Derek Riddell

Derek Riddell (born 11 January 1967) is a Scottish television and theatre actor. He is best known for the portrayal of Richard Cawood in the BBC One television series Happy Valley. He is also known for Gentleman Jack, Industry and The Missing. He has guest-starred in Doctor Who, Ugly Betty, Silent Witness, Waterloo Road, and Shetland.

Derek Riddell
Born	(1967-01-11) 11 January 1967 (age 58) Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–present
Partner	Frances Carrigan
Children	2
Parents	Ian Riddell (father) Hope Ross (mother)

Early life

Riddell was born in Glasgow, the son of teacher and former actress Hope Ross and former St Mirren and Berwick Rangers footballer Ian Riddell.^[1] He graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a degree in business,^[2] before training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, graduating in 1990.^[3]

Career

After finishing drama school, Riddell was cast in the BBC Scotland production Strathblair and guest-starred in a number of popular TV shows such as Taggart, Casualty and The Bill. His big break came in the critically acclaimed Channel 4 series The Book Group and the comedy-drama No Angels.^[3] In addition to his television work, he regularly works in theatre productions.^[4]

Personal life

His partner is the actress Frances Carrigan, and they have twins, Eve and Felix.^[5]

Filmography

Year	Work	Role	Notes
1992–1993	Strathblair	Alec Ritchie	20 episodes
1995	Taggart	Dr Costello	1 episode
1996	Casualty	Jeff Marriot	1 episode
1997	The Bill	RSPCA Insp. Goodman	1 episode
2000	Taggart	Stevie	1 episode
2001	Urban Gothic	Billings	1 episode
2002	Casualty	Lewis	1 episode
	Where the Heart Is	Wilson	1 episode
	Spooks	Steven	1 episode, uncredited
	The Project	Richard Loach	Television film
2002–2003	The Book Group	Rab	12 episodes
2003	Clocking Off	Jamie Campbell	6 episodes
2004–2006	No Angels	Dr Jamie Patterson	20 episodes
2005	ShakespeaRe-Told	Don Reid	"Much Ado About Nothing"[6]
2005, 2006	The Virgin Queen	Sir Walter Raleigh
2006	Doctor Who	Sir Robert MacLeish	Episode: "Tooth and Claw"[nb 1]
	Vincent	Martin Downing	1 episode
2007	Dalziel and Pascoe	Mark Croft	2 episodes
	State of Mind	Dr James Lecroix	8 episodes
2007–2009	Ugly Betty	Stuart	7 episodes
2008	Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles	Lachlan Weaver	1 episode
2009	Trust Me	Dan	1 episode
	Law & Order: UK	Dr Alec Merrick	Episode: "Alesha"
	Micro Men	Nigel Searle
2010	Five Days	Nick Durdon	Series 2
2011	M.I. High	Edward Dixon Halliday	1 episode
	Death in Paradise	Patrick Knight	1 episode
	Garrow's Law	Matthew Bambridge	1 episode
2012	Secrets and Words	John Jones	Episode 5[7]
	DCI Banks	Simon Harris	Episode: "Innocent Graves" Parts 1 & 2
2013	Silent Witness	Michael Trenter	Episode: "Change" Parts 1 & 2
	Waterloo Road	Joe Mulgrew	1 episode
	Ripper Street	Superintendent Constantine	1 episode
	Bob Servant	Rev Thomson	2 episodes
	Frankie	Andy Peat	[8]
2014	The Village	Bill Gibby	[9]
2014, 2023	Happy Valley	Richard Cawood	Series 1 and 3
2015	Inspector George Gently	Walter Nunn	Series 7 episode 1
	New Tricks	Craig Bentham	1 episode
2016	Midsomer Murders	Des McCordell	1 episode
	Undercover	Paul Brightman	[10]
	The Missing	Adam Gettrick	Series 2 regular
2017	W1A	Clive Cook
	Gunpowder	King James VI & I	3 episodes
2018	Hard Sun	Roland Bell	6 episodes
	Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald	Torquil Travers
2019	Gentleman Jack	Captain Sutherland
	Shetland	Chris Brooks
	A Confession	Pete	6 episodes
2020	Industry	Clement Cowan
2023	Payback	DCI Adam Guthrie
2024	Boarders	Bernard	6 episodes

Audio

Riddell took the part of Roj Blake in the three-part Blake's 7 audio drama broadcast on BBC Radio in 2007.

Notes

1. He is also seen as part of a flashback montage from this episode in the series four finale, "Journey's End".