Paul Copley

Paul is a long established and much respected British actor and voiceover artist. Born in Denby Dale, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 25th November 1944 he grew up beside a dairy farm. His father, Harold, was involved with local amateur dramatic productions, as were the rest of his family. He went to Penistone Grammar School, then the Northern Counties College of Education in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he received an Associate of the Drama Board (ADB) in Drama. He taught English and Drama in Walthamstow, before he joined the Leeds Playhouse Theatre-in-education Company in 1971. In 1976, Paul won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a New Play for his role in John Wilson's For King and Country. With many and varied roles to follow, Paul soon established himself as one of the UK's leading stage, film, television and radio actors. In 2011-2015 Paul gained worldwide recognition appearing in 16 episodes of the hugely popular television series Downton Abbey playing the popular role of farmer Mr Mason. Paul is married to the actress Natasha Pyne. They married in 1972, after both performing in a Leeds Playhouse production of Frank Wedekind's Lulu, adapted by Peter Barnes, directed by Bill Hays in 1971.

Known For: Acting

Born: Denby Dale, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, 1944-11-25

Died: null

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1973	Speech Day	Woodwork Master	0
2	1973	Father Dear Father	Dumbo	48
3	1975	Diane	Jim	40
4	1975	Alfie Darling	Bakey	45
5	1976	Arnhem: The Story of an Escape	Finnegan	40
6	1977	A Bridge Too Far	Pvt. Wicks	72
7	1977	A Christmas Carol	Fred (Scrooge's Nephew)	66
8	1978	Some Enchanted Evening	Peter	0
9	1978	Destiny	Paul McShane	0
10	1978	The Turkey Who Lives on the Hill	Bill	0
11	1978	Mucking Out	Brian Wilson	0
12	1978	Travellers	Young William/Middle William/Sales Rep	0
13	1978	On a Paving Stone Mounted		0
14	1979	Zulu Dawn	Cpl. Storey	60
15	1979	Black Jack	Narrator	70
16	1979	Cries from a Watchtower	Andy	0
17	1980	Death of a Princess	Steve Jackson	78
18	1980	Happy	Vernon	0
19	1981	A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado	Tom	0
20	1981	A Room for the Winter	Robert	10
21	1981	P.Q. 17	PO Jordan	0
22	1982	Ghost in the Water	Mr. Reed	65
23	1983	Ends and Means		0
24	1983	Doll’s Eye	Social Worker	10
25	1985	Bird Fancier	Roy Pearson	0
26	1985	Which Side Are You On?	Narrator (voice)	65
27	1985	Silas Marner	William Dane	56
28	1986	Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus	Local Man	0
29	1989	Testimony of a Child	Gerry	0
30	1991	How's Business	Jack	0
31	1993	The Remains of the Day	Harry Smith	74
32	1994	A Pinch of Snuff	Charlie Heppelwhite	0
33	1996	Jude	Mr. Willis	63
34	1998	Written in Blood	Brian Chappel	90
35	1998	Hornblower: The Even Chance	Matthews	74
36	1998	Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant	Mathews	74
37	1999	Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil	Matthews	72
38	1999	Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters	Mathews	72
39	2001	Blow Dry	Ken	59
40	2001	Hornblower: Mutiny	Mathews	74
41	2001	Hornblower: Retribution	Matthews	74
42	2002	The Many Lives of Albert Walker	Danny Peck	0
