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Actor

1968-11-19 · Edinburgh, Scotland, UK · Male

45 series in the catalog

Richard Mark Bonnar (born 19 November 1968) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Max in Guilt, Duncan Hunter in Shetland, Bruno Jenkins in Casualty, Detective Finney in Psychoville, DCC Mike Dryden in Line of Duty, Colin Osborne in Unforgotten, Blackbeard in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Townsend in Battlefield 1, Field in Summer of Rockets and Stephen Burns, the Lord Advocate, in Dept. Q.

Career

On television, Bonnar has appeared as Peter Mayhew in BBC One's New Blood and Chris in the Channel 4 comedy Catastrophe, a role which he reprised in the following series. He also portrays the Rev. Adam Collingbourne in ITV's Home Fires, John Halliday in Undercover, as well as regular Duncan Hunter in Shetland for BBC One. Other television credits include Vera, Grantchester, Case Histories, The Paradise, Doctor Who, Psychoville, Taggart, Phoneshop and Paradox. In 2005, he portrayed regular Bruno Jenkins in the BBC One series Casualty. In 2018, he portrayed Dr Neil Sommer in the Channel 4 series Humans. In 2025, Bonnar starred in Netflix drama Dept. Q as Lord Advocate Stephen Burns. In September 2025, he joined the cast of BBC detective series Ludwig, playing newspaper editor Gareth Fisher in the upcoming second series.

His theatre performances include Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi at the Old Vic, London in 2012, Philistines at the Lyttelton, National Theatre in May 2007, Phil in Mammals in a national tour in 2006, David in A Girl in a Car with a Man at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in December 2004, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Salisbury Playhouse in September 2004, Cyrano de Bergerac at the National Theatre in 2004 and Parade at the Donmar Warehouse in September 2007.

Bonnar provided the voice and motion capture for Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch in the 2013 video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. He also provides the voice and motion capture for Townsend in the 2016 game Battlefield 1. He also features in the Doctor Who series Doom Coalition from Big Finish Productions, where he portrays the Eleven, a villainous Time Lord who retains the personalities of his past incarnations in his mind.

Bonnar also voices Twigs and Box in the CBeebies series Tree Fu Tom.

In May 2025, Bonnar was announced as a contestant on the first series of The Celebrity Traitors. Bonnar competed as a Faithful before eventually being banished in the sixth episode.

Personal life

Bonnar was born in Edinburgh to environmental artist Stan and his wife Rosi. Stan's job as town artist for the Scottish New Towns meant the family moved around and Mark spent his childhood in Stonehouse, South Lanarkshire, attending Townhead Primary School in Stonehouse. Bonnar has presented a BBC documentary on the new towns titled Meet You at the Hippos.

By 1981 the family had moved to Edinburgh and Mark attended Leith Academy. Mark attended school with future Guilt and Dept. Q co-star Jamie Sives. He married actress Lucy Gaskell on 28 December 2007. Their first child was born in July 2011, and their second in June 2015.