David Cann
Birthday: Born in 1956-11-12 in Westminster, London, England, UK
Deathday: Alive
David Cann is an actor with a diverse and successful career in both theatre and television. After training at RADA he served his apprenticeship in the repertory system, appearing at many of Britain's grand old theatres in a wide range of roles. In plays ancient and modern, Shakespearean drama, musicals and pantomime, David developed into a leading man and character actor with a strong vocal technique and a firm grasp of many artistic styles; from the extreme naturalism of Lawrence's 'A Collier's Friday Night' through the high comedy of Sheridan's 'A School for Scandal' to the classical verse (not to mention the athletic sword-fighting) in 'Romeo and Juliet'. Moving into television David appeared in many shows including 'Sapphire and Steel' and 'Grange Hill'. In between these, he worked in small fringe theatres, such as the Gate in Notting Hill and the Croydon Warehouse, where such heart-warming pieces as Barrie Keeffe's 'My Girl' showed his subtlety in the more intimate space of studio theatre. In the mid-90’s David auditioned for a small part in a new type of comedy pioneered by Chris Morris. The resulting series, 'Brass Eye', was hailed as a major breakthrough in TV style; satirising TV itself. Morris subsequently asked David to join a small team to develop the award-winning BBC radio series 'Blue Jam' and, in 1999, some of this material was filmed for television as 'Jam'. It is for his work in this surreal and iconic series that David is best known. Over many years David has developed a strong reputation working with new and emerging talent, helping writers to develop their scripts through workshops and rehearsed readings. This led to David working with young director Tamara Harvey who later asked David to take the leading role in Laura Wade's charming play about the Welsh poet WH Davies in the highly-praised production of 'Young Emma' at the Finborough Theatre in London in 2003. For the BBC David became part of a notable storyline as Dot Cotton's cancer specialist in 'EastEnders' and again as Doctor Casper in the disturbing, futuristic drama-documentary 'If...we could stop the violence David’s film work includes appearances in 'Run, Fat Boy, Run', 'Attack The Block', 'The Iron Lady', 'Greed' and 'Rebecca'. On television David has appeared in 'Spooks' and 'Psychoville', 'Silent Witness' and 'The Javon Prince Show', but more recently 'Sex Education', 'It’s Kevin', 'Sally4Ever', 'Sick Note', 'Killing Eve' and 'The Baby'.
TV Credits
The Bill
Character:
The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters....
Jam
Character: Various
Adapted from Blue Jam, a late night radio show, Jam consists of six shows featuring dark humour and unsettling sketches unfolding over an ambient soundtrack. From the mind of Chris Morris....
Bad Girls
Character: Francis Cowan
Bad Girls is a British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1 June 1999 to 20 December 2006 and starred Simone Lahbib, Mandana Jones, Debra Stephenson, Linda Henry, Jack Ellis and many more throughout the eight-year run. The series was broadcast in 17 countries and was produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road. It is set in the fictional women's prison of Larkhall, and features a mixture of serious and light storylines f...
Sex Education
Character: Quiz Moderator
Inexperienced Otis channels his sex therapist mom when he teams up with rebellious Maeve to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school....
Campion
Character: Ropey
Campion is a television show made by the BBC, adapting the Albert Campion mystery novels written by Margery Allingham. Two series were made, in 1989 and 1990, starring Peter Davison as Campion, Brian Glover as his manservant Magersfontein Lugg and Andrew Burt as his policeman friend Stanislaus Oates. A total of eight novels were adapted, four in each series, each of which was originally broadcast as two separate hour-long episodes. Peter Davison sang the title music for the first series himself...
Beast
Character: Solicitor #1
Beast is a BBC One sitcom based in a veterinary surgery. Two series of six episodes each were made, with the first broadcast in early 2000 and the second in early 2001. The main premise of the show is that the main character and practice owner doesn't like being a vet and has a strong dislike of animals....
Pie in the Sky
Character: Farm Worker
Pie in the Sky is a British offbeat police comedy drama programme starring Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed, created by Andrew Payne and first broadcast in five series on BBC1 between 13 March 1994 and 17 August 1997 as well as being syndicated on other channels in other countries, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series departs slightly from other police dramas in that the protagonist, Henry Crabbe, while still being an on-duty policeman, is also the head chef of the tit...
Sick Note
Character: Gordon Glass
When Daniel Glass is misdiagnosed with a fatal disease he begins to notice how everyone around him treats him better. But then he finds out he was misdiagnosed by the most incompetent oncologist on Earth and now he has a big decision to make: come clean and go back to his old rubbish life, or keep pretending to be ill....
