Richard Dormer

Richard Dormer is a Northern Irish actor, playwright and screenwriter. He was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. After to being accepted to the Royal College of Art Richard accepted a scholarship at the RADA school of acting in London. After living and working in London, he returned to Northern Ireland. He lives in Belfast and is married to director Rachel O'Riordan. Dormer is perhaps best known for his performance as Northern Irish Snooker star, Alex Higgins in Hurricane, which he wrote and starred in. The production received praise from critics and even from Higgins himself and saw Richard win The Stage award for best actor in 2003. He is currently the bookie's third favourite to play Higgins in the scheduled film of his life behind Cillian Murphy and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. In 2004 Richard won the Irish Times Best Actor Award for his performance in Frank McGuinness's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and in 2005 completed a season with Sir Peter Hall at the Theatre Royal and performed Bath in the George Bernard Shaw play, You Can Never Tell, William Shakespeare's,Much Ado About Nothing, Noël Coward's play, Private Lives, and in a production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Since, Dormer has written a number of plays including The Half and Gentleman's Tea Drinking Society which were produced through Belfast's Ransom theatre company. He has also provided the voices for over twenty BBC Radio 4 plays, documentaries and advertising campaigns. Following a run of film castings playing secondary characters, he was cast as the lead in the 2012 Good Vibrations which tells the story of Northern Ireland personality and punk rock visionary Terri Hooley. The film premièred at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and was awarded 'best film' at the Galway film awards. 2012 also saw Dormer taking over the role of Lord Beric Dondarrion, known as the "Lightning Lord", the leader of the "Brotherhood Without Banners" for Season 3 of HBO series Game of Thrones.

Works

Game of Thrones

Seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. Friction between the houses leads to full-scale war. All while a very ancient evil awakens in the farthest north. Amidst the war, a neglected military order of misfits, the Night's Watch, is all that stands between the realms of men and icy horrors beyond.

Release Date2011-04-17

Charactersd Beric Dondarrion

Episode Count13

Vote Count26651

Casualty

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Release Date1986-09-06

Charactersd Rick Tomlinson

Episode Count1

Vote Count84

The Day of the Jackal

An unrivalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.

Release Date2024-11-07

Charactersd Norman Stoke

Episode Count3

Vote Count1057

Soldier Soldier

The daily lives of a group of soldiers in 'B' Company, 1st Battalion The King's Fusiliers.

Release Date1991-06-10

Charactersd Cpl David Lutchens

Episode Count1

Vote Count14

Gangs of London

When the head of a criminal organisation, Finn Wallace is assassinated, the sudden power vacuum his death creates threatens the fragile peace between the intricate web of gangs operating on the streets of the city. Now it’s up to the grieving, volatile and impulsive Sean Wallace to restore control and find those responsible for killing his father.

Release Date2020-04-23

Charactersd Cornelius Quinn

Episode Count8

Vote Count655

Secret Invasion

Nick Fury and Talos discover a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls who have been infiltrating Earth for years.

Release Date2023-06-21

Charactersd Agent Prescod

Episode Count1

Vote Count1358

The Musketeers

Set in 17th century Paris, musketeers Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan are members of an elite band of soldiers who fight for what is just. They are heroes in the truest and most abiding sense – men that can be trusted and believed in to do the right thing, regardless of personal risk.

Release Date2014-01-19

Charactersd Christophe

Episode Count1

Vote Count195

Blue Lights

Follows rookie police officers working in Belfast, a city in which being a frontline response cop comes with unique pressures and dangers.

Release Date2023-03-27

Charactersd Gerry Cliff

Episode Count7

Vote Count115

Togo

The untold true story set in the winter of 1925 that takes you across the treacherous terrain of the Alaskan tundra for an exhilarating and uplifting adventure that will test the strength, courage and determination of one man, Leonhard Seppala, and his lead sled dog, Togo.

Release Date2019-12-20

Charactersd Dr. Curtis Welch

Vote Count2238

Fortitude

Fortitude is a place like nowhere else. Although surrounded by the savage beauty of the Arctic landscape, Fortitude is one of the safest towns on earth. There has never been a violent crime here. Until now. In such a close-knit community a murder touches everyone and the unsettling, mysterious horror of this crime threatens the future of the town itself.

