# Mark Heap
**Mark Heap** (born 1957) is a British actor and comedian known for playing eccentric, obsessive characters in British television comedy, most prominently the artist Brian Topp in *Spaced* (1999–2001) and Dr Alan Statham in *Green Wing* (2004–2007).[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) His television work also includes *Friday Night Dinner* (2011–2020), *Lark Rise to Candleford* (2008–2011), and *Desperate Romantics* (2009), and his film credits include *About a Boy* (2002), *Stardust* (2007), and *The World's End* (2013).[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957, Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372423/bio/) |
| Family | Youngest of four boys, to an English father and American mother; his brother Carl Heap is also an actor[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) |
| Signature roles | Brian Topp in *Spaced* (1999–2001); Dr Alan Statham in *Green Wing* (2004–07); Jim in *Friday Night Dinner* (2011–2020)[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) |
| Early career | Fools Theatre, then the Medieval Players touring company; later the street theater duo The Two Marks with Mark Saban[3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) |
| Stage return | Played Jeeves in *Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense* at the Duke of York's Theatre from 7 April 2014, after a 20-year absence from the stage[4](https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/robert-webb-and-mark-heap-take-over-in-jeeves-and-wooster_33379/) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) |
| Award | BBC Audio Drama Awards 2024, Best Supporting Performance, for *Kafka's Dick*[5](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/mark_heap/) |
| Height | 6 ft (1.83 m)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372423/bio/) |
## Early life and street theater
Heap was born in [Kodaikanal](https://www.edgepedia.org/kodaikanal), Tamil Nadu, India, to an English father and an American mother, the youngest of four boys; when the family moved to the United Kingdom they lived in Wales.[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) A year into university he left his studies to join Fools Theatre, a touring company producing Pinter plays and what he described as "avant-garde, mime dance-movement things".[3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse)
**The Medieval Players.** From there he joined the Medieval Players, the touring company run by his brother Carl Heap, which performed medieval and early modern theater with stilt-walking, juggling, and puppetry, and toured the United Kingdom and Australia for more than a decade before winding up in the early 1990s.[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) • [6](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/theatre-collection/explore/theatre/medieval-players-archive/medieval-plays-in-modern-performance-2mp/selected-projects/the-medieval-players-archive/) In 1985 Heap played Kate in the company's production of *The Taming of the Shrew*, opening the show by juggling two scythes and an apple, which he ate as he juggled; the theater producer Tom Morris, who saw the production twice, called him the most charismatic actor he had seen at that stage of his career.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/mar/28/best-performance-ever-seen-tom-morris) After the company's demise, Heap and fellow actor Mark Saban formed the street theater duo The Two Marks, which led to television work.[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse)
## Television comedy
By the early 1990s Heap was taking small parts on British comedy shows, and through the late 1990s he landed recurring roles in *How Do You Want Me?* (1998–1999) and *The Strangerers* (2000).[8](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/mark-heap/) He worked with Chris Morris on the radio series *Blue Jam*, its television successor *Jam* (2000), and the documentary parody *Brass Eye*, and voiced the lead character Eric Feeble in the animated comedy *Stressed Eric* (1998–2000).[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) On the BBC sketch show *Big Train* (1998–2002) he appeared alongside [Simon Pegg](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-pegg), Julia Davis, Kevin Eldon, and [Catherine Tate](https://www.edgepedia.org/catherine-tate), and contributed additional material as a writer.[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) • [5](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/mark_heap/)
**Signature roles.** Heap's best-known characters are Brian Topp, the otherworldly conceptual artist in *Spaced* ([Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4), 1999–2001), and Dr Alan Statham, the outlandish and obsessive consultant in *Green Wing* (Channel 4, 2004–2007).[3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) He described Brian's characterization as an accident of mood: the role was written as flamboyant, but he played him as uncertain and tortured, and the portrayal built from there.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) The *Green Wing* cast spent two months together before filming began, which he credited with developing the characters' small physical tics.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) From 2011 to 2020 he played Jim, the over-friendly neighbor, in *Friday Night Dinner*.