Alexander Tulloch Macqueen (born 30 November 1973)[1] is an English actor and writer. He has appeared on television, film and radio in the UK in productions such as Holby City, Doctor Who, Hut 33, Peep Show, The Thick of It, Keeping Mum, Fate: The Winx Saga, and The Inbetweeners. He also guest-starred in The Durrells in series 4.
Macqueen was born in Epsom, Surrey. He was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead, from 1990 to 1992[2] and left to receive a first in English literature at Collingwood College, Durham University. He went on to study for a M.Phil at Pembroke College, Cambridge, graduating in 1998.[3]
He played sarcastic consultant anaesthetist Keith Greene in 75 episodes of Holby City between May 2005 and July 2010.[2] He appeared as the Rt Hon Julius Nicholson, Lord Nicholson of Arnage, the bawdy and persistently peckish "blue-skies advisor" to the Prime Minister in political satire The Thick of It.[2] He also played Sir Jonathan Tutt, British Ambassador to the UN, in the film In the Loop;[4] both were directed by Armando Iannucci.[5] He also acted in the Comic Relief special of Mr. Bean in 2007 as a vicar. He played Kevin Sutherland in E4's comedy, The Inbetweeners.[2] In 2010, he starred as Howard, an anti-speed bump community campaigner in two episodes of BBC1's Outnumbered.[6][7]
He appeared in the Comedy Central/BBC collaboration, Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire,[4] in which he played Barnabus, the sidekick to the Chancellor Dongalor, played by Matt Lucas. He starred as Roy Tunt in The Hide,[4] which premiered on FilmFour in February 2009. He won the award for Best Actor at the Marbella Film Festival in 2009 for this role.[5]
Macqueen acted in a series of videos on YouTube as Clive Rudloe, a character who claims to be "the world's number one DJ". The videos are spoofs created by real-life DJs Above and Beyond.[8] In late 2009, he starred in several episodes of The News at Bedtime on BBC Radio 4, in a variety of supporting roles.[5] In 2010, he appeared as the publisher Malcolm Dodds in Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. That year he also had a small role in the comedy film Four Lions. In 2011, was in "The National Anthem", an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror.[4]
In 2012, he appeared in a Doctor Who spin-off UNIT: Dominion,[4] published by Big Finish Productions, in a role described as "the Other Doctor" who is revealed to be the Doctor's long-term adversary The Master; the storyline establishes that Macqueen's Master is intended to be from a point between the Masters portrayed by Eric Roberts and Derek Jacobi. He reprised this role in 2014 for Dark Eyes 2, Dark Eyes 3, Dark Eyes 4 and again in 2016 alongside Geoffrey Beevers, who had played an earlier incarnation of the Master, in The Two Masters. In 2021, Macqueen returned to the role in Masterful, a story published to celebrate the Master's 50th anniversary. He also had a lead role as Edmund in Julia Davis' black period comedy Hunderby, opposite Davis and Alexandra Roach.[4]
He played the role of Hove in the 2015 BBC series Pompidou,[4] starring alongside Matt Lucas. During the filming of Pompidou, Macqueen and Matt Lucas played the game devised by the two 'Pumpidou'. Lucas however won no critical acclaim for 'Pumpidou', despite it being the key spin off to the show. However, Macqueen did receive a special recognition award for the 2015 edition of TOTY for his part in the success of 'Pumpidou'. He played Luke, the senior doctor in the six-part ITV comedy The Delivery Man.[9] In 2015, he also played the royal crier in Cinderella. In 2016, he acted opposite Sir Michael Caine in the film Youth, and played the role of Patrick Jarvis MP in series 3 of Peaky Blinders.[5][4]
In 2019, he appeared in Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans and in 2022, he starred as Stephen Gardiner in Becoming Elizabeth.[4]
In 2023, he starred as Tindall in the Apple TV+ series Hijack, alongside Idris Elba and Neil Maskell.[4]