Tristan Sturrock

Tristan Sturrock
Born	1967 (age 56–57) Upton Cross, Cornwall, England, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986 –present
Notable work	Kneehigh Theatre Poldark (2015–)
Spouse	Katy Carmichael (m. 2005)
Children	3
Website	Theatre Damfino

Tristan Sturrock (born 1967) is a British theatre, television and film actor. He has worked with the theatre company Kneehigh for 30 years. He played Colin Hedges in the drama series Bad Girls during its fifth, sixth and seventh series between 2003 and 2005, and the role of Zacky Martin in Poldark in all five seasons, which aired from 2015 to 2019 in the UK. He has performed in many productions including Brief Encounter on Broadway and Mayday, Mayday, an autobiographical solo project which he wrote and performed internationally.

Early life and career

Tristan Sturrock was born in 1967 and raised Upton Cross, Cornwall.

Sturrock's career commenced in theatre in 1986 when he joined the international touring theatre group, Truro-based Kneehigh Theatre. Throughout his stage career, he has played leading roles on Broadway, the West End and the National Theatre. He starred as Dr. Alec Harvey in Brief Encounter which is perhaps one of his most notable performance. Sturrock has played leading roles in many productions including Peter Carter in A Matter of Life and Death, at the National Theatre (Olivier), The Riot (National). He played Tristan in the first cast of Emma Rice's acclaimed Tristan and Yseult, (National Theatre Cottesloe) which toured to Sydney and New Zealand and the US. He played the title role in The King of Prussia (Donmar Warehouse) and in 2015 played Maxim De Winter in Rebecca also directed by Emma Rice.

Other Kneehigh work includes Tregeagle, Ship of Fools, Peer Gynt, The Ashmaid, Danger My Ally, Windfall and Don John. Other notable theatre work includes roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company including The Spanish Tragedy and The Mysteries. He played Orlando in As You Like It at The Royal Exchange Theatre directed by Marianne Elliot.

Sturrock first appeared on television in 1996 when he had a guest role on the British detective series Wycliffe. Following this, he made appearances on Liverpool 1, The New Adventures of Robin Hood, The Bill, Rescue Me, Holby City and The Royal. In 2002, Sturrock was cast in the role of Officer Colin Hedges on the ITV prison drama series Bad Girls (Series 5, 6 and 7). In 2000 he was cast as Harvey Sloggit in the feature film Saving Grace. He also played Harvey, Martin Clunes' sidekick in the spin-off movies for Doc Martin and Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie (2003), which were prequels to the TV series. He returned to Doc Martin to play Danny Steel, Louisa Glasson’s ex in 2005. The character returned in 2015. Roles followed in Garrow's Law, The Borgias, the television film The Best of Men and The Queen (Channel 4) where he played Peter Townsend. He played Doctor Bernard Gould in Endeavour (2016) and John Wheeler-Bennett in season 2 of The Crown (2017). In 2014 he was cast as Cornish miner and series regular Zacky Martin in Poldark.

Sturrock is an associate artist at Bristol Old Vic Theatre where he played Long John Silver in Sally Cookson's Treasure Island and in her critically acclaimed Peter in Peter Pan (Christmas 2012) He played Pongo in 101 Dalmatians (Tobacco Factory). He also played the Friar in Tom Morris's Juliet and her Romeo.

Sturrock is the co-artistic director of Bristol-based company Theatre Damfino with his partner Katy Carmichael. His autobiographical solo piece Mayday Mayday which he wrote and performed; was based on the true events of an accident in which he broke his neck and the months it took him to recover whilst raising awareness for the spinal injury charity, Aspire. The first showing premiered in Edinburgh (2012) where it won the International Fringe Review Award and was selected by artistic director Susan Feldman to play at St Ann's Warehouse, New York (2013). It went on to play at the Spoleto International Theatre Festival, South Carolina. Mayday Mayday was also adapted as an afternoon play for BBC Radio 4 by Becky Ripley and was broadcast on 1 May 2015. The Radio play won the International Third Coast award (US) was nominated for two BBC Drama awards 2016 - best sound design and a finalist for best drama production. Other Damfino work includes The Table Of Delights (Bristol Old Vic) winner of an Off West End award 2016 in best production for families category. (Print Room Theatre London).

Personal life

Sturrock is married to actress and director Katy Carmichael, with whom he has three children; a son (born 2004) and two daughters (born 2006 and 2010).

In May 2004, Sturrock broke his neck after falling from a wall during the 'Obby 'Oss festival in Padstow, Cornwall. He was airlifted to the Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. He underwent an operation three weeks following the accident and it took him several weeks to learn how to walk again. After a three-month stay in hospital, Sturrock was discharged to his parents' home in Bodmin Moor and attended physiotherapy sessions as an outpatient and twelve months later, he had made a remarkable improvement, however, nerve damage left him with permanent numbness in his fingers, arms, shoulders, and feet.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Wycliffe	Paul Mawnan	Series 3, Episode 4 - "Total Loss"
1998	Liverpool 1	Will Timmer	Series 1 - 5 episodes
1998	The New Adventures of Robin Hood	Assassin	Season 3, Episode 10 - "The Assassin"
2000	Saving Grace	Harvey	Feature film
2001	Doc Martin	Harvey	Television film prequel to Saving Grace
2001	The Bill	Jamie Ross	Series 17 - 5 episodes
2002	Rescue Me	Rev. Simon McDonald	Series 1, Episode 3
2002	Holby City	John Baxter	Series 4, Episode 45 - "New Hearts, Old Scores"
2002	Menace	Peter Jackson	Miniseries
2002	The Project	Sean Sealey	Two-part television film
2003	Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie	Harvey	Television film prequel to Saving Grace
2003	The Royal	Charles Dodds	Series 2, Episode 1 -"All at Sea"
2003–05	Bad Girls	Colin Hedges	Series 5–7 - 32 episodes
2007	The Bill	David Pritchard	Series 23, Episodes 27 - "Pride Before a Fall"
2009	Garrow's Law	Thomas Rawlings	Series 1 - 2 episodes
2009	The Queen	Peter Townsend	Miniseries - Episode 5 - "Margaret"
2010	The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Lion	Father	Short film
2012	The Best of Men	Sergeant 'Q' Hills	Television film
2013	The Borgias	Doctor	Season 3, Episode 5 - "The Wolf and the Lamb"
2014	Jamaica Inn	Eli Brown	Miniseries - 3 episodes
2005–15	Doc Martin	Danny Steel	Series 2 & Series 7 - 8 episodes
2015– 2018	Poldark	Zacky Martin	Series 1 - 8 episodes Series 2 - 10 episodes series 3 - 8 episodes series 4 - 8 episodes series 5 - 8 episodes
2016	Endeavor	Dr Bernard Gould	ITV
2016	Three Girls	CPS Lawyer	BBC mini-series
2017	The Crown	John Wheeler-Bennett	Netflix; season 2, episode 6, "Vergangenheit"
2017	Strike Back	Dr Stern	Sky
2018	Christopher Robin	Christopher's father (A.A. Milne)	Disney film
2024	Truelove	Pathologist	Channel 4 miniseries

External links

• Official site
• Tristan Sturrock at IMDb