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John Simm
Birth name	John Ronald Simm
Born	10 July 1970 (1970-07-10) (age 37) Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Occupation	actor
Spouse(s)	Kate Magowan

John Ronald Simm (born 10 July 1970 in Leeds, West Yorkshire) is an English actor and musician. He is best known for his role as Sam Tyler in the BBC detective drama Life on Mars. He also appeared as the latest incarnation of the Master in the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Acting career 2.1 Life on Mars and beyond 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 Television 6 Theatre 7 References 8 External links

Simm was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire and grew up in Nelson, Lancashire. He carries his father's name, Ronald, as his middle name. His father was a local musician who taught him to play guitar. Simm would join his father on stage in the working men’s clubs playing the guitar, he made his debut singing Elvis's Wooden Heart, and they called themselves 'Us2'.^{[citation needed]}

In 1986 and at the age of 16, Simm went to Blackpool Drama College for three years, and starred in West Side Story. He then attended the Drama Centre in London at the age of 18, where he studied the Stanislavski School of method acting.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1990s, the band in which Simm played guitar, Magic Alex (named after The Beatles' electrician) went on two tours with Echo and the Bunnymen. Plus, Simm plays guitar on the track called "Sliding", of the album Slideling, by Echo and the Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch. He also made his TV debut in 1992 with a role in the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey.

In 1995, Simm played the troubled teenager Bill Preece in the "Best Boys" episode of the acclaimed ITV police drama, Cracker.^[1] He also starred in Boston Kickout and won the Best Actor award at the Valencia Film Festival.

In 1997, he starred in the first series of the critically acclaimed and often controversial The Lakes, a BBC series written by Jimmy McGovern. In 1999, he starred in the second series of The Lakes as well as appearing in Human Traffic and Wonderland.

In 2000, he starred in the opening episode of the acclaimed drama Clocking Off written by Paul Abbott, with whom he would later work on the award-winning political thriller series State of Play.

In 2002, Simm featured in the film 24 Hour Party People as enigmatic New Order frontman Bernard Sumner. At a live concert in Finsbury Park the same year, Simm sang "Digital" onstage with New Order. It was also this year that he played Raskolnikov in the BBC adaptation of his favourite book, Crime and Punishment.

In 2004 he played a researcher and investigator for a charity in a Channel 4 drama Sex Traffic, the hard hitting drama that follows the plight of two young Moldovan sisters sold into sexual slavery.

Simm starred as Detective Inspector Sam Tyler in the popular 2006 BBC series Life on Mars in which he played a police officer apparently sent back in time to 1973. The second series began on BBC One on February 13, 2007. The show won the Pioneer Audience Award for Best Programme at the 2007 BAFTA TV Awards, although Simm lost out on the award for Best Actor.^[2]

In March 2007, he appeared on Channel 4 in The Yellow House, a biographical drama produced by talkbackTHAMES about the lives of artists Vincent van Gogh (Simm) and Paul Gauguin (John Lynch).^[3]

In April 2007, it was announced that Simm would resume the role of Cal McCaffrey in the second series of State of Play, with Bill Nighy also returning to the show although Simm has said himself that he would not be reprising the role. ^[4] Simm also returned to the theatre as the title character in Paul Miller's acclaimed Bush Theatre staging of Simon Bent's version of Elling, a comedy about two men just out of mental hospital adjusting to 'normal life' and each other. Following excellent press reviews the production was transferred to the Trafalgar Studios 1 in July 2007 for an extended West End run.

Simm joined the 2007 series of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who as the Master, a recurring enemy of the Doctor. He made his first appearance on the 16 June 2007 episode, "Utopia", where he appeared as the Master following Derek Jacobi's brief portrayal of the character.^[5]

He will reunite with his Life on Mars co-star Philip Glenister— with whom he also appeared in Clocking Off and State of Play—in the forthcoming 1980s-set crime film Tuesday, in which the pair play bank robbers.^[6] Upon the announcement of the film, Glenister joked that he and Simm were contractually obliged to work with each other once a year.^[6]

He is married to fellow actor Kate Magowan, who appeared alongside him in 24 Hour Party People, and they have two children; Ryan, born 13 August 2001, and Molly, born in February 2007. Simm is a supporter of Manchester United. ^[7]

• Boston Kickout (1995)
• Diana & Me (1997)
• Understanding Jane (1998)
• Human Traffic (1999)
• Wonderland (1999)
• 24 Hour Party People (2002)
• Miranda (2002)
• Ten Minute Movie (2004)
• Tuesday (2008)

• Rumpole of the Bailey (1992)
• Heartbeat (1993)
• A Pinch of Snuff (1994)
• Men of the World (1994)
• Meat (1994)
• Cracker (1995)
• Chiller (1995)
• Here Comes the Mirror Man (1995)
• The Locksmith (1997)
• The Lakes Series 1 (1997)
• The Lakes Series 2 (1999)
• Never Never (2000)
• Clocking Off (2000)
• Forgive and Forget (2000)
• Spaced (2001)
• Is Harry on the Boat? (2001)
• White Teeth (2002)
• Crime and Punishment (2002)
• Magic Hour (2002)
• State of Play (2003)
• Sex Traffic (2004)
• Imperium: Nerone (2004)
• London (2004)
• The All Star Comedy Show (2004)
• The Canterbury Tales (2004)
• Blue/Orange (2005)
• Life on Mars as DCI/DI Sam Tyler (2006–07)
• The Yellow House (2007)
• Doctor Who as the Master (2007)

• Elling at Bush Theatre, London, 27th April-26th May 2007,^[8] and at Trafalgar Studios 1, London, 6th July-6th October 2007^[9]

• John Simm at the Internet Movie Database
• The Man Who Fell to Earth, Sunday Telegraph interview 5th August 2007

Preceded by Derek Jacobi

The Master, Doctor Who 2007

Succeeded by none