Who is Lee Ingleby? Innocent actor playing David Collins and star of The A Word, Line of Duty and Life on Mars
HE was the cocky conductor on the Knight Bus in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the dad of time-traveller Sam Tyler in Life On Mars.
But now Lee Ingleby is back on our screens as David Collins in ITV thriller Innocent. But who exactly is he? Here is the lowdown...
Who is Lee Ingleby?
He was born Lee David Ingleby on January 28, 1976, in Burnley, Lancashire, to Susan and Gordon.
He grew up in nearby Brierfield and was a pupil at Edge End High School.
Lee then went on to study at Accrington and Rossendale College.
It is not known if he is married as he is notoriously secretive about his private life.
How did Lee get into acting?
When he was at secondary school, Lee developed a passion for drama which was heavily encouraged by his drama teacher - the same one who taught actor John Simm, who Lee starred alongside in Life on Mars.
After graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, he landed small parts in TV shows such as Soldier Soldier, The Bill, Cadfael and Jonathan Creek.
What was his big break?
In 2000, he was cast in his first major role in the BBC miniseries Nature Boy alongside Paul McGann before going on to play Craig in Fat Friends.
Smaller roles followed in shows including Spaced, Clocking Off, No Angels and Hustle.
In 2001 he played Smike in a TV film adaptation of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
Two years later, he was cast as Hollom in the Russell Crowe movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and in 2004 he landed the role of Knight Bus conductor Stan Shunpike in
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
What else has Lee been in?
He starred as Mole in the 2006 live-action TV adaptation of The Wind in the Willows alongside Bob Hoskins, Matt Lucas and Mark Gatiss.
That same year he starred in the BBC drama series Life on Mars as Vic Tyler, father of Sam played by John Simm.
The following year he was cast alongside Martin Shaw in Inspector George Gently in which he played John Bacchus for ten years.
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More guest roles on shows such as Luther, Being Human, White Heat and Marple followed before he was cast in the lead role of BBC drama series Our Zoo in 2014.
He took over from Neil Morrisey as the voice of Bob the Builder in 2015, played the father of an autistic boy in The A Word and was one of the lead cast members in the Sky 1 crime drama series The Five.
In March 2017 Lee starred in critically-acclaimed BBC drama series Line of Duty.
Lee took the lead role in ground-breaking drama Innocent in May 2018, as a man who was sent to jail for the murder of his wife despite proclaiming his innocence.