# Robert Lindsay (actor)
**Robert Lindsay** (birth name Robert Lindsay Stevenson) is a British stage and television actor born in 1949 in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, known for the sitcoms *Citizen Smith* and *My Family*, the drama *G.B.H.*, the *Hornblower* television films, and a musical-theater career that includes *Me and My Girl* on both sides of the Atlantic.[1](https://myfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Lindsay%2C_Robert) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512305) His awards include a BAFTA, a Tony Award, and three Olivier Awards.[3](https://www.derby.ac.uk/news/2026/award-winning-derby-actor-reflects-on-impressive-career-at-exclusive-event-/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1949, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England, as Robert Lindsay Stevenson, son of Norman and Joyce Stevenson[1](https://myfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Lindsay%2C_Robert) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512305) |
| Training | Accepted at RADA in 1968 with a government grant; graduated 1970[1](https://myfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Lindsay%2C_Robert) • [4](https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/robert-lindsay/) |
| Breakthrough TV roles | Jakey Smith in *Get Some In!* (ITV, 1975–1977); Wolfie Smith in *Citizen Smith* (BBC, 1977–1980)[5](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Robert-Lindsay/) |
| Signature stage role | Bill Snibson in *Me and My Girl*, West End and Broadway, winning an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical[6](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/robert-lindsay) |
| BAFTA | Best Actor for Alan Bleasdale's *G.B.H.* (1991)[5](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Robert-Lindsay/) |
| Longest TV run | Ben Harper in *My Family*, 2000–2011, 118 episodes[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512305) |
| Awards total | One BAFTA, one Tony Award, three Olivier Awards[3](https://www.derby.ac.uk/news/2026/award-winning-derby-actor-reflects-on-impressive-career-at-exclusive-event-/) |
## Early life and training
Lindsay grew up in Ilkeston, a [Derbyshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/derbyshire) mining town, and left Gladstone Boys school to enroll in the drama department of Clarendon College in [Nottingham](https://www.edgepedia.org/nottingham), intending to become a drama teacher.[1](https://myfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Lindsay%2C_Robert) Friends at the Nottingham Playhouse encouraged him to apply to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and in 1968 he was accepted with the aid of a government grant, which he later recalled as £137 a term.[1](https://myfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Lindsay%2C_Robert) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/aug/18/robert-lindsay-sherwood-citizen-smith-mining-town-interview) He graduated in 1970 with an acting diploma.[4](https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/robert-lindsay/)
After graduating he worked as a dialect coach for a repertory company in Essex, then joined a regional theater group, playing seasons in Exeter and Coventry before taking over from [David Essex](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-essex) in the lead role of Jesus in the musical *Godspell* in the West End.[1](https://myfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Lindsay%2C_Robert) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/aug/18/robert-lindsay-sherwood-citizen-smith-mining-town-interview) • [8](https://mcmweb.co.uk/tvtimes/1976/June%2026th%201976%20NFPA.pdf)
## Television career
**Sitcom fame.** Lindsay first came to prominence as the cockney layabout Jakey Smith in the ITV comedy *Get Some In!* (1975–1977), and appeared in the fourth series of the BBC sitcom *The Good Life*.[1](https://myfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Lindsay%2C_Robert) • [5](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Robert-Lindsay/) His starring role came as Wolfie Smith, the charismatic but delusional Marxist of the People's Front of Tooting, in *Citizen Smith* (BBC, 1977–1980). The series was watched by 24 million people and made him, in his own words, unbearably famous; he has said that peers sneered because it was a sitcom, but that he loved playing "a cocky little lad".[9](https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/the-sunday-times-interviews-robert-lindsay-ahead-of-springwood/)
**Drama and the BAFTA.** In 1991 he played the megalomaniac left-wing council leader Michael Murray in [Alan Bleasdale](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-bleasdale)'s Channel 4 drama *G.B.H.*, winning the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor and a [Royal Television Society](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-television-society) award; a critic later described the performance as a "bravura, Bafta-winning crack-up".