Still Open All Hours
Character: Cliff Bridges
Still Open All Hours is a sitcom set in a grocer's shop. It is a sequel to the series Open All Hours, written by original series writer Roy Clarke and featuring several of the permanent cast members of the original series...
Uncle
Character: Chaplain
Andy is a dissolute out-of work musician who forges an unlikely alliance with his 12-year-old nephew Errol after being morally blackmailed into looking after him by his chaotic sister Sam - all on the day Andy was planning to kill himself. Not a natural with either kids or responsibility, he tries to keep his new charge out of trouble while being knee-deep in it himself....
Black Books
Character: Eddie
Black Books centres around the foul tempered and wildly eccentric bookshop owner Bernard Black. Bernard’s devotion to the twin pleasures of drunkenness and wilful antagonism deepens and enriches both his life and that of Manny, his assistant. Bearded, sweet and good, Manny is everything that Bernard isn’t and is punished by Bernard relentlessly just for the crime of existing. They depend on each other for meaning as Fran, their oldest friend, depends on them for distraction. Black Books is a ha...
Saxondale
Character: Male Dinner Guest
Steve Coogan plays Tommy Saxondale: an ex-roadie with anger management issues and a pest-control business. Tommy is a little arrogant, a little egotistical and feels the world owes him more respect than it typically shows him. He has an assistant named Raymond who lives in a spare room in Tommy's house, a live-in girlfriend named Magz who owns a T-shirt business, and a receptionist named Vicky who has a tendency to drive him up the wall....
Sally4Ever
Character: Alan
Sally4Ever follows the life of Sally, a soon-to-be promoted marketer who, for 10 years, has lived a comfortable and dull suburban life with David. But on the night he asks her to marry him, Sally has a crisis and embarks on a wild affair with Emma, a seductive, charismatic, boho actress, singer, musician, poet and author. Before Sally knows it, Emma has moved in, rearranged the furniture and her life. Is this really what Sally wants, or has she made a mistake?...
House of the Dragon
Character: Dragonkeeper
The Targaryen dynasty is at the absolute apex of its power, with more than 15 dragons under their yoke. Most empires crumble from such heights. In the case of the Targaryens, their slow fall begins when King Viserys breaks with a century of tradition by naming his daughter Rhaenyra heir to the Iron Throne. But when Viserys later fathers a son, the court is shocked when Rhaenyra retains her status as his heir, and seeds of division sow friction across the realm....
Killing Eve
Character: Len
A security consultant hunts for a ruthless assassin. Equally obsessed with each other, they go head to head in an epic game of cat-and-mouse....
Bad Education
Character: School Governor
Young teacher Alfie Wickers is "the worst teacher ever to grace the British education system" – at Abbey Grove School, in Watford, Hertfordshire....
Spooks
Character: Chief of Airstaff
Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid....
The Baby
Character: Avery
When 38 year-old Natasha is unexpectedly landed with a baby, her life of doing what she wants, when she wants, dramatically implodes. Controlling, manipulative and with violent powers, the baby twists Natasha's life into a horror show. Where does it come from? What does it want? And what lengths will Natasha have to go to in order to get her life back?...
Not Going Out
Character: Dr Rhodes
Lee is a childish northerner who lives in a fancy penthouse apartment in London who goes through a variety of jobs such as a janitor and ice cream man, as well as attempting relationships with female flatmates. His best mate, Daily Mail reading, middle-class citizen Tim is always there to stop Lee from getting in trouble, or not? Mayhem is never far away with cleaner Barbara who has never done an honest day's work in her life....
London Belongs To Me
Character: Process Server
This drama focuses on London lodging house in the early days of World War Two. Stories ranged from within the house to the drama of Dunkirk....
Armchair Thriller
Character: Rodgers
Armchair Thriller is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in two series in 1978 and 1980. Owing something to some of the off-shoots of the earlier Armchair Theatre, the new series used scripts adapted from published novels and stories. Although not properly a horror series it included several supernatural elements. Armchair Thriller was produced by Thames Television, but it included serials made by Southern Television. The format was of a twice weekly 25 minute episodes, usually scre...
The Tomorrow People
Character: Chaircreature
Born to human parents, an apparently normal child might at some point between childhood and late adolescence experience a process called 'breaking out' and develop special paranormal abilities. These abilities include psychic powers such as telepathy, telekinesis, and teleportation. However, their psychological make-up prevents them from intentionally killing others....
