- Kenneth Branagh, Wallander, TV, 2008-10. Several companies were trying to set up an English lingo series based on Henning Mankell’s Swedish cop, Kurt Wallander, of Ystad, near Malmo. BBC series stars Morrissey, Trevor Eve, Neil Pearson were among those listed. Then, Branagh ran into the novelist at an Ingmar Bergman film festival and asked to play “this fascinatingly flawed but deeply human detective.” One of his most perfect roles – shot in Ystad, often at the same time as the Swedish TV series starring Krister Henriksson (and before him, Rolf Lassgård).
- Chris Wilson, The Special Relationship, TV, 2009. Morrissey was the UK Prime Minister wannabe, the truculent Gordon Brown in The Deal, 2003, first of scenarist Peter Morgan’s three studies of Brown’s nemesis, Tony Blair – but not in the next two. Michael Sheen, however, was always Blair. This one opened with the Oscar Wilde line: True friends stab you in the front!
- Matt Smith, Doctor Who, TV, 2010-2014.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 3