Alex Norton

Alex Norton (born 1950/1951) is a Scottish actor. He played the roles of DCI Matt Burke in the STV detective drama series Taggart, Eric Baird in BBC Two sitcom Two Doors Down, DCS Wallace in Extremely Dangerous, Gerard Findlay in Waterloo Road and Eddie in the Renford Rejects. He has also had roles in the films Braveheart, Local Hero and Les Misérables.

Early life Norton spent part of his childhood in Moffat Street in the Gorbals before moving to Pollokshaws. He was educated at Shawlands Academy, Glasgow. Norton's very first TV appearance was in the early 1960s on STV's live lunchtime show The One O' Clock Gang, He discovered acting at the age of fourteen via an out-of-school drama group. This led to his part in the TV series Dr. Finlay's Casebook and with it the decision that acting was the career for him. Because of his background and his father's lack of approval of his chosen career, Norton decided to avoid the traditional route into acting and instead worked from part-to-part.

Career In 1973, he became one of the founder members of the 7:84 company, touring Scotland with The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil.

He has appeared in the Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl (1981), Local Hero (1983) and Comfort and Joy (1984), A Sense of Freedom (1981), Comrades (1986), Hidden City (1987), Scandal (1989), Countdown to War (1989), Robin Hood (1991), Chernobyl: The Final Warning (1991), Blame It on the Bellboy (1992), Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994), Little Voice (1998), Orphans (1998) and Beautiful Creatures (2000), as well as American productions such as White Hunter, Black Heart (1990) with Clint Eastwood, Patriot Games (1992) with Harrison Ford, Braveheart (1995) starring Mel Gibson and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) with Johnny Depp. Norton also voiced Thurston McCondry in the animated shorts Haunted Hogmanay and Glendogie Bogey.

He appeared in The Black Adder in the episode "Born to be King" as Dougal McAngus, 4th Duke of Argyll.

In addition to his role as DCI Matt Burke in Taggart, he had previously appeared in the same series as murder suspect George Bryce in the episode "Knife Edge" in 1986.

Norton also provided the voice-overs for the ill-fated channel Sky Scottish that only ran for 18 months from November 1996 before closing down in May 1998. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel. In 2005, Norton was presented with the opportunity to play a part in Peter Jackson's King Kong; however, he could not accept the offer because it happened to interfere with the TV project he was working on at the time.

Norton hosted the STV crime show Unsolved.

He has also done voice over work on Medieval Total War II as the voice of some of the Scottish characters in the game, along with voicing in Hearts of Stone, an expansion pack for the video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Lord Robert in Dragon Quest XI . He provided additional vocals on "The Song of Mor'du" in Brave, which also featured his wife Sally Kinghorn. He also appeared on The Weakest Link TV Drama Characters Edition. He was the first one voted off. Norton also plays Grandad in the CBeebies programme Woolly and Tig.

Norton has also won two awards for writing. "Extras", an episode of First Sight for Channel 4 and Waiting for Elvis for STV. He also has an interest in directing. He directed the first production of Tony Roper's The Steamie,

Since 2013, Norton has played Eric in the sitcom Two Doors Down.

In March 2014, he played Cameron Watt in the "Dead Water" episodes of the BBC One crime drama series Shetland.

In 2014, Norton appeared in the documentary I Belong To Glasgow, a BBC Scotland production in which he guest starred alongside Karen Dunbar.

Personal life In the 1970s he met his wife, Sally Kinghorn. They met on the set of a BBC Schools series. The couple have three sons, Jamie, Rory and Jock.

In 2014, at the time of the Scottish independence referendum, Norton endorsed a "No" vote in opposition to independence. He has, however, confirmed his support for Scottish independence since the referendum.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1971 The Hunch Ian 1981 Gregory's Girl Alec 1981 A Sense of Freedom Malkie 1983 Local Hero Watt 1983 Dead on Time Foreigner 1984 Bless My Soul Guest 1984 Comfort and Joy Trevor 1984 Every Picture Tells a Story William Scott Sr. 1986 Comrades Diorama Showman / Lanternist / Laughing Cavalier / Sgt. Bell / Mr Wetham (scene cut) / Usher / Wollaston / Ranger / Tramp / Captain / McCallum / Silhouettist / Mad Photographer / Witch 1987 Hidden City Hillcombe 1989 Scandal Detective Inspector 1989 Countdown to War Joseph Stalin TV Movie 1989 Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale Harry 1990 White Hunter Black Heart Zibelinsky 1991 Chernobyl: The Final Warning Dr. Andreyev TV Movie 1991 Robin Hood Harry 1991 Under Suspicion Prosecuting Attorney 1992 Blame It on the Bellboy Alfio 1992 Patriot Games Dennis Cooley 1992 An Ungentlemanly Act Chief of Police Ronnie Lamb TV Movie 1994 Squanto: A Warrior's Tale Harding (voice) 1995 Braveheart Bride's Father 1997 Deacon Brodie Alisdair Gilzean Screen One Special 1998 Les Misérables General 1998 Orphans Hanson 1998 Little Voice Bunnie Morris 2000 Complicity Kenny Garnet 2000 Beautiful Creatures Detective Inspector Hepburn 2001 The Fabulous Bagel Boys Lionel Rose 2002 The Count of Monte Cristo Napoleon 2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Captain Bellamy 2006 Haunted Hogmanay Thurston McCondry (voice) Short Film 2008 Glendogie Bogey Thurston McCondry (voice) Short Film 2012 Sir Billi Baron McToff (Voice) 2012 Brave Additional Voices 2013 Underdogs Captain Gregor (Voice) 2022 The Sea Beast ADR Group 2023 Shoshana Tennant (CID)