Blake's 7
Character: Star One Technician
A group of convicts and outcasts fight a guerrilla war against the totalitarian Terran Federation from a highly advanced alien spaceship....
Sapphire & Steel
Character: Pilot
Sapphire & Steel is a British television science-fiction fantasy series starring David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire. Produced by ATV, it ran from 1979 to 1982 on the ITV network. The series was created by Peter J. Hammond who conceived the programme under the working title The Time Menders, after a stay in an allegedly haunted castle. Hammond also wrote all the stories except for the fifth, which was co-written by Don Houghton and Anthony Read. In 2004, Sapphire and Steel ret...
Shine on Harvey Moon
Character: Spiv 2
Shine on Harvey Moon! is a British comedy-drama series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian. This generally light-hearted series was created by comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. The series is set in the East End of London shortly after the Second World War. Upon being demobbed RAF serviceman Harvey Moon, played by Kenneth Cranham, returns home and finds his family involved in various troubles. His wife Rit...
One by One
Character: Brian
One By One is a British television series made by the BBC between 1984 and 1987. The series, created by Anthony Read, followed the career of international veterinarian David Taylor and his work caring for exotic animals at zoos in Britain, from the 1950s to the 1970s. Each series was set during a different decade, with exteriors filmed at Dudley Zoo, Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park. Thirty-two episodes were made in total. Rob Heyland starred as Turner, while other major cast members inclu...
A Dark Adapted Eye
Character: Albert March
This psychological mystery/thriller, adapted from Ruth Rendell's novel of the same name, depicts a family on the edge. Two sisters, the elder obsessive Vera, and the younger, manipulative Eden, cut a path of jealousy, murder and revenge that leads to the destruction of their entire family....
Between the Lines
Character: Insp. Rooney
Detective Superintendent Tony Clark is an ambitious member of the Complaints Investigation Bureau, an internal organisation that investigates claims of corruption inside the police in England and Wales. Along the way Clark overcomes strong influence from his superiors and problems in his private life, most notably the break-up of his marriage following an affair with WPC Jenny Dean....
No Bananas
Character: Man in Pub
This 10-episode television miniseries, set in England during World War II, tells the story of two families, the wealthy Hamiltons and the working-class Slaters, now united through marriage....
Berkeley Square
Character: Recruiting Sergeant
Three young women from very different backgrounds meet, become friends and share experiences when they all gain positions as nannies in the wealthy households of London's exclusive Berkeley Square....
People Like Us
Character: Sergeant
People Like Us was a British radio and TV comedy programme, a spoof on-location documentary written by John Morton, and starring Chris Langham as Roy Mallard, an inept interviewer. Originally a radio show for BBC Radio 4 in three series from 1995 to 1997, it was made into a television series for BBC Two that aired from September 1999 to June 2000....
High Stakes
Character: Pearce
High Stakes is a British sitcom starring Richard Wilson that aired in 2001. It was written by Tony Sarchet. The second series remains unaired....
Lee Evans: So What Now?
Character: Chairman
Kicked out by his wife Eileen, Accident prone Lee turns to slobish best mate Stuart to take him in, after he burns down his place, they both rent rooms from Looney but lonely landlady Heather, a failed It-Girl who's wealth has run dry. Their adventures begin here........
Mr Charity
Character: Consultant
...
TLC
Character: DI Crighton
TLC is a darkly surreal farce-like sitcom set in a fictional NHS hospital called South Middlesex where coffee is traded like drugs and pretty much everyone has a personality problem. It was first broadcast on the BBC on 11 November 2002 and ran over six episodes until 16 December. There were some very mixed opinions on the show among both critics and viewers, but it achieved decent ratings and featured an excellent comedy cast including Richard Griffiths, Alexander Armstrong and The League of Ge...
15 Storeys High
Character: Public Attorney
15 Storeys High is a critically acclaimed British sitcom, set in a tower block. The main characters are Vince Clark, a misanthropic, cynical recluse played by Sean Lock, and Errol Spears, Vince's exact opposite and whipping boy, played by Benedict Wong....
The Green Green Grass
Character: Farm Inspector
Sitcom spin-off from Only Fools and Horses, featuring the characters of Boycie and Marlene adapting to life in rural Shropshire. Starring John Challis and Sue Holderness...
The Commander
Character: DCI Tom Fuller
Determined and ambitious detective, Commander Clare Blake takes charge of the Serious Crime Group within the Metropolitan Police....