43	2003	Hornblower: Loyalty	Matthews	71
44	2003	Hornblower: Duty	Matthews	73
45	2003	The Key		0
46	2005	Marian, Again	Phillip Walsh	48
47	2006	When Kim & Aggie Went To Hospital	Self - Narrator (voice)	0
48	2007	The Shadow in the North	Paton	66
49	2012	First Encounter: King Lear	King Lear	0
50	2015	The Sound of Music Live!	Franz	77
51	2016	The Nest Egg		70
52	2016	Reg		50
53	2020	Ropeless	Larry Windsor	60
54	2020	Enola Holmes	Station Master	73
55	2021	The Infectious Imagination of Henry Bramble	Great Uncle Geoffrey	0
56	2022	Downton Abbey: A New Era	Mason	72
57	2023	Ticker	Howard	0
58		Dangerous Journey	Narrator	0
59	2025	Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale	Albert Mason	0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1965	BBC Play of the Month		50
2	1970	Play for Today		63
3	1970	Play for Today	Andy	63
4	1974	Playhouse	Jim	70
5	1974	Playhouse	Vernon	70
6	1975	Days of Hope	Ben Matthews	62
7	1977	Secret Army	Eric Finch	75
8	1977	BBC2 Play of the Week	Finnegan	70
9	1977	BBC2 Play of the Week	Bill	70
10	1977	Treasure Island		60
11	1979	Minder	Palmer	68
12	1981	Tenko	POW	81
13	1984	The Bill		67
14	1985	The Bright Side		50
15	1986	Casualty	Frederick Chambers	61
16	1986	Casualty	Mick McCarthur	61
17	1986	Casualty	Arthur	61
18	1989	Young Charlie Chaplin	Chimnery Sweep	0
19	1989	The Paradise Club	Mousey Pavitt	58
20	1989	Stay Lucky		60
21	1992	Heartbeat	Dick Radcliffe	71
22	1992	Heartbeat	Herbie Lloyd	71
23	1992	Heartbeat	Malcolm Stainsby	71
24	1993	Peak Practice	Tim Shardlow	61
25	1993	Peak Practice	DS Patrick Hopkins	61
26	1993	Harry	Thomas Thomas	35
27	1993	Cracker	Pathologist	66
28	1994	Roughnecks	Ian	65
29	1996	Silent Witness		76
30	1996	Dalziel & Pascoe		64
31	1996	This Life	Jerry Cook	78
32	1997	Midsomer Murders	Frank Dewar	75
33	1997	The Lakes	Peter Quinlan	72
34	1998	Hornblower	Matthews	78
35	1998	The Worst Witch	Algernon Rowan-Webb	67
36	1998	The Worst Witch	Algernon Rowan Webb	67
37	1999	Queer as Folk	Roy Maloney	80
38	2000	Clocking Off		74
39	2001	Messiah	Ian Fleet	72
40	2001	Waking the Dead		72
41	2001	Waking the Dead	Clifford Day	72
42	2002	Nice Guy Eddie		0
43	2003	The Royal	Nesbitt	76
44	2003	Burn It	Terry Grimshaw	63
45	2003	How Clean Is Your House?		53
46	2003	How Clean Is Your House?	Self - Narrator (voice)	53
47	2004	New Tricks		74
48	2004	No Angels		60
49	2005	Dead Man Weds	Blind Man	70
50	2006	Life on Mars	Reg Cole	78
51	2006	Johnny and the Bomb	Sgt. Bourke	65
52	2006	The Street		77
53	2006	Torchwood	Clement McDonald	73
54	2007	Kingdom	Vincent Straker	71
55	2008	Inspector George Gently		79
56	2008	Survivors	Ted	71
57	2009	Moving On	Ronnie	71
58	2010	Downton Abbey	Mr. Mason	81
59	2011	Vera	Malcolm Kenrich	74
60	2012	Call the Midwife	Tommy Smith	75
61	2012	White Heat	Alan (present day)	57
62	2012	Last Tango in Halifax		72
63	2012	Last Tango in Halifax	Harry	72
64	2013	Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork	Narrator	0
65	2013	Father Brown	Mr Feste	75
66	2014	Inside No. 9	Ernie	80
67	2015	Code of a Killer	Sidney Jeffreys	73
68	2015	The Coroner	John Roxwell	63
69	2017	Broken	Joe Kerrigan	69
70	2018	On the Edge	Ray	50
71	2022	DI Ray	Terry Hunter	70
72	2025	Rose Ayling-Ellis: Old Hands, New Tricks	Narrator (voice)	0

Paul Copley

Film

Television