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Like the character he played in the BBC series To Serve Them All My Days (1980), John Duttine hails from a mining town, but in Yorkshire rather than Wales. He was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, but raised in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, along with his 4 brothers, and his nephew Joe Duttine. He attended Buttershaw High School in Buttershaw, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. When he realised in his teens that "acting was the only thing I did well," he switched to drama, training at the Drama Centre in London. His first job after drama school was playing three characters in "Hamlet" for the Citizens Theatre Company in Glasgow, Scotland. On joining the Glasgow Repertory Company, he did most of the familiar repertory stints including Antony in "Antony and Cleopatra," Danton in "Danton's Death," and Danforth in "The Crucible."

By the mid-1970s, he had shifted mainly to television and film. Then in 1979-80 came the opportunity to play the hero of To Serve Them All My Days (1980), arguably one of the more demanding roles in his filmography. His main fear about playing David Powlett-Jones was the Welsh accent: "I was rather worried that I wouldn't hit the right note. I would be angry as hell if I heard a Yorkshire accent that was wrong." Clearly, John got the accent and just about everything else about this performance exactly right. As the New York Times noted upon the series' first American broadcast in 1982, "Mr. Duttine is, even in this talented company, exceptional."

Following that triumph, for which he won the TV Times magazine's Best Actor award, John appeared in numerous programmes and series for British television throughout the 1980s, drawing particular acclaim for The Day of the Triffids (1981), a sci-fi BBC series which has become a cult sci-fi favourite, and The Outsider (1983), a 6-part ITV series about a newspaper editor set in John's native Yorkshire. He also returned to the stage occasionally, and in 1989 was reunited with Charles Kay, his nemesis (Alcock) of To Serve Them All My Days (1980), for the original cast of "The Woman in Black."

In the early 1990s, John's life appeared to hit a rough patch. His relationship with long-time girlfriend Carolyn Hutchinson broke up (they had a son, Oscar, in 1981). John began a relationship with Mel Martin, with whom he had co-starred in the ITV film Talking to Strange Men (1992), and starred in the comedic BBC series Ain't Misbehavin (1994). In 1997, he and Mel bought an 18th century farmhouse with eight acres on land in Cornwall, England. In 1992 he played guest character Paul Melthorn in the long running, ITV drama series Heartbeat (1992), before playing the permanent character sergeant George Miller between 2005 to 2009.

Some other regular roles include playing DI Eric Temple in the BBC series Out of the Blue (1995), Michael Hawkins in the ITV series Touching Evil (1997), Mark Waters in the ITV series The Jury (2002), Gavin Street in the Channel 4 series The Courtroom (2004), Douglas Taylor in the BBC series WPC 56 (2013), and Eric Benton in the ITV series Paranoid (2016).

Today John continues to appear regularly in guest-starring roles on British television, as well as on stage. During 2003, he toured in the well-received "Art" with co-stars Les Dennis and Christopher Cazenove. John also does voice-over work for adverts and documentaries, as well as radio plays for the BBC, putting his versatile voice to very effective use.

John Duttine in The Day of the Triffids (1981)

A very handy fellow, John rewired and replumbed his 17th century
Cornwall farmhouse, made all the cupboards, and created a well-laid-out
vegetable garden. (Source: Mail on Sunday (London), Jan. 23,
2005)

Suffered a torrent of abuse from the public before real police were
called when he handed out IRA leaflets on the streets of London. He was
filming a thriller but no one could see the cameras. &quot;It was dramatic
and very frightening,&quot; he said.

After a critic for the Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) savaged the
production of &quot;The Woman in Black&quot; in which he had co-starred at the
Spoleto Festival, spring 1996, John wrote a 600-word rebuttal letter,
which the newspaper published on June 7. Excerpt: &quot;There is an unspoken
pact between the audience and the actors - one of suspension of
disbelief for a few hours. Let us take you into our world and, if we
are able, we will provide you with some harmless entertainment. ... It
would seem that Ms. Furtwangler is incapable of this leap of
imagination or is too jaded by her job. I&#39;ve never been quite sure what
that job is, but there seems to be an ever-growing school of reviewers
who seem only to want to carp.&quot;

His dog Rufus played the part of Susan&#39;s dog (also Rufus) in part 5 of
&quot;The Day of the Triffids.&quot;

Youngest of five sons; father died when John was 5 years old.

Voted best television actor of the year by TV Times magazine in England
for the series &quot;To Serve Them All My Days.&quot;

His appearance at WETA&#39;s televised fund drive on Aug. 26, 1984 (PBS
station in Washington, D.C.) helped attract 701 new membership pledges
totaling $33,749 the highest one-night total in the 14-day pledge
drive.

Met wife Mel Martin while filming <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/title/tt0169290/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Talking to Strange Men (1992)</a>. A few months later, they
toured together in the 2-character play &quot;Same Time Next Year,&quot; an
experience that they&#39;ve described as &quot;sink or swim&quot; for their
relationship.

Selling his farmhouse in rural Cornwall and moving back
to Yorkshire (with wife Mel Martin) to take the role of Sergeant George
Miller in the ITV series &quot;Heartbeat.&quot; (Source: Mail on Sunday (London),
Jan. 23, 2005) (February 2005)

Uncle of actor <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0244911/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Joe Duttine</a>.

Born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, but raised in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England.

Son Oscar (b. 1981) with girlfriend Carolyn Hutchinson. Broke up with
Hutchinson in early 1990s.

Trivia

John Duttine

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