Release Date2015-01-29

Charactersd Dan Anderssen

Episode Count25

Vote Count306

Castlevania: Nocturne

As revolution sweeps France, Richter Belmont fights to uphold his family's legacy and prevent the rise of a ruthless, power-hungry vampire ruler.

Release Date2023-09-28

Charactersd Abbot Emmanuel (voice)

Episode Count10

Vote Count263

The Assassin

Secluded on a remote Greek island, retired assassin Julie has a somewhat thorny reunion with her estranged son, Edward, visiting from England. Armed with questions around new information on his paternity, Edward battles to find the right time to speak to his frustratingly distant mother. But, when the moment finally presents itself, things take a deadly turn as Julie’s dangerous past catches up with her and they are forced to flee the island and go on the run together.

Release Date2025-07-25

Charactersd Damien Hammond

Episode Count3

Vote Count60

Lily's Driftwood Bay

Follow the imagination of Lily, a five-year-old hunter, as she creates a world of adventure and friendship from treasures she finds washed up on the beach.

Release Date2014-05-05

Charactersd Lily's Dad (voice)

Episode Count100

Vote Count2

COBRA

As widespread power outages cause chaos and threaten lives across the country, the COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room) committee comprised of the UK’s leading experts and politicians, gathers to find a way to turn the lights back on.

Release Date2020-01-17

Charactersd Fraser Walker

Episode Count12

Vote Count57

'71

A young British soldier must find his way back to safety after his unit accidentally abandons him during a riot in the streets of Belfast.

Release Date2014-10-10

Charactersd Eamon

Vote Count1208

Rellik

A serial killer thriller told in reverse, unravelling the truth behind a series of murders as DCI Gabriel Markham hunts down a brutal killer.

Release Date2017-09-11

Charactersd DCI Gabriel Markham

Episode Count6

Vote Count56

The Watch

A group of misfit cops rise up from decades of helplessness to save their corrupt city from catastrophe. Inspired by the characters created by Sir Terry Pratchett’s famous “Discworld” novels.

Release Date2021-01-03

Charactersd Captain Sam Vimes

Episode Count8

Vote Count80

Mrs. Henderson Presents

Recently widowed well-to-do Laura Henderson purchases the Windmill Theatre in London as a post-widowhood hobby. After starting an innovative continuous variety review, which is copied by other theaters, they begin to lose money. Mrs Henderson suggests they add risqué burlesque acts similar to the Moulin Rouge in Paris.

Release Date2005-09-08

Charactersd Comic

Vote Count230

My Boy Jack

Author Rudyard Kipling and his wife search for their 17-year-old son after he goes missing during WWI.

Release Date2007-11-11

Charactersd Corporal John O'Leary

Vote Count78

Five Minutes of Heaven

The story of former Ulster Volunteer Force member Alistair Little. Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffin's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.

Release Date2009-01-19

Charactersd Michael

Vote Count222

Good Vibrations

The story of music legend Terri Hooley, a key figure in Belfast's punk rock scene. Hooley founded the Good Vibrations store from which a record label sprung, representing bands such as The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts.

Release Date2012-05-31

Charactersd Terri Hooley

Vote Count116

Hyena

Good policing doesn't necessarily mean doing everything by the book. But as the business of crime in London turns to favour the Albanians and Turks, how does a "good" policeman survive?

Release Date2015-03-06

Charactersd Nick Taylor

Vote Count81

A Further Gesture

Dowd, an IRA prisoner in the H-blocks, is gloomily facing his sentence, until he joins a comrade in a risky escape. Dowd begins a new life in New York, but he might as well be in prison again - until he strikes up a friendship with co-worker Tulio and gets to know his close group of Guatemalan exiles.

Release Date1997-01-01

Charactersd Joe

Vote Count12

Safe And Sound

Belfast-set comedy series about best mates and colleagues, Catholic Tommy and protestant Dougy, who own and run the Safe And Sound garage.

Release Date1996-08-09

Charactersd Doctor Norris

Episode Count1

Vote Count1

Ghost Machine

Two technicians battle a vengeful spirit that has infected their stolen military software.

