Known for Acting
Cal MacAninch is a Scottish actor, who is known for portraying the character of DI John Keenan in police drama HolbyBlue on BBC1 (from 2007 to 2008). Other notable appearances were his roles as Mr Thackeray in the ITV period drama, Mr Selfridge, and Henry Lang in Downton Abbey, but he has played many leading roles in British television and film over the last 30 years. MacAninch played Rowan Collins in Series 4 of the ITV drama series Wild at Heart. He returned to the show for its fifth series as a main cast member. He also played Tauren, a sorcerer in the BBC television series Merlin in the episode "To Kill the King". He starred in the 2001 BBC miniseries The Best of Both Worlds with Alice Evans. He appeared as Henry Lang, a valet, in the second series of Downton Abbey.
Born
November 24, 1963 (age 62)
Birthplace
Govan, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Filmography
33 films, 33 shows


The Education of Jane Cumming
2026 · 1h 54m
country: United Kingdom
Edinburgh, 1810. Two female teachers find themselves at the centre of a scandal when one of their pupils accuses them of having a love affair.


Macbeth
2025 · 1h 55m
country: United Kingdom
Fearless and unforgettably creepy. This high-concept production, filmed live at London’s Donmar Warehouse, stars the formidable talents of David Tennant and Cush Jumbo in Shakespeare’s most infamous tragedy.


The Visit
2023 · 20m
country: United Kingdom
IRA man Tommy McDaid is pulled back to Manchester 25 years after he helped plant a huge bomb that devastated the City Centre and changed the course of his life forever.


Nobody Has to Know
2022 · 1h 39m
country: Belgium
After a stroke and no memories from his past, Phil encounters Millie who inhabits a desert part of Isle of Lewis. She will shortly entrust him with his deepest secret : they were in love.


The Punishment
2021 · 12m
country: United Kingdom
A grief-stricken father hunts down the boy responsible for the events that led to his son's murder but finds himself unable to escape the consequences of his own violent actions.


The Reckoning
2021 · 1h 51m
country: United States
In the aftermath of the Great Plague and amidst the subsequent witch-hunts against women, a young widow grapples with the tragic death of her husband in a society completely consumed by fear and death. Because she rejects the advances of her landlord, she is falsely accused of being a witch and thrown in jail for a crime she didn’t commit. She must endure physical persecution at the hands of England’s most ruthless witch-hunter and face her own inner demons as the devil himself starts to work his way into her mind.


Susan Hill's Ghost Story
2019 · 1h 32m
country: Unknown
An antique book dealer finds himself haunted by the ghost of a young boy, he decides to investigate the strange occurrences within his life.


Intrigo: Dear Agnes
2019 · 1h 40m
country: Germany
What is a human life worth? How is it possible that a woman like Agnes could agree to kill another human being? Is it the money? Or are there other forces at play?


Intrigo: Samaria
2019 · 1h 44m
country: Germany
Nineteen-year-old Vera Kall cycles home through the night. She arrives at a farm, leaves her bike and sneaks quietly in through the door. She enters the kitchen and doesn't even have time to notice that she's not alone.
Lucky Star
Lucky Star
2019 · 17m
country: United Kingdom
1980s Glasgow: As his family disintegrates around him, the only thing on eight-year-old Jonjo’s mind is getting his prized He Man figure for Christmas.


Calibre
2018 · 1h 41m
country: United Kingdom
Two lifelong friends head up to an isolated Scottish Highlands village for a weekend hunting trip that descends into a never-ending nightmare as they attempt to cover up a horrific hunting accident.


Hamilton 2: But Not If It Concerns Your Daughter
2012 · 1h 26m
country: Sweden
Swedish intelligence officer Carl Hamilton's 7-year-old goddaughter Nathalie is kidnapped. When the kidnapping's underlying motive becomes known, the Swedish authorities assume a passive role, forcing Hamilton to action. With the help of international contacts, Hamilton manages to get them on track. Hamilton, along with some military colleagues, plans a daring rescue mission.


The Awakening
2011 · 1h 47m
country: United Kingdom
In post–War England, a writer and sometime-ghost hunter investigates a reported haunting at a boys boarding school.


Slapper
2008 · 15m
country: United Kingdom
A young boy watches a fight in a crowded bar: a masked man versus the people’s champ. But rather than boxing, this is an adult, brutal version of ‘Slaps’ – slaps that can break a man’s hand. Three years ago, James’ alcoholic father Michael left him and his mother, but promised he’d be back to make them proud – now, James believes the man in the mask is his father, returning as a hero, but things are not what they seem...


Doomsday
2008 · 1h 48m
country: Germany
The lethal Reaper virus spreads throughout Britain—infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. Authorities brutally and successfully quarantine the country but, three decades later, the virus resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.


Jetsam
2007 · 1h 24m
country: United Kingdom
A young woman finds herself onto a desolate beach and tries to find out the how and why of her immediate life. Along with a lost memory, to further complicate her situation a man who she discovers washed up on the same beach attacks her. Fighting to stay alive she goes on the run from the stranger and desperately tries to piece her memory back together. Criss-crossing through the savage coastline and a claustrophobic London setting she finds her answers in an unrelenting world where spies, betrayal and obsession are the daily currency and identity is as shifting as the tides.


