Career
Clunes served his first role in rep at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, and his first television appearance came in the 1980s Doctor Who story Snakedance as the spoiled Lon. But a sporadic career led to his supplementing his income as a photo model for Gilbert and George, and he can be seen in their 1983 work World.
He got his first regular television role as one of the sons in the BBC sitcom No Place Like Home, and then starred in two series of the sitcom All at No 20.
While Clunes was appearing on stage at the Hampstead Theatre, Harry Enfield came to see him; the acquaintanceship developed into a friendship where Clunes played characters in Enfield's sketch shows. Enfield then recommended Clunes for the role of Gary in the sitcom Men Behaving Badly, written for Enfield by Simon Nye, bringing Clunes his best-known role to date and for which he won a BAFTA television award in 1996. He played the part of Group Captain Barker in the 2-part TV mini-series Over Here that same year. In 1993, he played Dick Dobson in Demob about a pair of demobilized soldiers who had to adjust to civilian life after entertaining World War II troops with a raunchy cabaret act.
He has since appeared in films and television shows such as An Evening With Gary Lineker, Staggered (starred and directed), Hunting Venus, The Booze Cruise, Saving Grace, and Jeeves and Wooster. In 1998, he was featured in Sweet Revenge and appeared as Richard Burbage in the Oscar-winning film Shakespeare in Love. Clunes has also acted frequently for the radio, including a guest appearance in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi.
In 2001, he played Captain Stickles in the BBC adaptation of R. D. Blackmore's Lorna Doone.
In 2002, he played serial killer John George Haigh in A Is for Acid, and took the lead in ITV's production of Goodbye Mr Chips.
Clunes was one of the eponymous leads in the 2004 ITV romantic comedy-drama William and Mary, which ran for three series, with Julie Graham. Clunes had worked with Julie Graham previously on Dirty Tricks (2000).
His leading role in the ITV comedy drama series Doc Martin from 2004 marked a successful change of direction for Clunes. In 2005, his portrayal of Dr. Martin Ellingham, the ornery vascular surgeon turned cranky general practitioner, won him a nomination for Most Popular Actor in the National Television Awards. The final episode of Series 3 succeeded in attracting nearly 10 million viewers or 40% of audience share. The fourth series of Doc Martin was broadcast in 2009 and a fifth series commenced broadcasting in September 2011.
In August 2007 he starred in ITV's The Man Who Lost His Head.
Clunes is a regular voice over artist and is the voice of Kipper in the animated children's series Kipper the Dog.
A sponsor of numerous charities, he has made a short online film with Stephen Fry about HIV discrimination for the Terrence Higgins Trust. He is also a patron of the Born Free Foundation and has filmed several adverts for the wildlife charity. He has been involved in Comic Relief which funds Survival International and African Initiatives, two organisations working with the Maasai on indigenous land rights issues.
Clunes also appeared in a television dramatisation of Fungus the Bogeyman playing Jessica White's father.
On 9 November 2007 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Bournemouth University.
From 24 April 2009, Clunes starred on BBC One television in the title role of Reggie Perrin, a re-make of classic 1970s British situation comedy The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. In the same year he appeared in a 3 part ITV series Islands of Britain in which he travelled around several of the country's lesser known islands.
Clunes guest-hosted the comedy panel game show Have I Got News for You in 2010, also in 2010 he presented the ITV series 'Horsepower' about man's relationship over time with the horse.
In 2011, Clunes voiced the mischievous dog Dudley in the short film Me or the Dog, starring Edward Hogg and directed by Abner Pastoll. Clunes has also appeared in some TV advertisements for the Churchill insurance company.
In June 2012, he presented a documentary series on ITV on Tuesday nights about the lemurs of Madagascar.
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