Murray McArthur

Murray McArthur (born 4 May 1966) is a British stage, television and film actor. The son of a mushroom farmer, of Scottish parentage and red-haired, he often plays Scottish roles. He attended King's School, Ottery St Mary, received a BA (Joint Hons) degree in English and Drama at Loughborough University and went on to study acting at the Drama Studio London. He has appeared in many stage-plays in British regional theatres and on London's West End (including the Royal National Theatre and Shakespeare's Globe). Much of his stage work has taken him overseas (Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles & Panasonic Globe Theatre, Tokyo). His performance as Joe Gargery in Great Expectations at the Gate Theatre, Dublin was described by Irish Independent critic Bruce Arnold: "Emphasis on the heart-warming relationship between Pip and Joe Gargery is a crucial part of the story, and the blacksmith, played by Murray McArthur in the best performance of the evening, achieves this".

His most notable film role was in The Last Legion where he played a member of The Ninth Legion stranded in Britain after the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Murray appeared as Hasten, the Viking who breaks the Doctor's sonic sunglasses, in episode The Girl Who Died of Doctor Who.

McArthur portrayed a Wildling chieftain in the fifth season episode Hardhome of the HBO series Game of Thrones. His character returned in the sixth season episode The Broken Man with the character name Dim Dalba. He speaks for the Wildlings of The Gift when asked by Jon Snow (character), Tormund Giantsbane, Sansa Stark and Davos Seaworth to join them in the battle against the forces of Ramsay Bolton.

He will shortly be seen as Boudica's warlord, Egus, in the docudrama Barbarians Rising; which tells the story of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire from the perspective of the barbarian rebel leaders. Murray has also provided the voice for the Farmer in the new Netflix/BBC animated Watership Down (miniseries).

Personal life

McArthur was born and brought up in Devon, England, where he attended King's School in Ottery St Mary. He was a member of the Devon County Youth Theatre. Married to Geraldine with two children, Orla and Freya, he lives in South East London.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage