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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