Most recently, Simon Coury was in the cast of the Hallmark feature film The Reluctant Royal playing William, Duke of Glasswick alongside his on-screen son Andrew Walker as Johnny Payne and Emilie de Ravin as Prudence Thorp. In the Irish detective comedy-drama series Harry Wild, Simon played guest character Alan McNamara, with Jane Seymour as the titular character, and he played the father of Rose (Imogen Poots) in feature film Rosie’s War. Simon worked with Mel Gibson and Steve Coogan when he played Sir Charles Troup in The Professor and the Madman, and across both episodes of the Channel 4 series Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama, Simon played barrister Hugh Tomlinson, where he worked opposite Michael Sheen as the rival barrister (who he was in the same year as when they both attended RADA). Some of Simon’s screen work in recent years are episodes of Maxine, Red Election and Intruder, and later this year, he will be in the cast of feature film Victorian Psycho, which is directed by Zachary Wigon. As a stage actor, in 2018, Simon played Michael in the stage play Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me with Decadent Theatre Company at Lime Tree Theatre, and with Gate Theatre, he played Sir William Lucas in Pride and Prejudice (which he also played on tour in Hong Kong), Phipps in An Ideal Husband and David Lancaster in The Vortex. We caught up with Simon about recently playing William, Duke of Glasswick in the Hallmark feature film The Reluctant Royal, his time in the casts of feature films Rosie’s War and The Professor and the Madman and being part of the stage play Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me as Michael.

You have most recently been seen on screen playing William, Duke of Glasswick in the Hallmark feature film The Reluctant Royal, was there anything that drew you to the project and how was it filming for a Hallmark release?

I loved the part and knew there were some good scenes I would enjoy playing. Filming was intense, but the atmosphere was great, and the locations were fascinating. I had the chance to get a look inside a big house I’d often seen from a distance.

Can you tell us about The Reluctant Royal and your character, and who do you think the film will appeal to?

The story is about a young American guy suddenly thrust into a very uptight British upper-class milieu – and finding love! It will appeal to old (and not so old) romantics, especially if they like castles, horses, and tweed.

What was William, Duke of Glasswick like to play and how was it telling the story of The Reluctant Royal?

The Duke was great fun to play. He is an aristocrat who has been shaped for the role – forced into it, in fact, by family pressure – until he has forgotten the young, impulsive man he once was. His story is about his discovery of a son he never knew he had, but also his rediscovery of himself. So there was a real journey, which is what you want as an actor. It was a liberating experience.

What was it like working alongside the rest of the cast, which includes your on-screen son Andrew Walker (as Johnny Payne) and Emilie de Ravin (as Prudence Thorp), and do you have any favourite memories from your time on set that you can share?

It was a lovely cast and crew. Andrew and Emilie were great to work with, and not just on screen.

My favourite memory would be taking a lunchtime swim in the chilly River Liffey in the Irish autumn sunshine, with Andrew, Emilie, Kevin Fair (the director), Thomas Michael (the producer), and other cast members. Exhilarating to be in the water – and great to get out and get warm!

How was it having a guest role in the Irish detective comedy-drama series Harry Wild (which stars Jane Seymour as Harry Wild), and how would you describe your character Alan McNamara?

Jane Seymour was a laugh. She twisted McNamara round her little finger.

How did you find the experience on the set of the feature films Rose’s War, in which you played the father of Rose (played by Imogen Poots), and The Professor and the Madman starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn, in which you played Sir Charles Troup?

Two very different working experiences, but both very rewarding. The scenes in Rose’s War (released as Baltimore in Ireland, I think) were mostly in the doing room of another big house – more of the stuffy British upper-classes. I loved working with the directors, Joe (Lawlor) and Christine (Molloy), a husband-and-wife pair who were very open and creative in their approach. My on-screen wife was played by Carrie Crowley (An Cailín Ciúin), who is a good friend, so that was fun.

The Professor and the Madman was on a muckiest bigger scale. It was great having a scene with Mel Gibson, and I shall never forget the hot day spent shooting in a huge room in the Royal Hospital in Dublin (standing in for the British Home Office) with Steve Coogan, Mel Gibson, and a host of background actors, as temperatures rose and passions came to the boil.

What was it like being involved with the Channel 4 series Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama as Hugh Tomlinson across both episodes?

