Patrick Robinson (born 6 November 1963) is a British actor best known for his work in the long-running medical drama series '' Casualty'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

. In the early years of the show, he played first a

staff nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ca ...

and later a charge nurse; in later years, he played Consultant

Martin "Ash" Ashford Martin "Ash" Ashford may refer to: * Martin "Ash" Ashford (''Casualty''), a fictional character on the television series ''Casualty'' * Martin Ashford (''Home and Away''), a fictional character on the television series ''Home and Away'' See also * ...

Early life

Robinson was the fifth of seven children born to a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

n-immigrant

electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenanc ...

father and his English-born wife. Robinson joined the South East London School Drama Group aged 14. The

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

of footballer and TV personality

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arse ...

, Robinson was offered a trial at

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional association football, football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The De ...

, which he turned down to attend additional drama classes. After studying

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

for a year, he left to join the

Robert Stigwood Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions like '' Hair' ...

organisation as a messenger boy. He then graduated from the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. LAMDA's Principal i ...

Career

On graduation he started his career in theatre, and then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, spending two seasons in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-w ...

and then two in London. Robinson left the RSC to join the cast of ''Casualty'' as the character Martin "Ash" Ashford, a nurse, beginning in 1990. He left the series but returned in 2013-14 to reprise the Ashford role as a Consultant. He returned to ''Casualty'' in 2016 as part of the anniversary celebrations. Robinson played CIA agent Leon Washington in the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

action film '' Belly of the Beast'', alongside Steven Seagal. He appeared in an episode in the last series of the popular

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

drama The Story of Tracy Beaker (TV Series) as Crash Daniels's abusive father Theo. In late 2007, he played former slave Thomas Peters who went on to become a leader in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

, in a stage adaptation of '' Rough Crossings'' by historian

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He fi ...

at the

Liverpool Playhouse The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actre ...

. From 2008 he appeared as Detective Constable Jacob Banks in the ITV police drama ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

''.Fabulous and new
''

'' ( ITV), 13 February 2008. In 2009 he participated in ''Let's Dance for

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

'' with Lisa Maxwell dancing a routine based on ''

Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions ...

''. In March 2011, he was appearing as a German cavalry officer 'Friedrich' in the New London Theatre production of ''War Horse''. In 2013, Patrick participated in the eleventh series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

''. His dance partner was Anya Garnis, a new professional dancer that year. They were voted out in the semi-final. He played Gregory Brantner in ''Schooled for Murder'', a two part episode of ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the '' Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series (created by Caroline Graham), and broadcast on two channels of ...

'' (2013, S15). In September 2015, he joined series 5 of

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 19 ...

's '' Mount Pleasant'' as Policeman Cameron Miller, and returned for series 6 in September 2016. In March 2020 he played Marcus Ormansby, a novelist, in “The Trouble with Maggie Cole” an ITV drama with Dawn French. In June 2020 Patrick played Anthony Bryan in “ Sitting in Limbo”, a feature-length factual

drama about the Windrush scandal. In January 2021, he guest starred in Death in Paradise (S10:E1) as TV host Garfield Tourné. He played Father Benedict in Season 5 of The Last Kingdom, in 2022.

Personal life

Married, the couple have three daughters and one son. The family lives in Stratford-upon-Avon. A supporter of football club

Arsenal F.C. Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...

, where his cousin

played, Robinson has played regularly for the club's ex-pro and celebrity team. He also plays

street hockey Street hockey (also known as shinny, dek hockey, ball hockey, road hockey) is a collection of team sport variants played outdoors either on foot or with wheeled skates, using a either a ball or puck designed for play on flat, dry surfaces. The ...

with the Ashmead Cruisers, a team that he co-founded in 1980. The team was the runner-up in the national street hockey tournament twice in the 1980s.

References

External links

Official website
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Patrick 1963 births Living people Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Male actors from London English male stage actors English male television actors Royal Shakespeare Company members Black British male actors English people of Jamaican descent