Charlie Creed-Miles helps make a screen family feel as though its members have known one another for years. We rate that unshowy skill, even if the steady supply of criminals and policemen risks making his casting too predictable.
Fi1m perspective
The family in Nil by Mouth (1997) talk as though they knew one another long before anybody thought to film them. Charlie Creed-Miles's Billy belongs among them, alongside Kathy Burke, Laila Morse and Edna Doré. Gary Oldman's writing gives them humour and the sound of south London speech, and Creed-Miles helps make them feel like particular people rather than examples of social problems. We were moved by that sense of familiarity, because the humour lets us imagine enjoying their company despite the appalling circumstances. We rate him most highly in this sort of ensemble.
The film's weaknesses also tell us something about how well its cast works. It runs a little long, and an explanatory speech spells out what the actors have already made clear. Creed-Miles, Morse and Doré matter to that success: Winstone's frightening presence and Burke's warmth would count for less if we did not believe in the family around them.
His breakthrough also included David in Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1997), a considerable distance from Oldman's household. Leading parts in Essex Boys (2000) and Dexter Fletcher's Wild Bill (2011) have been exceptions within a career largely spent in supporting and character roles. Fletcher casts him as Bill, an ex-convict father; Peaky Blinders (2013) gives him gang leader Billy Kimber. The repeated criminals and policemen can make the casting feel predictable. We would welcome more departures from those occupations, without treating a supporting part as something an actor ought to escape.
In Criminal Record (2024), he is DS Tony Gilfoyle, again working within a crime-drama ensemble. Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo supply the central contest, and the series is tense and absorbing despite secondary stories that weaken its pressure. It is a good place to follow his television work, though our recommendation rests chiefly on those two leads. For Creed-Miles himself, start with Nil by Mouth, provided a gruelling family drama is an evening you are prepared to have.
Biography
Charlie Creed-Miles is an English actor born on 24 March 1972 in Nottingham. He trained at the Anna Scher Theatre school in London and made his first starring screen appearance in the 1993 film The Punk (also known as The Punk and the Princess).
His film roles include David in The Fifth Element (1997), Ganis in King Arthur (2004) and DS Terry Hicock in Harry Brown (2009). On television he has appeared as Billy Kimber in Peaky Blinders (2013), Horace Buckley in Ripper Street (2012) and Connor Abbott in Giri/Haji (2019). He played DS Tony Gilfoyle in the series Criminal Record (2024).