Release Date2009-02-01

Charactersd Taggert

Vote Count57

Puckoon

Spike Milligan's book about the divided Irish village of Puckoon comes to the big screen.

Release Date2002-01-01

Charactersd Arthur Faddington

Vote Count6

The Beauty of Books

The Beauty of Books

Series combining human stories, expert interviews, book illustrations and historic archive to reveal the beauty of books.

Release Date2011-02-07

Charactersd Narrator

Episode Count4

11 Minutes

The lives of urbanites intertwine in a world where anything can happen at any time.

Release Date2015-09-02

Charactersd Richard Martin

Vote Count65

Dark Touch

Niamh is the lone survivor of a mysterious massacre in which the furniture and objects in her family’s isolated house took on a monstrous life of their own. The police ignore her wild stories, and the neighbours and social worker who take her into their care try to introduce her to a new life. But Niamh is unable to leave her violent past behind her, endangering everyone who crosses her path.

Release Date2013-09-27

Charactersd Henry

Vote Count126

Shooting for Socrates

Set in Belfast against the backdrop of the 1986 World Cup, Shooting for Socrates tells the story of a momentous time in Northern Ireland's football history through the eyes of players, fans and the media. The film also follows the lives of passionate football supporter Arthur and his son Tommy from East Belfast. The lead up to a momentous day in the life of a young boy (his 10th birthday) mirrors the build up to the big day for the Northern Ireland football team as they play the greatest match of their lives.

Release Date2014-07-11

Charactersd Arthur

Vote Count7

Holy Cross

Violence erupts in north Belfast when the residents of Glenbyrn, a predominantly Protestant suburb, object to schoolgirls walking through their neighbourhood from the Catholic area of Ardoyne to the Holy Cross primary school.

Release Date2003-10-10

Charactersd Seamus

Vote Count2

Middletown

Having spent most of his life in religious instruction, Gabriel returns to his hometown as its new preacher. The town is full of drinkers and gamblers, including Jim and Caroline, his younger brother and sister-in-law. Gabriel believes he must save the townspeople, especially Jim and Caroline and their unborn child. In the battle to save their souls, some amazing revelations take place.

Release Date2007-03-02

Charactersd Ned

Vote Count4

Those Were the Days

Those Were the Days

Richard Dormer narrates this nostalgic documentary series that delves into the BBC archives to reveal the changing face of life in Northern Ireland.

Release Date2011-02-21

DepartmentCreator

JobCreator

Charactersd Self - Narrator (voice)

Episode Count[ 15 ]

Best: His Mother's Son

Best – His Mother’s Son (BBC Two) was a gloomy drama about Ann Best, mother of George, who was strictly teetotal until her mid-40s, when she had her first sip of sherry to celebrate her son’s footballing success. Ten years later, she was dead from alcoholism-related heart disease. The recreation of late-Sixties Belfast was accurate and, thank goodness, intelligently subdued: no comedy Ulster accents and no point-scoring subplot about the Troubles.

Release Date2009-04-29

Charactersd Ad Director

Vote Count2

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Love's Sweet Song

Ireland's bloody 1916 Easter Uprising, the suffragette movement in England, a Zeppelin raid, and a meeting with a rising young British cabinet member named Winston Churchill become vivid vignettes in Indy's life. So too do his brief but impassioned romances with the sister of a clandestine Irish rebel, and with an English suffragette for whom the vote comes before love.

Release Date2000-07-12

Charactersd Young Civilian

Vote Count16

The Mighty Celt

Donal is a 14-year old who develops a passion for greyhound racing. He works in a kennel, which is owned by Good Joe. Good Joe promises Donal ownership of Donal's favorite greyhound, The Mighty Celt, if the animal wins three races in a row. Meanwhile, Donal's mother, Kate, must adjust her life when O, a man from her past, returns. The political climate of Ireland serves as the backdrop of this story.

Release Date2005-02-11

Charactersd Ronan

Vote Count13

We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story

Comedy drama about the beginnings of Jimmy Perry and David Croft's writing partnership and their struggles to get Dad's Army on the screen in 1968.

