Ron Donachie
Biography
Ronald Eaglesham Porter, known professionally as Ron Donachie (born 26 April 1956, Dundee, Scotland), is a Scottish character actor. He attended Madras College in St Andrews and earned an MA (Hons.) in English Literature and Drama from the University of Glasgow in 1979. He is best known for portraying Ser Rodrik Cassel, the steadfast master-at-arms of House Stark, in HBO's Game of Thrones (2011–2012), for his supporting role as Master-at-Arms Thomas King in James Cameron's Titanic (1997), and for voicing DI John Rebus in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of Sir Ian Rankin's Rebus detective novels, a role he reprised on stage in Rebus: Long Shadows. He has appeared in over 130 productions across theatre, film, and television since the early 1970s. His filmography includes Comfort and Joy (1984), White Mischief (1987), The Jungle Book (1994, as Sergeant Harley), Fierce Creatures (1997), Titanic (1997), Max Manus: Man of War (2008, as Colonel J.S. Wilson), Filth (2012, as Hector), Sunset Song (2015, as Uncle Tam), Steel Rain (2017, as US Secretary of State Michael Dobbs), Outlaw King (2018, as Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow), Rocketry: The Nambi Effect (2022, as Col. Val Cleaver), and I Swear (2025, as Headmaster Donald Watkins). On television he has appeared in Taggart (1983), The Bill (1984, as DCI Andrew Ross, recurring), Doctor Who (2005), Downton Abbey (2010, as Mr. McCree), Rebus (1999–2000, as Jack Gunner / DCI Wilson), Vera (2011), Silk (2011), Blandings (2013), Waterloo Road (2012, 7 episodes), Karen Pirie (2022), Granite Harbour (2022), and Screw (2022, as Don Carpenter, 12 episodes).
Known for
Doctor Who
The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.
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.
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.
Silent Witness
A team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.
Father Brown
Father Brown is based on G. K. Chesterton's detective stories about a Catholic priest who doubles as an amateur detective in order to try and solve mysteries.
Shameless
The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. Whilst they won't admit it, they need help and find it in Steve, a young middle class lad who falls for Fiona, the oldest sibling, and increasingly finds himself drawn to this unconventional and unique family. Anarchic family life seen through the eyes of an exceptionally bright fifteen year old, who struggles to come of age in the context of his belligerent father, closeted brother, psychotic sister and internet porn star neighbors.
Vera
A sharp detective with a messy life, DCI Vera Stanhope patrols her “patch” of northeast England, pursuing the truth in cases of murder, kidnapping, and blackmail. Vera is obsessive about her work and faces the world with caustic wit, guile and courage.
Heartbeat
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Heartbeat
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Waterloo Road
Waterloo Road is a British television drama series set in a comprehensive school of the same name, first broadcast on BBC One on 9 March 2006, and concluding its original run on 9 March 2015. It was recommissioned in 2021, and resumed starting 9 January 2023.
At the failing comprehensive school, and later academy of the same name, the professional and personal lives of the students and staff are examined. Affairs, scandals, blackmail and many, many headteachers. Who said education was easy?
FBI: International
Follows the elite agents of the FBI's International Fly Team headquartered in Budapest as they travel the world with the mission of protecting Americans wherever they may be.
Titanic
101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.
Lewis
Inspector Robert Lewis and Sergeant James Hathaway solve the tough cases that the learned inhabitants of Oxford throw at them.
Taggart
Taggart is a Scottish detective television program. The series revolves around a group of detectives initially in the Maryhill CID of Strathclyde Police, though various storylines have happened in other parts of the Greater Glasgow area, and as of the most recent series the team have operated out of the fictional John Street police station across the street from the City Chambers.
I Swear
Diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at 15, John Davidson navigates his way against the odds through troubled teenage years and into adulthood, finding inspiration in the kindness of others to discover his true purpose in life.