Patrick Robinson (born 6 November 1963) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

actor best known for his work in the long-running medical drama series ''

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 ...

'' on

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

. He played Martin "Ash" Ashford who was, in the early years of the show, a staff nurse and then a

charge nurse Nursing management consists of the performance of the leadership functions of governance and decision-making within organizations employing nurses. It includes processes common to all management like planning, organizing, staffing, directing an ...

. In later years he returned to the role after Ashford had become a consultant.

Early life

Robinson was the fifth of seven children born to a

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n-immigrant

electrician An electrician is a tradesman, 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 ...

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

cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

of footballer and TV personality

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English media personality and former professional footballer. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal as a forward, spending six years with the former and seven year ...

, Robinson was offered a trial at Southampton F.C., 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 construction, constructi ...

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 musicians such as Cream, Andy Gibb, and the Bee Gees; theatrical produc ...

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. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...

Career

On graduation he started his career in theatre, and then joined the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

, spending two seasons in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

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 The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

agent Leon Washington in the

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

action film '' Belly of the Beast'', alongside

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal ( ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-Dan (rank), dan Black belt (martial arts), black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instru ...

. He appeared in an episode in the last series of the popular

CBBC CBBC 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 brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

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 to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

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

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...

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, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

''.Fabulous and new
''

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

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

'' 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 J ...

''. In March 2011, he was appearing as a German cavalry officer 'Friedrich' in the

New London Theatre The Gillian Lynne Theatre (formerly the New London Theatre) is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden in the London Borough of Camden. The Winter Garden Theatre occupied the site until 1965. On ...

production of ''War Horse''. In 2013, Robinson participated in the eleventh series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

''. His dance partner was

Anya Garnis Anna "Anya" Garnis ( Russian: Анна "Аня" Гарнис; born May 26, 1982) is a Latvian ballroom dancer based in New York City. In 2007 she was a contestant on the American reality television show '' So You Think You Can Dance.'' In 200 ...

, 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 Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...

'' (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 1989, ...

'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 Robinson played Anthony Bryan in ''Sitting in Limbo'', a feature-length factual

drama about the

Windrush scandal The Windrush scandal was a British political scandal that began in 2018 concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and in at least 83 cases wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. Many o ...

. In January 2021, he guest starred in

Death in Paradise ''Death in Paradise'' is a crime drama, crime television series created by Robert Thorogood, starring Ben Miller (Series 1–3), Kris Marshall (Series 3–6), Ardal O'Hanlon (Series 6–9), Ralf Little (Series 9–13) and Don Gilet (2024 Speci ...

(S10:E1) as TV host Garfield Tourné. He played Father Benedict in Season 5 of ''The Last Kingdom'', in 2022. In 2022 he played suspect Lloyd Anderson in series 7 of Shetland. In 2023 he played Jacob Livingstone in series 3 of Sister Boniface Mysteries. In 2024 he plays Sean in series 3 of the BBC’s comedy ''Outlaws''.

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. The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

, 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 or street roller hockey) is a collection of team sport variants played outdoors either on foot or with wheeled skates (either quad or in-line), using either a ball or puck ...

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 Wright family (association football)