Lead Balloon
Character: Mr. Randall
Lead Balloon is a British television series produced by Open Mike Productions for BBC Four. The series was created and is co-written by comedian Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair. It stars Dee as Rick Spleen, a cynical and misanthropic comedian whose life is plagued by petty annoyances, disappointments and embarrassments. Raquel Cassidy, Sean Power and Tony Gardner also star. The first series of six episodes was broadcast on BBC Four in 2006, with the first episode achieving the highest ratings for a c...
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
Character: Solicitor
Sitcom about the lives and loves of five twenty-somethings in Runcorn....
Benidorm
Character: Maitre D'
Set in the Solana all-inclusive Resort, Benidorm follows the antics of regulars and first-time holiday makers on their journeys abroad....
Psychoville
Character: Dr. Flint
Psychoville is a British dark comedy television . Pemberton and Shearsmith each play numerous characters, with Dawn French and Jason Tompkins in additional starring roles....
It's Kevin
Character: Various
It's Kevin is a British television comedy show, created by and starring the actor and comedian Kevin Eldon. It was screened on BBC Two between March and April 2013....
The Javone Prince Show
Character: Policy Commitee Member
A rich mix of stand-up, sketches and live music. Javone picks over the more ridiculous aspects of life in modern-day multicultural Britain....
Silent Witness
Character: Incident Commander
Silent Witness is a British crime thriller series focusing on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes....
Silent Witness
Character: DI Murray Porter
Silent Witness is a British crime thriller series focusing on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes....
Doctors
Character: Mr. Lee
Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the city of Birmingham, this soap opera follows the staff and families of a doctor's surgery....
Doctors
Character: Clem Thornton
Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the city of Birmingham, this soap opera follows the staff and families of a doctor's surgery....
Doctors
Character: Johnny Morton
Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the city of Birmingham, this soap opera follows the staff and families of a doctor's surgery....
Doctors
Character: Gordon Willet
Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the city of Birmingham, this soap opera follows the staff and families of a doctor's surgery....
Hold the Sunset
Character: Counsellor
Edith's dreams of retirement to the sun with her long-term suitor Phil are shattered when her 50-year-old son Roger arrives home, seeking to recapture his boyhood happiness....
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Character: Headmaster Mould
Maya, the young communications director for a New York senatorial campaign, receives a wedding invitation from her college schoolmate now living in London. She leaves her professional and personal life behind, in favor of traveling to England and reconnecting with old friends and ends up in the midst of their personal crises. Relationships are forged and broken, political scandals exposed, London social life lampooned, love affairs ignited and doused, and of course, there are four weddings…and a...
EastEnders
Character: Mr. Randall
The everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough....
Grange Hill
Character: Mr. Bentley
Children's drama series following the lives of students and teachers at Grange Hill comprehensive school....
Hard Cases
Character: Steve Ridgely
Drama series about probation officers and the tough situations that they have to tackle....
True Crimes
Character: Reenactment
Each episode presents a new true crime case, modern or historical. Michael Winner hosts, providing exposition through voiceovers due to low production values. He often delivers a patronizing moral conclusion...
Brass Eye
Character: Donaldus Matthews / Vicar
Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles....
Brass Eye
Character: Ripp Candy
Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles....
Brass Eye
Character: Alan Fortune-Vatch
Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles....
Brass Eye
Character: Vicar
Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles....
Shine on Harvey Moon
Character: Spiv
Shine on Harvey Moon! is a British comedy-drama series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian. This generally light-hearted series was created by comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. The series is set in the East End of London shortly after the Second World War. Upon being demobbed RAF serviceman Harvey Moon, played by Kenneth Cranham, returns home and finds his family involved in various troubles. His wife Rit...
Movie Credits
Run Fatboy Run
Character: Marathon Official
Five years after jilting his pregnant fiancée on their wedding day, out-of-shape Dennis decides to run a marathon to win her back....
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Character: Martin
George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love....
Les Misérables
Character: Magistrate
An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France. Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France....
Jeremy: A Nightmare
Character: Professor Calrusian
A Kafka-esque nightmare about a screenwriting professor whose life slowly unravels after he learns he may lose his job to a man who appears to him as his doppelgänger. As the Brutalist architecture of Jeremy's world closes in on him, he makes a terrible decision......
The Kármán Line
Character: Dr. Behringer
When a mother is hit by a rare condition that sees her lift off the ground at a slow but ever increasing rate, her husband and daughter are forced to come to terms with losing her....
