Adrian Harris (born Adrian Michael Harris; 4 April 1970) is an English actor, playwright and director.

Early life

Harris was born in Kingswood, near

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, and attended Kingsfield School. Later he trained as an actor at the

Academy of Live and Recorded Arts The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) was a British drama school. It had two sites: ALRA South on Wandsworth Common in south London and ALRA North in Wigan, Greater Manchester. It was founded in 1979 by director and actors Sorrel Carso ...

in London.

Career

Actor

He has appeared in roles on TV productions such as ''Waking The Dead'' (Series 5) and '' Five Daughters'' for BBC1, the BBC3 sitcom ''Clone'', and ''Teachers'' for Channel 4. More recently he was the stage manager in transatlantic sitcom ''Episodes'' (series 4, episode 9), Jay Isaacs in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' and Norman Burnton in BBC1's ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

'' Burnton – the rather nerdy paramedic at ''Holby ED''. Theatre roles include Jonathan Crew in ''Deep Pit'' and Cliff in ''Engineers' Blue'' at Brass Works Theatre (both directed by Anna Girvan), Jimmy in ''Digits'' at the Tobacco Factory, Ryan in ''Drunks and Warriors'' at the Ustinov Theatre, Bath, Malvolio in RoughHouse's ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'', Dr. Rank in ''A Doll's House'' for SWAN and Laertes/Guildernstern/1st Player in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' for Festival Players Theatre Co – national tour.

Director

As a director Harris has directed ''

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

and the Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle'' and ''The Mystery of the Hound'' ''of the Baskervilles'' at Brass Works Theatre, ''The Fairer Race for Game:play'' at the Ustinov Theatre/Bath Spa, Scripts @ Starbucks for Southwest Scriptwriters, Saturday Shorts at the Bristol Folk House and the radio series The Adventures of Heronimous Verdi for BCFM. In 2012, he created Brass Works Theatre –

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

’s first professional theatre venue – and he is the current Artistic Director., The first production was ''Engineers' Blue'', supported using public funding by the National Lottery through

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

and

South Gloucestershire Council South Gloucestershire Council is the local authority of South Gloucestershire, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England, covering an area to the north of the city of Bristol. The council is a unitary auth ...

. It was followed by ''The Mystery of the Hound of the Baskervilles .''

Writer

As a writer Harris is a member of Southwest Scriptwriters and The Writers' Forum @ The Tobacco Factory Theatre. His first theatre play ''Shoes'' was staged as part of Start Nights at

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. History The original ''Hampstead Theatre Clu ...

in 2005. In 2007, the double-bill of ''Call Me'' and ''Post Box'' were premiered at the Alma Theatre, Bristol, followed by ''Tommy's Wait'' at Plays for the Pro Cathedral in Bristol. In that same year Harris's feature-length screenplay was runner up in the South West Screen Screenwriter Competition. In 2011, Harris was commissioned by the Writers' Forum at the Ustinov Theatre to write ''The Fairer Race for Game:play'' with

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, Somerset, Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshi ...

, which was performed as February’s Script Factory. This was followed by ''Exit Only'', which was Harris’s play written for the 24 Hour Plays at the

Theatre Royal Bath The Theatre Royal in Bath, Somerset, Bath, England, was built in 1805. A Grade II* listed building, it has been described by the Theatres Trust as "One of the most important surviving examples of Georgian theatre architecture". It has a capacit ...

–

Ustinov Studio The Ustinov Studio is a studio theatre in Bath, England. It is the Theatre Royal's second space, built in 1997 at the rear of the building on Monmouth Street. It is named after the actor Peter Ustinov who led the fundraising programme for the ...

. In 2012, Harris received a grant from the Peggy Ramsay Foundation to write ''Engineers' Blue''. His play ''Deep Pit'' was long listed and made the readers' top 40 in the

Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is a British competition for playwriting, the largest of its kind in Europe—in 2019 it received 2561 entries. Since its inception in 2005, more than 15,000 scripts have been entered, £304,000 has been awarded ...

in 2013. ''Deep Pit'' was then successfully produced at Brass Works Theatre with a Grants for the Arts from

. Adrian graduated from Royal Holloway University of London with a Master’s degree with Merit in Screenwriting.

Notes

External links

* *www.adrianharrisblog.wordpress.com *http://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/5714-0168-8563 {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Adrian 1970 births Living people Alumni of the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts British male television actors British male stage actors People educated at King's Oak Academy