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) • [1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap)
## Dramatic and character work
Although primarily known for over-the-top comedy characters, Heap has also worked in drama. He played the novelist [Charles Dickens](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-dickens) in the [BBC Two](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-two) period drama *Desperate Romantics* (2009) and held recurring parts in *Hotel Babylon* ([BBC One](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-one), 2006–09) and the costume drama *Lark Rise to Candleford* (BBC One, 2008–11), in which he appeared as head postman Thomas Brown in 32 episodes.[8](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/mark-heap/) • [1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) His film appearances include the math teacher in *About a Boy* (2002), the man with the dog in *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* (2005), the M.C. in Woody Allen's *Scoop* (2006), and Tertius in the fantasy adventure *Stardust* (2007).[9](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/heap-mark) • [1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap)
Later television work has included Sir Robert Greene in *[Upstart Crow](https://www.edgepedia.org/upstart-crow)* (2016–2018), Peter Cole in *The Trouble with Maggie Cole* (2020), Superintendent Bob Weekes in *[Piglets](https://www.edgepedia.org/piglets-tv-series)* (2024), and John Turpin in *The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin* (2024).[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap) • [10](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/52403/mark-heap) He also reprised Dr Statham in the revival *Green Wing: Resuscitated* (2024– ).[5](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/mark_heap/)
## Theatre
Heap returned to the stage in 2014 after a 20-year hiatus, taking over from [Matthew Macfadyen](https://www.edgepedia.org/matthew-macfadyen) as Jeeves in *Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense* at the [Duke of York](https://www.edgepedia.org/duke-of-york)'s Theatre from 7 April 2014, opposite [Robert Webb](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-webb) as Bertie Wooster.[4](https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/robert-webb-and-mark-heap-take-over-in-jeeves-and-wooster_33379/) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) The Goodale brothers' adaptation, largely based on P. G. Wodehouse's 1938 novel *The Code of the Woosters*, frames the story as a play put on by Wooster, with rapid character doubling; Heap said he accepted the part because it was, in his words, "nigh-on impossible, to say no to".[3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) • [11](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/jun/02/jeeves-and-wooster-west-end)
His radio work has been recognized as well: he won Best Supporting Performance at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2024 for *Kafka's Dick*, and was longlisted for Outstanding Supporting Role at the 2023 National Comedy Awards for *Live At The Moth Club*.[5](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/mark_heap/)
## Performer style
Heap has become identified with oddball, obsessive characters, a reputation he attributes to the industry's habit of typecasting: "You start off going, 'I can play anything', and slowly you get whittled down," he told *The Guardian* in 2014, while calling his run of quirky roles a "total accident".[3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse) He describes his approach to acting as instinctive rather than psychological.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse)
## References
1. [Mark Heap biography, The Movie Database](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47712-mark-heap)
2. [Mark Heap biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372423/bio/)
3. [Catherine Love, "Mark Heap: Mr Zany buttons up", The Guardian, 2 April 2014](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/02/mark-heap-plays-jeeves-perfect-nonsense-pg-wodehouse)
4. ["Robert Webb and Mark Heap take over in Jeeves and Wooster", WhatsOnStage](https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/robert-webb-and-mark-heap-take-over-in-jeeves-and-wooster_33379/)
5. [Mark Heap, British Comedy Guide](https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/mark_heap/)
6. [The Medieval Players Archive, University of Bristol Theatre Collection](https://www.bristol.ac.uk/theatre-collection/explore/theatre/medieval-players-archive/medieval-plays-in-modern-performance-2mp/selected-projects/the-medieval-players-archive/)
7. [Tom Morris, "The best performance I've ever seen", The Guardian, 27 March 2010](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/mar/28/best-performance-ever-seen-tom-morris)
8. [Mark Heap, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/mark-heap/)
9. ["Heap, Mark", Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/heap-mark)
10. [Mark Heap, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/52403/mark-heap)
11. ["Jeeves and Wooster to take to West End stage in Perfect Nonsense", The Guardian, 2 June 2013](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/jun/02/jeeves-and-wooster-west-end)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames H to K*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license