Friday 30 August 2013

Articles Lachlan Nieboer


By DJ Forrest

Captain Jack Harkness’ brother Gray first appeared on our screens during the episode ‘Adam’ but then only as the young boy who we learned through Jack’s memories had been taken by a creature most horrible, and feared by those on the Boeshane Peninsula.  Jack carried that burden of letting go of Gray’s hand forever. 

In the episode ‘Fragments’ towards the end of the second season we saw an older Gray pictured clamped in irons standing beside Captain John Hart and for all intents and purposes, his prisoner.  But the one thing we’ve come to learn about John Hart is that not everything is as it seems, and the final episode of Season Two, the boot was definitely on the other foot, and Gray was most definitely in charge.  Luring his brother into a thousand years before Cardiff ever existed, he drew Jack back to open fields and grasslands, strode towards him and plunged a knife deep into Jack’s chest and watched him die.  But aware of his Lazarus qualities, knew that the only way to punish him was to bury him deep, so that each time he came back to life he choked on the dirt and felt the trauma of never resurfacing.   

But what of the actor who played Gray?
Lachlan Nieboer was born 11 September, 1981 in Epsom, Surrey.  His best role to date other than Gray, is his role as Lieutenant Edward Courtenay in Downton Abbey (2011 Episode#2.2), blinded in action and unable to cope with his disability Edward could not bear Edith Crawley feeling anything more than pity for a man who could not see.
You can also find snippets of this on Youtube, mostly in fanvids, not in the actual episode of the series. While Lachlan researched his role he became a keen supporter of Blind Veterans UK and has been a keen Ambassador for the charity ever since.  In May 2012 he ran the London Marathon to raise money for the charity. 

Before becoming an actor, Lachlan read Classics at Oxford University before studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York. 

Lachlan’s first acting credit was in Heartland (2007) a gay short film where he played Ryan McGonagle a young man who had lost his parents and was solely responsible for his younger siblings.  Ryan was classed as a waster by the narrator and had had hundreds of girlfriends through school. The film runs for 12 minutes and is narrated by the character HG Gudmanson (Corey Sorenson) who has had to put his own life on hold in NYC for two weeks while he helps his Dad run the farm back home in Iowa.  It’s a gentle run film by Mark Christopher, and is perfectly played by the two men, Lachlan and Corey who are the key stars in this film. You can find it on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjPPbwq4CVw
Boys Life 6 is one of an anthology of 4 gay-themed stories that centre on the idea of first time crushes.

In Into the White (2012) he starred alongside Rupert Grint as Captain Charles P. Davenport, a British pilot whose crew shot down a Lufftwaffe plane during WWII on April 27th 1940 over Norway, and where his plane also crash landed.  Based on a true story about the lifelong friendship of the German and British pilots it tells the story of how both crews had to endure a Winter together in a Norwegian cabin.  The film was only ever released in a few selected cinemas and only released on DVD and Blu-ray in Norway on August 28th, 2012.

In Brand New – U (2013), a psychological thriller written by Simon Pummell and filmed in Dublin and London, Lachlan plays Slater, a character who is obsessed about the love of his life, Nadia, but when she disappears, and he wants to report her missing, he realises he knows nothing about her.  The only clue he has is an organisation called Brand New-U.  After making a deal with the organisation he takes on a new identity but in order to find Nadia now, he has to erase his other ‘selves’ who are currently hunting for him.

The film has not yet been released, but aware of Lachlan’s acting abilities in roles such as Downton Abbey and Torchwood, amongst his other credits, I’m certain he will carry this role off equally as well.

Aside from films, Lachlan has been involved in productions on stage, such as A Yorkshire Tragedy (2010 – at The White Bear, London) which focused on familicide.  It was an early Jacobean era stage play, a domestic tragedy printed in 1608.

At the Finborough Theatre, he played Rigg in Country Magic (2009).  It was an adaptation by Phil Willmott of Arthur Wing Pinero’s forgotten 1922 fable The Enchanted Cottage.

At the National Theatre, South Bank, London, he appeared in The Three Sisters (2010).


For a full breakdown of credits visit IMDB and Wikipedia





Research sources for this article came from:

Also BBC Torchwood and Google images






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