Richard Dormer’s strength is making authority figures feel like people worth listening to. In Blue Lights, his warmth as a police mentor helps give a familiar drama its human weight; we would start there.
Fi1m perspective
In Blue Lights (2023), Richard Dormer’s Gerry Cliff is a police sergeant whose warmth matters as much as his authority. He guides inexperienced officers, and Dormer makes that familiar arrangement worth watching by giving the mentor a welcome depth of feeling. We found Gerry reassuring, which made us worry more about the rookies facing danger without his experience. The programme sometimes uses their inexperience to explain too much, but its performances keep us involved. This is where we would start with Dormer.
The substantial screen roles came after years concentrated on theatre, including his self-written solo play Hurricane (2003), in which he played Alex Higgins. Good Vibrations (2012) was the turn, giving him the lead as punk promoter Terri Hooley and a chance to put his energy to work. Television then brought Beric Dondarrion in Game of Thrones from 2013 and the lead as Dan Anderssen in Fortitude (2015). Troubled authority figures recur in his work, but Hooley is a useful reminder that there are other parts to offer him.
In '71 (2014), he plays the supporting role of Eamon, and the reasons for our recommendation are different. Yann Demange makes the action clear and punishing, while Jack O’Connell keeps us conscious of the fear involved in surviving it. The plotting becomes too convenient, but the tension remains persuasive enough to carry us through. Dormer is part of a strong film here; we would not claim that it gives as full an introduction to him as Gerry does.
Repeated casting as troubled men in charge could become limiting, and we would be wary of treating those roles as the whole story. Gerry’s warmth matters because Blue Lights needs us to care about people learning a difficult job, and Dormer helps it achieve that. He cannot make the explanatory writing disappear, nor should a recommendation pretend otherwise. For his next lead, we would welcome some of Hooley’s energy before another troubled authority figure.
Biography
Richard Dormer is a Northern Irish actor and playwright. Born in Portadown, County Armagh, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London before returning to Northern Ireland.
He is known for his stage work, including writing and starring in the play Hurricane about snooker player Alex Higgins, for which he won The Stage Award for Best Actor in 2003. On screen, his credits include Beric Dondarrion in Game of Thrones (2013–2019), Dan Anderssen in Fortitude (2015–2018) and Gerry Cliff in the BBC series Blue Lights (2023). He is married to theatre director Rachel O'Riordan.