Television Year Title Role Notes 1966-1967 This Man Craig Macrae, Davy, Fisher, Bob, Alec 5 episodes 1967-1968 The Revenue Men Willie, Benny 3 episodes 1969 The Borderers Sawney Johnstone 1 episode 1965-1970 Dr. Finlay's Casebook Tommy, Boy, Alex Milne, Alister Daker 5 episodes 1973 The View from Daniel Pike Adam 1 episode 1973 Scotch on the Rocks Chappie Chapman 2 episodes 1971-1977 Play for Today 3 episodes 1973 Sutherland's Law Lane 1 episode 1978 The Sweeney Gibson 1 episode 1979 ITV Playhouse Donald 1 episode 1979 The Mourning Brooch Hughie 1 episode 1980 A Question of Guilt Malkie 6 episodes 1981 Strangers Cooper 1 episode 1981 Bergerac Acupuntrist 1 episode 1982 BBC2 Playhouse Max Beerbohm 1 episode 1982 Fame Is the Spur Keir Hardie 2 episodes 1983 No Excuses Howard 4 episodes 1983 The Black Adder McAngus, Duke of Argyll 1 episode 1978-1984 Crown Court Dr Allan, Joseph McGoldrick 4 episodes 1985 Juliet Bravo Ian Doward 1 episode 1986 Taggart George Bryce 3 episodes 1988 The One GameThe Conjuror 3 episodes 1988 The Laughter Show Various Characters 3 episodes 1988 The Campbells Sheriff Black 2 episodes 1988-1989 Screen Two Tommy, Des Organ 2 episodes 1988-1999 Rab C. Nesbitt Alec, Dobie 2 episodes 1989 Stay Lucky Angus 1 episode 1993 The Chief Gordon Mackie 1 episode 1993 Lovejoy Murray McNally 1 episode 1993 Comics Haggis 2 episodes 1993 Screen One Dan Gibbons 1 episode 1994 The High Life Hal 1 episode 1994 Headhunters Sammy 1 episode 1994 Signs and Wonders William Gimble 3 episodes 1993 Blood & Peaches Outsider 2 episodes 1995 Hamish Macbeth Duncan Soutar 1 episode 1995 Backup PC Iain 'Jock' MacRae 8 episodes 1995-96 Bad Boys Malky and Tissue Mulherron 7 episodes 1996 The Crow Road Lachlan Watt 4 episodes 1997 Turning World Barry3 episodes 1997 Soldier Soldier Col Jim Walker 1 episode 1998-2001 Renford Rejects Eddie McAvoy 52 episodes 1999 The Scarlet Pimpernel Carnot 1 episode 1999 Extremely Dangerous DCS Wallace 4 episodes 2001 The Bill Terry Barlow 1 episode 2002-2010 Taggart DCI Matt Burke 59 episodes 2012 Waterloo Road Gerald Findlay 6 episodes 2014 Silent Witness David Preston 2 episodes 2014 Shetland Cameron Watt 2 episodes 2013-2014 Bob Servant Hendo 3 episodes 2013–present Two Doors Down Eric Baird 47 episodes 2014 Woolly and Tig Grandad 1 episode 2015 Mountain Goats Ken 1 episode 2019 Hatton Garden Kenny Collins 4 episodes 2023 Good Omens Tulloch 2 episodes

Video games Year Title Voice role 2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Additional Voices 2006 Medieval II: Total War Additional Voices 2008 Age of Conan Additional Voices 2011 The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Additional Voices 2015 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Gaunter O'Dimm 2017 Dragon Quest XI Rab 2018 Sea of Thieves Emerick 2023 Diablo IV Additional Voices