In the ITV series The Bay, Daniel Ryan co-stars as D.I. Tony Manning – a role he has been playing over the five series released so far, with the latest series premiering in March on ITV1 and ITVX, and last year, he played Derek Jackson in the ITVX dark comedy-thriller series Passenger, which was created by Andrew Buchan. Daniel has worked on a number of true event-based dramas including Litvinenko as DAC Peter Clarke (with David Tennant starring) and Four Lives, in which he played Adam Whitworth. Amongst Daniel’s many screen projects, he has played the brother of Lee Ingleby’s characters in both the BBC thriller series Crossfire and ITV drama series Innocent, having first worked together in 2006 when they both were in the cast of Jimmy McGovern’s The Street. From 2011 to 2017, Daniel co-starred in Mount Pleasant as Dan alongside Sally Lindsay and Bobby Ball, and over his extensive TV career so far, he has appeared in shows such as both series of period drama Home Fires, the 2010 BBC/CBBC adaptation of Just William, Death in Paradise, Doc Martin and Doctor Who. On stage, Daniel was most recently in the two-hander play Middle at the National Theatre opposite Claire Rushbrook, and he has previously been in the cast of theatre productions including Glengarry Glen Ross at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End with Christian Slater and the world premiere of The House They Grew Up In at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester in 2017. Upcoming work for Daniel will see him in an independent British film, two new ITV dramas – The Hack, which is about the phone hacking scandal, and The Lady, in which he will be playing the father of a murderer. One of Daniel’s latest projects – Series 2 of Such Brave Girls – released in July, with all episodes streaming on BBC iPlayer, and it has recently been announced that Daniel will play the Assistant England Manager Steve Holland in the TV adaptation of James Graham’s Dear England. We caught up with Daniel about his co-starring role of D.I. Tony Manning in The Bay, playing Dan in Mount Pleasant from 2011 to 2017, the stage shows Middle, Glengarry Glen Ross and The House They Grew Up In and his upcoming projects.

Since 2019, you have been co-starring in the ITV series The Bay as D.I. Tony Manning, how would you describe Tony and how has it been developing the character over the five series so far?

It’s always the greatest pleasure to go beyond a first series of a show as you then really inhabit the character and all the work that you put into the first series is not only validated but then becomes an entire framework for you to hang the developments of that character going forward. Hopefully you end up in sync with the writer beyond that first series and he takes you to challenging and interesting places.

What is it like on set of The Bay and what do you enjoy most about working on the show?

We have a great camaraderie on set for The Bay. Such a talented and hardworking group of people in front and behind the camera. We insist that being at work should be fun whilst taking the material seriously and the added bonus of some very fine guest actors each series who bring the whole show an entirely different flavour which means it always feels new for us.

Have you had a favourite episode/storyline to work on over the years and how is it reading the scripts for the first time?

Of course, the backbone of the show is the crime and the family involved, but it’s been fun charting Tony’s love life, which has been equally as complicated as the whodunnit element! The car crash was, of course, a ‘big’ set piece, closing the seafront and being in the car as much as was possible (insurance-wise). It was, again, another challenge that the writer brought us and it was scary at times but ultimately really good to be involved in.

How has it been seeing the audience response to The Bay, and for those who haven’t seen it yet, why would you recommend watching it?

You can never tell what is going to land and what passes by an audience. So much of the time it can even boil down to scheduling! The fact that we have had a rising audience of very loyal viewers for five series has been a thrill and never taken for granted. With the choice of TV to watch these days, it’s really an honour that six or seven million people watch in the UK and then sold to so many countries will never not put a smile on one’s face.

If you haven’t seen it then I’d say, why not? What’s great is that new people find the show late and go back to the Ep 1 S1 and start the whole thing – which because the series are so self-contained you can easily do.

Can you tell us about last year’s ITV/ITVX dark comedy-thriller series Passenger, which was created by Andrew Buchan, and what was the show like to work on as Derek Jackson?

I LOVED Passenger. I don’t know why it didn’t seem to catch fire but I really enjoyed doing and watching it. A great departure from Manning for me in being the pathetic bad guy of the piece but also just the concept that Andy had and this normal Northern one horse town and these bizarre and extraordinary events happening there. We had a lot of fun telling that story and I think if it had been an American show then people would have accepted it more. It was specifically commissioned for ITVX, which was supposed to be for the ‘not the norm’ shows, so maybe it was just too out there for the main channel? Whatever it was, it was a huge shame not to go back to Chadder Vale!!

How was it being part of telling the stories of Litvinenko (starring David Tennant as Alexander Litvinenko) as DAC Peter Clarke and Four Lives as Adam Whitworth?

I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in telling ‘real-life’ dramas several times now and it adds a certain weight and responsibility to show these very human stories. Getting to meet the person you are playing or their family is such a humbling experience and, again, it is a challenge to tell their story well.

Both Litvinenko and Four Lives are tragic stories and to be able to honour their lives and hopefully highlight miscarriages of justice just add a different perspective to the work.

In BBC’s thriller series Crossfire, you played Ben Cross – brother of Lee Ingleby’s character Jason Cross, and you’d previously played Lee’s on-screen brother Phil Collins in Series 1 of ITV’s Innocent, can you tell us about your time filming for both shows?

Crossfire was meant to be filmed during COVID but sadly got postponed when we reached the airport to go to Tenerife for three months so we came back to it many months later. It was a total delight to work with Lee again. We have in fact been friends since working on Jimmy McGovern’s The Street in 2006 so getting to do Innocent together AND Crossfire was such a treat. We are pals in real life and both obsessed with our ride-on mowers!

What are some of your favourite memories from co-starring as Dan in the popular comedy drama series Mount Pleasant from 2011 to 2017 and how was it working with your fellow cast members?

