Dean Lennox Kelly

Dean Lennox Kelly (born 30 November 1975) is an English actor and voice over artist. He is known for his television roles as Kev Ball in Shameless and Meredith Rutter in Jamestown.

Early life Kelly is from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where his classmates included Richard Coyle and Oded Fehr. He is the brother of actor Craig Kelly.

Career

Kelly is best known for his role playing Kev Ball in Channel 4's Shameless. Other television credits include Maisie Raine, Tipping the Velvet, ShakespeaRe-Told and The Worst Week of My Life. He had parts in the films The Lowdown and Mike Bassett: England Manager. In 2006 he took a lead role in BBC One's drama series Sorted, which is about a group of postmen.

On 1 January 2007 he starred in ITV Drama Dead Clever alongside Suranne Jones. He left Shameless after the first episode of the fourth series along with his co-star and on screen girlfriend, Maxine Peake. In 2007, he appeared as William Shakespeare in the episode "The Shakespeare Code" of the BBC One science-fiction series Doctor Who.

In March 2008, he appeared as one of Jesus' disciples, James, in the BBC drama The Passion, a retelling of the last days of Jesus' life. In May, he appeared as Hedley, the landlord of the local pub in BBC drama The Invisibles, a story of two retired crooks returning to Britain from abroad. Hedley then joins the twosome later in the series. In January and February 2009, he appeared in two episodes of Being Human as a werewolf named Tully.

He starred in Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel a comedy sci-fi film with Chris O'Dowd, Marc Wootton and Anna Faris, ITV drama Married Single Other with Ralf Little and Miranda Raison, the BBC mini-series Cranford as a poor man struggling to feed his six children and wife, and in Robin Hood as Robin's father, Malcolm.

In 2002, he starred as Private Willie McNess in the major motion picture Deathwatch, a 2002 European horror film directed by Michael J. Bassett. He narrated a documentary style DVD about the Great Britain national rugby league team during the 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations, titled League of Their Own. He was also narrator of the first couple of seasons of The Real Hustle.

In 2009 he starred alongside his brother in the ITV1 drama Collision which ran over five consecutive nights in November. In 2010, he played industrialist Christoper Rawson in BBC drama The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. In 2013 he played Ian, the boyfriend of the title character, in the BBC One drama series Frankie.

In 2013, he took on the role of Danny, a soldier facing his fears in the short film On The Bridge, based on a true story and shot entirely on Waterloo Bridge.

Empire had announced that Kelly would be voicing the role of John Lennon for the then-upcoming 3D remake of Yellow Submarine before the project was cancelled. However, in late 2011, he appeared as the narrator on the interactive Apple iBooks version of Yellow Submarine.

In 2015, he appeared in the BBC TV series Death in Paradise. In 2016, he played Carmichael in Silent Witness. In 2020, he appeared in an episode of Sick of It. He had a recurring role as Pekka Rollins in Shadow and Bone (2021-22).

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1996 The Levels Rick 1998 Still Crazy Pizza Boy 2000 Saving Grace Bob The Low Down Mike 2001 H3 Ciaran Mike Bassett: England Manager Kevin 'Tonka' Tonkinson 2002 Deathwatch Private Willie McNess 2005 The Secret Life of Words Liam Ashes Father Short film 2009 Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel Pete 2013 On the Bridge Danny Short film 2019 Trick or Treat Dan Kielty

Television Acting Year Title Role Notes 1998 Peak Practice Martin Beasley Episodes: “Body and Soul” and “A Child I Dreamed” 1999 City Central Robbie Foster Episode: “Second Time Around” Maisie Raine T.I. Chris Mallory Main role (series 2; 6 episodes) 2000 Border Cafe Danesy Main role (miniseries; 8 episodes) 2001 The Bill Robert Slade Episode: “Eye of the Lens” 2002 The American Embassy (unknown) Episode: “Long Live the King” Tipping the Velvet Tony Reeves Miniseries; 1 episode Impact Scott Main role (miniseries; 2 episodes) 2004 The Worst Week of My Life Dom Recurring role; 6 episodes 2004–2007, 2011, 2013 Shameless Kev Ball Main role, (series 1–3); recurring (series 4–11; 3 episodes) 2005 The Brief Michael Westlake Episode: “Blame” ShakespeaRe-Told Puck Episode: “A Midsummer Night's Dream” 2006 Comedy Lab Lindsay Carol Episode: “FM” Sorted Dex Main role; 6 episodes 2007 Dead Clever Ian Bottomley Television film Doctor Who William Shakespeare Episode: “The Shakespeare Code” Cranford Job Gregson Episodes: “August 1842”, “November 1842” and “April 1843” 2008 The Passion Apostle James Miniseries: 3 episodes The Invisibles Hadley Huthwaite Main role (miniseries; 6 episodes) 2009 Being Human Tully Episodes: “Flotsam and Jetsam” and “Tully” Robin Hood Malcolm Episode: “Bad Blood” Collision Danny Rampton Main role (miniseries; 5 episodes) 2010 The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister Christopher Rawson Television film Married Single Other Dickie Main role; 6 episodes 2011 Inspector George Gently Sgt. Molloy Episode: “Goodbye China” Moving On Sam Episode: “Tour of Duty” 2013 Frankie Ian Hargrave Main role; 6 episodes 2014 Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond Sergeant Dixon Miniseries; 2 episodes 2015 Death in Paradise Jake Peters Episode: “Hidden Secrets” 2016 Silent Witness Carmichael Episodes: “After the Fall: Parts 1 and 2” 2017–2019 Jamestown Meredith Rutter Main role (series 1–3; 24 episodes) 2020 Sick of It Tony Episode: “Useless Lump” 2021–2023 Shadow and Bone Pekka Rollins Recurring role; 9 episodes 2022 The Walk-In Jack Renshaw's Father Miniseries; 3 episodes 2023 Tom Jones Black George Seagrim Miniseries; 4 episodes Maryland Jacob Miniseries; 3 episodes 2023, 2024 Jamie Johnson FC Wayne Cooper Episodes: “Breaking the Shackles” and “Striker” 2023–2025 Brassic Curtis Plum Recurring role (series 5–7; 6 episodes) 2024 Criminal Record Jimmy Leach Episode: “Emergency Caller” 2025 The 1% Club Himself - Contestant Episode: "Soccer Aid Special"

Narration In addition to his acting work, Kelly has provided voice-overs for several TV programmes, including:

Year Title Notes 2006 World Cup Outtakes Miniseries; 2 episodes 2006, 2007 The Real Hustle Series 1 and 2, and Winter Special (2007) 2010 England's Worst Ever Football Team Television film How the Other Half Live Series 2; 7 episodes 2011 Animal Cops: Houston Season 1 2013 First Dates Series 1; 6 episodes Morecambe & Wise: The Whole Story 2 episodes 2015 Supertruckers Series 3; 8 episodes Britain's Wildest Weather Episode: "Britain's Winter: Storm Heroes" 20 Moments That Rocked Britain Television film 2016 10,000 BC Series 2; 10 episodes 2020–2025 Murder 24/7 Series 2; 6 episodes

Stage Year Title Role Notes 1997 The Popular Mechanicals Snug Arts Theatre, London 1998 Oh, What a Lovely War! Ovrtur Royal National Theatre, London 2011 This Happy Breed Frank Gibbons Theatre Royal, Bath 2012 Canvas Alan Chichester Festival Theatre, Minerva Theatre, Chichester 2014 A Taste of Honey Peter Royal National Theatre, London 2015 The Crucible John Proctor Bristol Old Vic, Bristol