Very intensive work, but very exciting to be part of. The cast gelled well and enjoyed the occasional evenings off after a long day’s filming in Budapest. I remember the hand-held fans we all carried and used between takes. It was hot in Budapest, and I was working under two wigs – a character one for Tomlinson and a barrister’s curly one on top – so I needed the fan. It was a particular pleasure working opposite Michael Sheen, my rival barrister. We had been in the same year at RADA more than 30 years earlier, so it was good to catch up.

In recent years, you have also filmed for episodes of Maxine, Red Election and Intruder, what were each like to film?

Maxine was another courtroom drama (at least as far as I was concerned), so more wigs and paperwork. It was lovely to work with the director, Laura Way, who had played my wife in an episode of Foyle’s War some years earlier.

Red Election I shall remember as the most physically challenging role I have ever played. I had an extended chase scene – one day I spent running through the Dublin docklands take after take, while my knees got sorer and sorer; another day, after some combat training, I had a fight in a lift, which I lost. Terminally. That was just before lockdown.

Intruder happened during the COVID period, under very strict health restrictions. Masks on all the time except (for the actors only) during actual takes. Distances always kept. It was weird, and definitely cast a shadow over proceedings. I never saw the director’s full face, so I hardly recognised him when I did some post-production voice work on a video link.

How was it taking on the role of Michael in the stage play Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me with Decadent Theatre Company at Lime Tree Theatre in 2018?

Michael was one of my three or four favourite roles ever. It’s a three-hander – men held hostage in 1980s Beirut – being thrown on their inner resources with nothing more than each other and their imaginations to work with. It wasn’t a play or a role that was easy to slip in and out of, and I was sometimes in bits at the end of a performance. The play ends with Michael left alone in the cell, facing the worst. As part of the play, as written, I had to recite a 17th century poem (Love by George Herbert) that I had read 10 years earlier at my mother’s funeral. It all felt very personal.

Can you tell us about performing in Pride and Prejudice as Sir William Lucas, An Ideal Husband as Phipps and The Vortex as David Lancaster, all at Gate Theatre?

I love acting in the theatre above everything, so it was an honour to work at the Gate Theatre. Phipps in An Ideal Husband was great fun to do – deadpan, comic manservant. Diffident David Lancaster was a different challenge: suppressed emotions galore, in a very English way, which has been a constant theme in my career. And Sir William Lucas, completely unsuppressed, took me to Hong Kong on tour, which was great!

Over your career so far, you have been part of many other projects including Line of Duty, Foyle’s War, Wodehouse in Exile, King Lear, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Woman in Black, what are some of your stand-out highlights?

I’ll choose two. Performing in The Woman in Black on opening night after my first child (Evie) had been born at five that morning – and of course I had been there for her birthday and all through the long labour, so I got through the evening on pure adrenaline.

The other would be a summer spent in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England working with Alan Ayckbourn and performing Pinter (Betrayal), among other things. It was a long, hot summer with a lovely cast and great work. I remember days on the beach, evenings in the theatre, parties after the shows, a little romance in the air. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than that.

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

I discovered acting as a shy 11-year-old schoolboy who found that he could come out of his shell and make people laugh when he had lines that somebody else had written. I kept at it through school and a little at university, but it took a long time to gather the confidence to give it a proper go. I got into drama school at 28. Before that, I had been teaching, which involves a lot of performing – but you don’t generally get a round of applause at the end of a class.

Do you have any favourite films, TV and theatre shows to watch?

Films: Fanny and Alexander, Bringing Up Baby, The Deer Hunter.

TV: Breaking Bad, Brideshead Revisited, The Sopranos – long-form, slow-burn stuff.

Theatre: Shakespeare and Chekhov above all others for me. Also Sondheim.

Have to include radio here. Howard Barker’s play Scenes from an Execution, starring Glenda Jackson, showed me what radio plays could do. Also Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – which was a radio series before it became anything else, and anything by John Finnemore.

How do you like to spend your free time?

Playing cricket in summer. Walking the hills all year.

What are you hoping 2026 brings for your career, and do you have any projects coming up that you can talk about?

I’d like to do some more theatre. There’s a film due for release later in the year called Victorian Psycho, with Maika Monroe, Jason Isaacs and Thomasin McKenzie, directed by Zachary Wigon, that I have a nice little part in. Anything else is under wraps.