Release Date2015-12-22

Charactersd David Croft

Vote Count8

Jump

The lives of four twenty-somethings collide one fateful New Year's Eve in this twisty, blackly comic crime thriller set amidst the ancient walls of Derry, Northern Ireland, in a night of fast talk, accidents and intrigue. Johnny, a small-time crook, and Marie, a dissatisfied shop assistant, are both looking for a fresh start. Greta is on the verge of taking her own life and Pearse has a bounty on his head for asking difficult questions about his missing brother Eddie Kelly. As the clock ticks down to midnight and the night's events expertly fall into place, Jump weaves an existential portrait of the characters' lives as their hopes, fears and secrets are revealed

Release Date2012-06-08

Charactersd Johnny

Vote Count16

SLR

SLR is a short thriller about a man obsessed with "voyeur pornography". When he makes a shocking discovery online, he is forced onto the trail of an anonymous photographer known only by his user name of ANORAK.

Release Date2013-07-13

Charactersd Mr. Verma

Vote Count9

Scapegoat

This is the fascinating true life story of one of Ireland's most famous unsolved murders. It is the tale of how an innocent man was found guilty but insane of the brutal homicide of a young woman from a very prominent family. Told in superb period detail, Scapegoat contains a combustible mix of sex, class, bogus respectability and dark domestic secrets

Release Date2009-10-26

Charactersd Narrator (Voice)

The Irish Rock Story: A Tale of Two Cities

This musical celebration charts the lives and careers of some of the biggest selling acts in Irish rock, punk and pop from Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy to The Undertones and U2. From the pioneers of the showbands touring in the late 50s through to the modern day, the film examines their lineage and connections and how the hardcore, rocking sound of Belfast merged with the more melodic, folky Dublin tradition to form what we now recognise as Irish rock and pop.

Release Date2015-03-13

Charactersd Himself - Narrator

Vote Count3

Wodehouse In Exile

An all-star cast heads up this intimate film about how author, P.G.Wodehouse, came to face a charge of treason during the Second World War and how this quintessential Englishman, creator of Jeeves and Wooster, became an exile from his own country and never set foot on English soil again.

Release Date2013-03-25

Charactersd Werner Plack

Vote Count6

Brendan Smyth: Betrayal of Trust

The true story of the notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, and how one family in Belfast, aided by journalist Chris Moore, uncovered the true extent of the clerical abuse scandal.

Release Date2011-03-13

Charactersd Chris Moore

Vote Count1

Pumpgirl

The dark story of three people who become playthings of the devil: a man, Shawshank, human enough but with a glee for spoiling people’s lives. There’s what looks at first like a normal sexual triangle: a girl, Pumpgirl, who works in the local garage and thinks she’s one of the lads; a freewheeling jack-the-lad, Hammy, who’s in love with no-one but himself; and a woman, Sinead, neglected, lonely, out looking for a joyride of her own. Three people, one night; a night of sex and violence, resulting in consequences - and not just for them alone.

Release Date2009-04-02

Charactersd Hammy

Vote Count1

Bloody Friday

On July 21st 1972 the IRA planned the biggest car bomb blitz ever seen. 40 years on we tell the story of that day through the eyes of people who were there. (BBC Genome)

Release Date2012-07-19

Charactersd Narrator

Apollo Has Fallen

Apollo Has Fallen

“When chaos looms, trust is the deadliest weapon.” In this highly anticipated edge-of-your-seat action thriller, fearless MI6 agent, Zara and ex-protection officer Vincent return for their most explosive mission yet. After a daring hijack spirals into a shadowy conspiracy, the duo must confront ruthless mercenaries and their own harrowing pasts, all the while unsure exactly who they can trust. While a deadly virus threatens to decimate Europe, Zara and Vincent are pushed to the edge - facing betrayal, heartbreak, and impossible choices. With countless lives hanging in the balance and the clock ticking, can they outwit the brutal mercenary leader Yuri Mishkin, or will his insidious plan for chaos succeed? From the Libyan coast to the streets of Madrid, this heart-pounding thriller will keep audiences on the edge of their seats and guessing until the very last moment.

Episode Count8

The Rule of Thumb

Forty-something mummy’s boy Neil Barrow attempts to make his mum proud. Living out his fantasy the attempt leads to a disastrous stand-off at his local school.

Release Date2012-02-11