Episode: "Angel of St. Edmunds"
2003–2004	Red Cap	Giles Vicary	12 episodes
2005	If...	Ben Swales	Episode: "If...We Stopped Giving Aid to Africa"
	Strauss: The Waltz King	Older Johann Strauss II	Television film
	The Bill	Gavin Murray	Episode: "Honour"
2006	Casualty	Daniel Tasker	Episode: "Worlds Apart"
	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Graham Marshall	Episode: "Chinese Walls"
	A Touch of Frost	D.C. Robert Presley	Episode: "Endangered Species"
2007	Mansfield Park	Edmund Bertram	Television film
	The Commander: The Devil You Know	John Littlewood	Television film
2008	God on Trial	Idek	Television film
2009	Emma	Mr. Elton	4 episodes
2010–2012	Upstairs Downstairs	The Duke of Kent	8 episodes
2011	The Crimson Petal and the White	Bodley	3 episodes
	The Romantics	Percy Bysshe Shelley	Episode: "Eternity
	Doctor Who: The Lost Stories	Instructor Shibac (voice)	Episode: "The Foe from the Future"
	Garrow's Law	Charles Fox	Episode #3.4
2012	World Without End	King Edward III	8 episodes
2013–2015	Da Vinci's Demons	Girolamo Riario	26 episodes
2015	The Embrace	Dan	5 episodes
2016	Indian Summers	Charlie Havistock	10 episodes
	Hooten & the Lady	Yannaras	Episode: "Egypt"
2018–2019	Krypton	Brainiac	20 episodes
2019	Endeavour	Gabriel Van Horne	Episode: "Apollo"
2022–2023	The Gilded Age	Oscar Van Rhijn	17 episodes
	The Crown	Andrew Gailey	4 episodes
2024	The Count of Monte Cristo	Danglars	Episode #1.1
	Interview with the Vampire	Morgan Ward	Episode: "What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned"

Stage

• Rope – Brandon (Almeida, dir. Roger Michell)
• Tender – (Donmar Warehouse, dir. Seth Sklar-Heyn)
• Violet – Mio (Royal Court, dir. Indu Rubasingham)
• Love Is Blind – Manolito Trevelez (Royal Court, dir. Nathalie Abrahami)
• The Importance of Being Earnest – Jack Worthing (ADC Theatre, 1999, dir. Phillip Breen)
• Arcadia – Septimus (Bristol Old Vic, dir. Rachel Kavanaugh)
• HappyTime Park – Xavier (Riverside Studios, devised and dir. Dylan Ritson)
• In Praise of Love – Joey (Theatre Royal Bath, dir. Deborah Bruce)
• Arcadia – Augustus (Theatre Royal Haymarket, – National Theatre/Michael Codron – dir. Trevor Nunn)
• Macbeth – Fleance (National Theatre, Olivier, dir. Richard Eyre)
• White Chameleon – Paul Etheridge (National Theatre, Cottesloe, dir. Richard Eyre)
• The Luke Files – Bartholomew (RT Productions, dir. Paul McKusker)
• Romeo and Juliet – Benvolio (Immersive, dir. Mark Rosenblatt)

