Where Are They Now?
After last week’s double casting news anteros_lmc and I thought it might be nice to catch up with what all our boys have been getting up to post Hornblower. I’m not going to attempt to sum up Paul McGann and Robert Lindsay’s combined decades in the biz, I’ll leave that for someone else, but today I shall post a potted history of the careers of Mr. Gruffudd and Mr. Bamber during and since Hornblower. Please feel free to add!
Hornblower made Ioan a minor household name (even if no one could pronounce that name) in the UK and he worked solidly in British film and TV during the Hornblower years. Roles of note include as John Gray in Wilde, Phillip Bosinney in the remake of The Forsyth Saga and he also had minor parts in big budget US productions Titanic (yes that one) and Black Hawk Down. If you seek out only one work from this period however I recommend Welsh genteel comedy Very Annie Mary with the always fabulous Rachel Griffiths in the lead role. Ioan has a minor roll, but it’s in a decent film so swings and roundabouts! Ioan has also appeared in a variety of Welsh language roles and I believe still does voiceover work for Welsh children’s television.
Around 2003/2004 Ioan moved to Los Angeles where he continues to be based. His career then slid up a gear with starring roles in King Arthur as Lancelot and as Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four movies. While these had varying commercial success they were all critically mauled and his Hollywood career stalled somewhat after that, although he has continued to work in both American and British film in productions such as Fireflies in the Garden, W., The Secret of Moonacre and the recently released Sanctum.
By far the pinnacle of Ioan’s film career to date is 2007’s Amazing Grace where he plays William Willberforce. It is by no means a technically flawless film but it is an incredibly moving one and if you watch him in anything other than Hornblower I recommend this.
A more complete summary of Ioan’s work can be found at his IMDB page.
Post Hornblower Jamie toiled for several years in minor British TV roles, such as in medical drama Peak Practice and the risible SAS drama Ultimate Force amongst the obligatory appearances in the like of Poirot and various others costume dramas. He was also a fairly frequent participant in radio drama, most of which is actually of high quality and worth checking out if you can find it, particularly The Bell and Brideshead Revisted, both based on the classic novels of the same name. He also has a very small role in HBO’s Band of Brothers. It is worth watching regardless.
In 2003 Jamie also headed to LA and was cast as Lee ‘Apollo’ Adama in the remake of Battlestar Galactica. BSG was a huge critical success and marks a turning point in his career. On it’s completion in 2008 he returned to the UK to star in Law and Order: UK which he has recently wrapped and is now based back in LA.
Jamie doesn’t have much of a back catalogue film wise. He’s starred in one dodgy British horror film, one dodgy American horror film, and last summer filmed a French romantic comedy, I have yet to hear if it’s dodgy or not.
Like Ioan, a more complete listing of his work can be found at his IMDB page and both will hopefully be returning to TV screens in the US this Autumn in Ringer and 17th Precinct.
Hornblower made Ioan a minor household name (even if no one could pronounce that name) in the UK and he worked solidly in British film and TV during the Hornblower years. Roles of note include as John Gray in Wilde, Phillip Bosinney in the remake of The Forsyth Saga and he also had minor parts in big budget US productions Titanic (yes that one) and Black Hawk Down. If you seek out only one work from this period however I recommend Welsh genteel comedy Very Annie Mary with the always fabulous Rachel Griffiths in the lead role. Ioan has a minor roll, but it’s in a decent film so swings and roundabouts! Ioan has also appeared in a variety of Welsh language roles and I believe still does voiceover work for Welsh children’s television.
Around 2003/2004 Ioan moved to Los Angeles where he continues to be based. His career then slid up a gear with starring roles in King Arthur as Lancelot and as Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four movies. While these had varying commercial success they were all critically mauled and his Hollywood career stalled somewhat after that, although he has continued to work in both American and British film in productions such as Fireflies in the Garden, W., The Secret of Moonacre and the recently released Sanctum.
By far the pinnacle of Ioan’s film career to date is 2007’s Amazing Grace where he plays William Willberforce. It is by no means a technically flawless film but it is an incredibly moving one and if you watch him in anything other than Hornblower I recommend this.
A more complete summary of Ioan’s work can be found at his IMDB page.
Post Hornblower Jamie toiled for several years in minor British TV roles, such as in medical drama Peak Practice and the risible SAS drama Ultimate Force amongst the obligatory appearances in the like of Poirot and various others costume dramas. He was also a fairly frequent participant in radio drama, most of which is actually of high quality and worth checking out if you can find it, particularly The Bell and Brideshead Revisted, both based on the classic novels of the same name. He also has a very small role in HBO’s Band of Brothers. It is worth watching regardless.
In 2003 Jamie also headed to LA and was cast as Lee ‘Apollo’ Adama in the remake of Battlestar Galactica. BSG was a huge critical success and marks a turning point in his career. On it’s completion in 2008 he returned to the UK to star in Law and Order: UK which he has recently wrapped and is now based back in LA.
Jamie doesn’t have much of a back catalogue film wise. He’s starred in one dodgy British horror film, one dodgy American horror film, and last summer filmed a French romantic comedy, I have yet to hear if it’s dodgy or not.
Like Ioan, a more complete listing of his work can be found at his IMDB page and both will hopefully be returning to TV screens in the US this Autumn in Ringer and 17th Precinct.