On a Moonlit Night
Character:
An American journalist works for a French newspaper. He is writing an article about the reaction against people with AIDS, without knowing he is infected too. Once he finds out, he decides to cut off himself leaving his wife and daughter....
Lizzie and Sarah
Character: John
Lizzie and Sarah are two fiftysomething suburban housewives, perpetually mistreated and ignored by unloving, selfish husbands. The highlight of their otherwise dull lives is their role in an amateur dramatic society, The Borking Players. In the aftermath of a tragic accident which causes the death of a popular local teenager, emotions run high, and following a dismal birthday lunch for Sarah, the two friends embark on a spur-of-the-moment shopping trip. As the day unfolds, they find a way to wre...
Albatross
Character: Grumpy Man
Beth, a bookish teenager, befriends Emilia, an aspiring novelist who has just arrived in town. Emilia soon begins an affair with Beth's father that threatens to have devastating consequences....
Attack the Block
Character: Detective Superintendant
A teen gang in a South London housing estate must team up with the other residents to protect their neighbourhood from a terrifying alien invasion....
Dog Eat Dog
Character: Police Chief
A group of twenty-somethings, one of whom is a single father with a precious daughter, have been unsuccessful in getting into a certain club so they can have a chance to DJ there and start a career out of it. A series of events has lumbered them with a dog napping scheme gone badly wrong, ending up with them owning a particular pooch belonging to a dog-loving local drug dealer....
Bridget Jones's Diary
Character: Cameraman
Bridget Jones is an average woman struggling against her age, her weight, her job, her lack of a man, and her various imperfections. As a New Year's resolution, Bridget decides to take control of her life, starting by keeping a diary in which she will always tell the complete truth. The fireworks begin when her charming though disreputable boss takes an interest in the quirky Miss Jones. Thrown into the mix are Bridget's band of slightly eccentric friends and a rather disagreeable acquaintance i...
Crooked House
Character: Coroner
A private investigator helps a former flame solve the murder of her wealthy grandfather, who lived in a sprawling estate surrounded by his idiosyncratic family....
The Iron Lady
Character: TV Interviewer
A look at the life of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a focus on the price she paid for power....
The Murder of Stephen Lawrence
Character: Forensic Scientist
Stephen Lawrence was a black London teenager murdered by white racists in 1993. His parents fought to have the crime properly investigated, culminating in a judicial enquiry into the event itself and also the inadequacies of the ensuing investigation by the London Metropolitan Police....
Biggles
Character: Sapper Officer
Unassuming catering salesmen Jim Ferguson falls through a time hole to 1917 where he saves the life of dashing Royal Flying Corps pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth after his photo recon mission is shot down. Before he can work out what has happened, Jim is zapped back to the 1980s.........
Chromophobia
Character: Policeman
Encouraged by his editor to seek 'sexy stories that sell', a reporter preys upon the private life of an erstwhile friend, with disastrous results....
The Eagleman Stag
Character: Peter Eagleman
If you repeat the word 'fly' for long enough it sounds like you are saying 'life'. This is of no help to Peter. His answers lie in the brain of the beetle....
Wet Job
Character: Cawthorne
S.I.S. agent David Callan is brought out of retirement for one last assignment....
Knights & Emeralds
Character: Albert Brimble
A white boy lives in a racially divided town. The only thing he cares about is playing his drums. A popular black band from school needs a drummer and he joins them, but being colour blind in this town makes life very difficult....
Rebecca
Character: Lord Crowan
After a whirlwind romance with a wealthy widower, a naïve bride moves to his family estate but can't escape the haunting shadow of his late wife....
The Truth
Character: Male Walker
An outrageous murder-mystery for the 'Me Generation'. Seven young strangers go to a spiritual retreat for a journey of personal growth, taking in jealousy, hatred, sexual perversion and a little murder on the way....
Greed
Character: Fat Cat
A retail billionaire's 60th birthday party is celebrated in an exclusive hotel on the Greek island of Mykonos....
The Buckingham Murders
Character: Alan
Fresh wounds are reopened when Jasmeet Bhamra, a cop and a single mother who recently lost her child in a shooting spree, transfers to High Wycombe and is assigned a case of a missing child....
Captive
Character: The Chairman
A man is held captive and threatened and mentally tortured by his captors. An anxious boardroom gathers to watch the resulting hostage tape; the tension mounts as it draws to its inevitable, traumatic conclusion... But events are even more sinister than they initially appear. 2009 Audience Winner at the Portobello Film and Video Festival...