Paul McNeilly

Paul McNeilly is a UK actor, director and writer best known for his work on Friday Night Dinner, Merlin, and Taggart. After leaving the Poor School, Paul made his TV debut in Van der Valk, then quickly followed this with roles in The Bill, Open Fire, Fool's Gold, The Magician, Soldier Soldier, Thief Takers, Lovejoy and Running Late (written by Simon Gray) for BBC'S Screen One strand. His breakthrough came playing Les in 11 Men Against 11 for Hattrick Productions on Channel Four, alongside Timothy West, James Bolam, Kevin McNally and Jake Wood. This was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Single Drama and won the RTS and British Comedy Award for the Best Comedy Drama. He appeared opposite Daniel Craig and Malcolm McDowall in Our Friends in the North, which won both a BAFTA and the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Serial. Paul starred in two series of The Knock alongside 'The Guv'nor', Lennie McLean (as his son), and appeared in Lock, Stock The Series on Channel Four. He played Captain Smedley in the BBC2 costume drama about the slave trade, A Respectable Trade, which was nominated for a Bafta for Best Drama Serial. He featured in three episodes of the Emmy award winning series Tenth Kingdom, the biggest US TV production of its time. Paul appeared in indie feature Saxon where he played the pivotal role of Kevin. The film won Best European Drama at the ECU European Independent Film Festival and was nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The following year he appeared in indie feature Zebra Crossing, playing brutal policeman DCI Knowles, which also won Best European Drama at the ECU European Independent Film Festival, and the Audience Award at the Raindance Film Festival. He played the role of a psychotic transvestite, Auntie to excellent reviews in the horror film Community, which opened the Frightfest Film Festival in 2012. Other TV and film appearances include Casualty, Holby City, McCready and Daughter, Hotel Babylon, Black Beauty (Warner Bros), Shopping, Mike Bassett - England Manager, and Outlaws (directed by Nick Love). In theatre, he made his debut playing the title role in Hamlet, a workshop production staged at the Towngate Theatre, and played Graham in the No1 Tour of Ladies' Night. He starred in I'm No Angel at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and took the title role of Egon Schiele at the Duke of Cambridge Theatre, in his own play about the Austrian Expressionist. He then took the role of Geoff in another play of his, Not Gods But Giants, which was initially produced at The White Bear before transferring to The Traverse for the Edinburgh Festival (as English representative). In 2016 he was nominated for Best Director in the Crime/Gangster Category at The Watergate Film Festival for short film Johnny Leg Breaker. A site-specific play he wrote, The Glitch and Turn was performed at the Southwark Playhouse as part of the Secrets Festival, and had over 40 performances in and around Shoreditch and the West End. His play The Court of Smiles was produced by the East London Shakespeare Company in 2017, and further plays have been shown at The Carriageway, Leeds and The Old Red Lion, Islington. In 2018 he conceived and started Canned Aid, an artistic initiative whereby audiences brought food donations to performances rather than paid an entrance fee. All creatives and actors donated their time for free. He recently completed two short films, The Hatter in post-production, and Lipstick (directed by Kevin McNally). A feature film adaptation of his play, Cherry Picnic has been slated for production in 2021.