Too many good memories of Mount Pleasant! Such a fun group of actors. We genuinely got on like family and to get to do 52 hours of a show will always be a highlight of my life. I was onboard from its inception when it was nearly on another channel as a half-hour sitcom and then the privilege of seven years on Sky where it started as part of a great comedy output amongst shows like Stella and Trollied. Truly a very happy period of my life making true friends like Sally Lindsay and the magnificent and much-missed Bobby Ball. The whole show was like a love affair. It was so easy and an unbelievable amount of laughter.

What was Bryn Brindsley like to play in both series of Home Fires and what was it like filming for a period drama?

Yet again another truly fanatstic job. A cast of phenomenal women and such beautiful and humbling stories from living through that time of war. Bryn was such a great character and I loved every second of playing him. The loss of his son was so unbearably sad, and Claire Price and I could hardly get through our scenes together without crying. We were lucky enough to get two series but I think if different decisions had been made then the show might probably have still been going now. Another job where the entire cast go on so well and in fact we went into a state of mourning when it was cancelled. We still meet up for lunch though so I’m privileged to have made another group of wonderful friends.

How was it taking on the role of Mr. Brown in the 2010 BBC/CBBC adaptation of Just William and how different did you find this to work on to your previous projects?

This is such a trip down memory lane, I’m going to be so boring and just say bliss. Being able to play iconic characters from much-loved books is what you dream of. It was straight after the first series of Mount Pleasant so what a thrill to do something so different. Working with Rebecca Front was such a joy and Caroline Quentin and Warren Clarke again with scripts by Simon Nye? It really doesn’t get much better! Plus all the ‘young’uns’ were so wonderfully cast, and look at Lily James now, a superstar.

What is it like having guest roles on shows such as Death in Paradise, Vera, Still Open All Hours, Doc Martin, Father Brown, Midsomer Murders and Doctor Who?

Hardest job in the world is guesting on a show. All of those nerves never really get to settle and it’s over before you feel you’ve even started but saying all that, all of these shows have been brilliant to do. Constantly playing different characters has always been the lifeblood of why I do the job. ‘Dodgy builder’, ‘Idiot Inventor’ ‘Fake Lifeboat hero’ ‘Pretend Colonel’ all are tests of what you do and risks you take in honing your craft. If you’re going to choose a job where you pretend to be other people then surely the gift is to play as many different ones as you can!

As a theatre actor, you were most recently performing in the two-hander play Middle as Gary opposite Claire Rushbrook at the National Theatre, can you tell us about this?

Claire is one of my best friends and to be able to explore this soul-baring play will forever be a highlight. Such an extraordinary piece of writing by David Eldridge and the challenge of sustaining nearly two hours on stage of the most difficult conversation this marriage has ever faced is going to struggle to be beaten with any other play I get to do. 12 glorious weeks we opened ourselves up and the reaction was incredible. Very lucky to have been cast in that one.

How was your time playing James Lingk in Glengarry Glen Ross at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End?

I’ve been so lucky with my theatre jobs and you can’t really pass up a chance to be in a production of this particular play. I don’t imagine there is a single actor who wouldn’t want to do Glengarry AND again with an amazing bunch of guys. Short. Sharp. Snappy. Controversial. And I made another lifelong pal with Christian Slater, who makes me howl with laughter.

What was it like being involved with the world premiere production of The House They Grew Up In as Daniel Angelis at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester in 2017?

Jeremy Herrin had been on my hit list as a director for a long time and in a bizarre twist of fate just as I moved to West Sussex I got offered this play at Chichester. Again, an extraordinary story of a sister, who had a breakdown, and her autistic brother living parentless in their South London home, attempting but being rejected by the society and the world surrounding them. Such a brave play and getting to work with Samantha Spiro again was such fun and an incredible challenge to bring these characters to life. It was truly a play of hope though and incredibly cathartic.

Over your extensive acting career so far, you have been part of many other projects including the TV series Cold Call, Creeped Out, Candy Cabs, The Whistleblowers and the special reunion episodes of As Time Goes By and the films Black Sea (starring Jude Law), Salting the Battlefield and The Government Inspector, can you say about some of your further highlights?

It’s all been about the characters really. To get to have played such a variety was what I always wanted to do. I’ve worked with the best directors and writers in theatre and on TV. I’ve dabbled in bits of film but its not come my way too often. I’ve done Shakespeare and musicals, played good guys and bad, and it’s really all about the challenge and seeking to go places I haven’t been before with scripts that push the envelope or simply communicate the universal in a fresh way. Ultimately to entertain. Got no other skills so I’ll stick with it.

How did you originally get into acting and was it always something you wanted to do professionally?

I basically knew from playing The Artful Dodger at school aged around eight or nine that that was it. Never pursued anything else. Never contemplated anything else. Just did everything I could to get to do it for a living and been lucky enough to just keep at it.

How do you like to spend your free time?

Mowing and a little songwriting!

What are you hoping this year brings, and do you have any projects coming up that you can talk about?

It’s been tough in the industry over the last few years and it’s been cruel to a lot of people. I’ve kept my head above water but I think since COVID there have been a lot of changes to how the business works, where the money is to make stuff, and the viewing habits of the general public. It’s meant things are sticky and more complicated to get made but I’m one of the lucky ones and kept ploughing my furrow on different projects with these varied characters.

Yes, I have an independent British film coming out, Such Brave Girls just on, two new ITV dramas: The Hack, about the phone hacking scandal and The Lady, playing the father of a murderer. And as soon as I’ve finished speaking to you, it’s back to line learning for the TV version of James Graham’s Dear England, playing Assistant England Manager Steve Holland.

I’m a lucky boy and I’m far from done yet!!!

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