[5](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Robert-Lindsay/) • [10](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/more-power-to-citizen-lindsay-1327008.html) He reunited with Bleasdale for *Jake's Progress* (1995), playing a guilt-wracked adulterer, and earned a BAFTA nomination for the role.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512305) • [11](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.filmtrackonline.com/mongrelmedia/starcm_vault_root/images%2Ffiles%2Fb8%2Fb8a6fc42-1166-4521-8693-6afd6f9e5bf2.pdf)
**Hornblower and historical roles.** Across the *Hornblower* television films from 1998 to 2003 he played Sir Edward Pellew, rising in rank from Captain to Admiral over the series.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/robert_lindsay) He has also played [Tony Blair](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-blair) twice, in *A Very Social Secretary* (2005) and *The Trial of Tony Blair* (2007).[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/robert_lindsay)
**My Family.** From 2000 to 2011 he played the dentist [Ben Harper](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-harper) opposite [Zoë Wanamaker](https://www.edgepedia.org/zoe-wanamaker) in the BBC sitcom *My Family*, an American-style family sitcom that ran for 118 episodes and was, at its launch, an attempt to apply American sitcom expertise to an English setting.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512305) • [13](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/sep/19/artsfeatures) It was his first sitcom since *Citizen Smith*.[13](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/sep/19/artsfeatures)
His later television work includes *Galavant* (2016), *Genius* (2017), *McDonald & Dodds* (2020), and the Channel 5 drama *Missed Call*.[5](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Robert-Lindsay/) • [3](https://www.derby.ac.uk/news/2026/award-winning-derby-actor-reflects-on-impressive-career-at-exclusive-event-/) In 2024 he appeared in series two of James Graham's BBC drama *Sherwood*, set in the [Nottinghamshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/nottinghamshire) mining country of his youth.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/aug/18/robert-lindsay-sherwood-citizen-smith-mining-town-interview)
## Stage career
Lindsay made his West End debut in 1980 as Tom Wrench in *Trelawny of the 'Wells'* at the Old Vic, and his breakout stage role came in 1984 as Bill Snibson in *Me and My Girl*, winning an Olivier Award; the show was a West End hit in 1985 and transferred to Broadway, where [Emma Thompson](https://www.edgepedia.org/emma-thompson)'s stage role was recast but Lindsay's was not, and he won the [Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-award-for-best-actor-in-a-musical).[6](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/robert-lindsay) • [14](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/robert-lindsay/) The three-year run also led to the 1989 [Carl Reiner](https://www.edgepedia.org/carl-reiner) film musical *Bert Rigby, You're a Fool*, which he has called so depressingly awful it almost ruined his life.[13](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/sep/19/artsfeatures)
Shakespeare and classic roles followed. He played Benedick in the BBC's *Much Ado About Nothing* and Edmund opposite [Laurence Olivier](https://www.edgepedia.org/laurence-olivier)'s Lear in Granada's 1983 *King Lear*, and took on Hamlet at the Royal Exchange in Manchester in 1983.[1](https://myfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Lindsay%2C_Robert) • [9](https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/the-sunday-times-interviews-robert-lindsay-ahead-of-springwood/) His Henry II in Anouilh's *Becket* at the [Theatre Royal Haymarket](https://www.edgepedia.org/theatre-royal-haymarket) won Variety Club and Olivier awards, and the 1990s also brought *Cyrano de Bergerac* at the Haymarket and Fagin in *Oliver!* at the [London Palladium](https://www.edgepedia.org/london-palladium) in 1997, for which he won a third Olivier.[10](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/more-power-to-citizen-lindsay-1327008.html) • [6](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/robert-lindsay) • [15](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/19/robert-lindsay-interview-acting-ageing-surviving-cancer) In 2007 he played Archie Rice in *The Entertainer* at the Old Vic, a role previously associated with Laurence Olivier, to generally strong reviews.[6](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/robert-lindsay) • [16](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2007/mar/08/whatthecriticssaidaboutth)