Rag Tale
2005 · 2h 3m
country: Unknown
A romance that plays out in the splashy, sensational world of British tabloids.


Dear Frankie
2004 · 1h 45m
country: United Kingdom
Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...


The Point Men
2001 · 1h 28m
country: Luxembourg
Some time after their botched operation to capture a known Palestinian terrorist, a team of Israeli agents starts to get killed off one by one. Their leader must get to the bottom of things before the killer(s) plan is complete.


Breathtaking
2000 · 1h 40m
country: Unknown
A beautiful psychiatrist befriends an abused patient, ultimately leading to lust and murder.


Little Bird
2000 · 1h 24m
country: Unknown
A film that searches the dilemma of a middle age couple Ellen and Michael Hall, who have lost their only child tragically in a car accident. They are desperately seeking to adopt. They foster a young girl and after several months the child welfare service decide that in the interests of the young girl, that she should be removed from the care of the Halls.


Best
2000 · 1h 42m
country: United Kingdom
Pulling no punches in its depiction of soccer legend George Best's slow descent from the heights of his Manchester United career, the man once dubbed the fifth Beatle for his glamorous lifestyle and good looks.


Warriors
1999 · 2h 55m
country: United Kingdom
If the conflict in Bosnia has become something of a forgotten war, it's not for the want of trying from the immensely powerful BBC film Warriors, the story of five young soldiers and their harrowing experiences in the region.


The Lost Son
1999 · 1h 42m
country: France
Xavier Lombard is a world-weary private eye in London, in exile from his native Paris; his best friend is Nathalie, a high-class call girl. He gets a call from an old friend from the Paris police department, now a businessman whose brother-in-law is missing. The missing man's parents hire Xavier over their daughter's objections, and quickly he finds himself in the realm of children's sexual slavery.


Speak Like a Child
1998 · 1h 17m
country: United Kingdom
Speak Like a Child, the feature film debut of documentary director John Akomfrah, explores the intense friendship that evolves between three troubled teenagers growing up in an isolated children's home on the Northumbrian coast. The desolate beauty of the coastline is captured in stunning panoramas, while strong performances by the young cast help to create a lyrical and poignant drama.


The Woodlanders
1998 · 1h 38m
country: United Kingdom
The story is set in late 19th century rural corner of South England. The daughter of timber merchant Melbury, Grace, returns to the town after finishing school. Her father now believes she can find a better husband than her childhood sweetheart, woodsman Giles. She marries handsome young doctor Fitzpiers, but soon finds out he's not the man of her dreams and she still loves Giles.


Sentimental Education
1998
country: Netherlands
The story revolves around the lives of a group of international fashion models, focusing on the main character, Fabrice. The film examines the hollowness of his glamorous lifestyle, leading to self discovery and ultimately a personal catharsis (and his own death). The film is based on (really, inspired by) the French Book, L'Education Sentimentale, by Gustave Flaubert.


Nervous Energy
1995 · 1h 44m
country: United Kingdom
Tom is a young man with AIDS living in London with his lover Ira. The disease has exaggerated Toms nervous energy and in his manic state he suddenly decides to go to Glasgow to visit the family he hasn't seen in ten years. His brother Ian is thoroughly disgusted by his lifestyle and only his mother shows any compassion for him. The visit soon develops into a nightmare as dementia sets in and Tom's health rapidly declines. Finally, events come to a head and Ira has no choice but to force Tom back to London, where he expects him to die at any time. After treatment, Tom gets a brief reprieve, having discovered that his real family is his adopted one in London.


Rik Mayall Presents: The Big One
1995 · 51m
country: United Kingdom
Rik Mayall plays an estate agent who takes on the identity of a dead gangster.


A Mind to Murder
1995 · 1h 42m
country: United Kingdom
Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh has been on leave following the death on duty of a member of his team, DS Sarah Hillier. His superiors order him back to work to investigate the murder of the Director of the Steen Clinic, which specializes in psychiatric cases.


Splitting Heirs
1993 · 1h 27m
country: United Kingdom
A member of the English upper class dies, leaving his estate and his business to an American, whom he thinks is his son who was lost as a baby and then found again. An Englishman who thinks he is an Indian comes to believe that he is actually the heir. He comes to hate the American who is his boss, his friend, and the man who has stolen the woman after whom he lusts.


The Chestnut Soldier
1991 · 2h 5m
country: United Kingdom
Gwyn can feel danger coming in the wind. Somehow he knows the warnings have to do with the broken toy horse that holds the evil spirit of a prince who lived long ago. When Gwyn discovers that the prince's dark soul has escaped from the horse and is seeking revenge Gwyn, Emlyn, and Nia have to figure out how to save the mysterious soldier who claims to be Nia's distant cousin. With the help of the Snow Spider, can they recapture the prince's soul without hurting the Chestnut soldier?


Alive and Kicking
1991 · 1h 31m
country: United Kingdom
Gritty and powerful Screen One film that takes an unflinching look at drug addiction. Lenny Henry plays a dealer convinced he is untouchable, Robbie Coltrane the ex-gangster turned drug counsellor who is determined to break him. Writer Al Hunter (The Firm) was inspired by the true story of a football team founded to help drug addicts kick their habit.