Neil Bell

Neil Bell is an English actor whose work has centered on British television, with occasional film appearances. Born in Oldham, he trained in drama at Oldham College before building a career in character roles. On television he has appeared in series such as The Bill, Casualty, Buried, Shameless, Ideal, Murphy's Law and City Lights, and he played a killer in The Bill. He had a regular part as Durrant in Downton Abbey in 2012 and appeared as Publican Harry Fenton in the first series of Peaky Blinders the following year. His film credits include Dead Man's Shoes (2004), 24 Hour Party People (2002) and Wait For Me (2023). Bell played the reformer Samuel Bamford in Mike Leigh's Peterloo (2018) and the Sardaukar Bashar in Denis Villeneuve's Dune. He also wrote, directed and starred in 36 Hours, a biographical stage play about poet John Cooper Clarke, and directed Manchester theater productions including Fair and New Dawn Fades.