Later stage work includes the UK premiere of *Dirty Rotten Scoundrels* (2014), Terry Johnson's *Prism* at Hampstead Theatre (2017), written with Lindsay in mind as the cinematographer Jack Cardiff, and a return to the West End in 2021 as Moonface Martin in *Anything Goes* at the Barbican, which brought a fourth Olivier nomination in 2022.[5](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Robert-Lindsay/) • [17](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/prism-hampstead-theatre-review-a7952781.html) • [6](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/robert-lindsay) In 2026 he was rehearsing the role of Franklin Roosevelt in *Springwood* at Hampstead Theatre, opposite Jemma Redgrave as Eleanor.[9](https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/the-sunday-times-interviews-robert-lindsay-ahead-of-springwood/)
## Screen films
His film credits began with *That'll Be the Day* (1973), *Three for All* (1975), and *Adventures of a Taxi Driver* (1976), and later include *Fierce Creatures* (1997), *Wimbledon* (2004), and *Maleficent: Mistress of Evil* (2019) as King John.[5](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Robert-Lindsay/) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512305) • [12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/robert_lindsay)
## Personal life
Lindsay was married to the actress Cheryl Hall, and has been married to the actress and presenter Rosemarie Ford since 31 December 2006; they have two sons, and he has a daughter with his former partner Diana Weston.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512305) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/aug/18/robert-lindsay-sherwood-citizen-smith-mining-town-interview) He has spoken publicly about surviving cancer, describing a moment on stage when he thought he could be dying.[15](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/19/robert-lindsay-interview-acting-ageing-surviving-cancer) He lives in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, and was given the Freedom of the Borough of Erewash, his home district, in 2016.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/aug/18/robert-lindsay-sherwood-citizen-smith-mining-town-interview) • [3](https://www.derby.ac.uk/news/2026/award-winning-derby-actor-reflects-on-impressive-career-at-exclusive-event-/)
## References
1. [Lindsay, Robert, My Family Wiki](https://myfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Lindsay%2C_Robert)
2. [Robert Lindsay, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512305)
3. [Award-winning Derby actor reflects on impressive career at exclusive event, University of Derby](https://www.derby.ac.uk/news/2026/award-winning-derby-actor-reflects-on-impressive-career-at-exclusive-event-/)
4. [Robert Lindsay, RADA graduate profiles](https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/robert-lindsay/)
5. [Robert Lindsay, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Robert-Lindsay/)
6. [Robert Lindsay, Stars on Stage, London Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/robert-lindsay)
7. [Actor Robert Lindsay on his role in Sherwood and growing up in a mining town, The Guardian (2024)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/aug/18/robert-lindsay-sherwood-citizen-smith-mining-town-interview)
8. [TV Times, 26 June 1976](https://mcmweb.co.uk/tvtimes/1976/June%2026th%201976%20NFPA.pdf)
9. [The Sunday Times interviews Robert Lindsay ahead of Springwood, Hampstead Theatre (2026)](https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/the-sunday-times-interviews-robert-lindsay-ahead-of-springwood/)
10. [More power to Citizen Lindsay, The Independent (1996)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/more-power-to-citizen-lindsay-1327008.html)
11. [Robert Lindsay biography and credits, FilmTrack/Mongrel Media](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.filmtrackonline.com/mongrelmedia/starcm_vault_root/images%2Ffiles%2Fb8%2Fb8a6fc42-1166-4521-8693-6afd6f9e5bf2.pdf)
12. [Robert Lindsay, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/robert_lindsay)
13. [Popular front, The Guardian (2000)](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/sep/19/artsfeatures)
14. [Robert Lindsay, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/robert-lindsay/)
15. [Robert Lindsay on acting, ageing and surviving cancer, The Guardian (2022)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/19/robert-lindsay-interview-acting-ageing-surviving-cancer)
16. [What the critics said about The Entertainer, The Guardian (2007)](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2007/mar/08/whatthecriticssaidaboutth)
17. [Prism, Hampstead Theatre, review, The Independent (2017)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/prism-hampstead-theatre-review-a7952781.html)
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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 L to M*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license