Radio and audio drama

• The War of the Worlds – Robert (BBC Radio 4, dir. Marc Beeby)
• Publish and be Damn'd – Argyle (BBC Radio 4, Ellen Dryden)
• The Go-Between – Hugh Trimingham (BBC Radio 3, Matt Thompson)
• Gods And Monsters – Hurmzid (Big Finish, Ken Bentley)
• The Diary of Samuel Pepys – Edward Montagu (BBC Radio 4, Kate McAll)
• Doctor Who – Foe from the Future – Shibac (Big Finish, Ken Bentley)
• Freud: The Case Histories: The Wolf Man – Sergei Pankejeff (BBC Radio 4, Nadia Molinari)
• Richard II – Henry Bolingbroke (BBC Radio 4, Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer)
• Money – Evelyn (BBC Radio 3, Samuel West)
• The American Senator – John Morton (BBC Radio 4, Tracey Neale)
• Poetry Please – Various Roles (BBC Radio 4, Christine Hall)
• Death in Genoa – Dr. Carlo Bazzani (Independent Drama, written Thomas Wright)
• The Absolutist – Reader (BBC Book at Bedtime, dir. Heather Larmour)
• Saint Joan – Charles (BBC Radio 3, dir. Jonquil Panting)
• Sunk – Bert Selphin (BBC Radio 4, dir. Gemma McMullan)
• Leverage – David (BBC Radio 4, dir. Sasha Yevtushenko)
• A Month in the Country – Moon (BBC Radio 4, dir. David Hunter)
• The Far Pavilions – Ash (BBC Radio 4, dir. Jessica Dromgoole and Marc Beeby)
• With Great Pleasure – Reader (BBC Radio 4, dir. Christine Hall)
• The Ordeals of Sherlock Holmes – Christopher Thrale (Big Finish, Ken Bentley)
• Aunts Aren't Gentlemen – Reader (BBC Radio 4, Mark Beeby & Emma Harding)
• Billions – Mark (BBC Radio 4, Jonquil Panting)
• The Barchester Chronicles – Crosbie (BBC Radio 4, Gary Brown)
• The Shadow of Dorian Gray – John Gray (BBC Radio 4, Abigail Le Fleming)
• Bonnie Prince Charlie – Charles Edward Stuart (BBC Radio 4, Sasha Yevtushenko)
• The Trespasser's Guide to the Classics – Dorian Gray (BBC Radio 4, Sasha Yevtushenko)
• Artist Descending a Staircase – Beauchamp (BBC Radio 3, Gordon House)
• Two on a Tower – Swithin St.Cleeve (BBC Radio 4, dir. Stefan Escreet)
• Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast – (BBC Radio 4, dir. Sam Hoyle)
• The Wings of the Dove – (BBC Radio 4, dir. Nadia Molinari)
• The Killing – (BBC Radio 4, dir. Sasha Yevtushenko)
• The Man Who Shot the 60s – (BBC4, dir. Linda Brusasco)
• The Embrace – Dan (BBC Radio 4, dir. Nadia Molinari)
• Sense and Sensibility – Colonel Brandon – (BBC Radio 4, adapted by Helen Edmundson)
• Six Windows of the Muslim World – (Crescent Films, dir. Ned Williams)
• Adam Adamant Lives! Volume 01: A Vintage Year for Scoundrels – Adam Adamant (Big Finish, written by Guy Adams)
• The Divine Comedy – Dante the Poet (BBC Radio 4, dir. Stephen Wyatt)
• Enduring Love – Joe (BBC Radio 4, dir. Amber Barnfather)

Video games

• Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King – Angelo
• Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire – Cedric Diggory
• Killzone: Liberation – Colonel Cobar
• Xenoblade Chronicles – Alvis
• Dark Souls – Griggs of Vinheim
• Final Fantasy XIV – Aymeric
• El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron – Enoch
• The Last Story – Jirall, additional voices
• Soul Sacrifice – Magusar
• Dark Souls II – Royal Sorcerer Navlaan
• The Order: 1886 – Additional voices
• Dark Souls III – Hawkwood the Deserter
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed – Alpha

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Project	Result	Ref.
2023	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series	The Gilded Age	Pending	[13]

References

1. "All England & Wales, Birth Index, 1916–2005 results for Blake Adam Ritson". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
2. "Blake and Dylan Ritson (Writer-Directors)". PFD. Archived from the original on 6 November 2007.
3. "Congregations of the Regent House on 29 June, 30 June, and 1 July 2000: Jesus College". Cambridge University Reporter. 12 July 2000.
4. "Blake Ritson, Class of 1991". Dolphin School. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008.
5. Company Pictures: Mansfield Park Archived 18 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
6. ITV Home^{[dead link]}
7. "BBC – Sense And Sensibility – Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
8. "Adam Adamant Lives! - News - Big Finish".
9. "Blake Ritson & Dylan Ritson". Preview Room. Archived from the original on 19 October 2006.
10. "CON-CAN Movie Festival, Internet Short Movie Festival". con-can.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2005.
11. Jones, Alice (28 July 2008). "Modern miss: Hattie Morahan is ditching bonnets in favour of cutting-edge theatre work". The Independent. London.
12. "DougHodge.com". www.doughodge.com.
13. "Nominations Announced for the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®" (Press release). Screen Actors Guild. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.

External links

• Jane Austen and Performance
• Breaking the Code: Alan Turing Scrapbook
• Blake Ritson at IMDb
• God on Trial: Blake Ritson Plays Idek
• Out of Time: Watch a scene of Ritson's film
• Voice Overs Blake Ritson
• The Big Interview: Blake Ritson, 2009