Dexter Fletcher (born 31 January 1966) is an English film director and actor. He has appeared in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, as well as in television shows such as the comedy drama Hotel Babylon and the HBO series Band of Brothers and, earlier in his career, starred as Spike Thomson in the comedy drama Press Gang. His earliest acting role was in the 1973 comedy drama film Steptoe and Son Ride Again.

Fletcher made his directorial debut with Wild Bill (2011), and also directed Sunshine on Leith (2013) and Eddie the Eagle (2015). He replaced Bryan Singer as director of Bohemian Rhapsody, a biopic about the band Queen, released in October 2018; due to DGA rules, he received executive producer credit. In 2019, he directed Rocketman, a biographical film based on the life and music of performer Elton John.

Career Fletcher trained at the Anna Scher Theatre. His first film part was as Baby Face in Bugsy Malone (1976). He made his stage début the following year in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. As a youth actor he was regularly featured in British productions in the early 1980s, including The Long Good Friday, The Elephant Man and The Bounty. In 1987, Fletcher was cast in Lionheart. In 1988, he won the Stars de Demain prize at the inaugural Geneva Cineme Fête for The Raggedy Rawney. As an adult he appeared on television as the rebellious teenager Spike Thomson in Press Gang and in Murder Most Horrid (1991) with Dawn French. He has also starred in the films Caravaggio (1986), The Rachel Papers (1989), Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Layer Cake (2004), AffirmFilm's Solomon as Rehoboam and Universal's Doom.

He appeared as Puck in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1981 at Glyndebourne Opera and on their autumn tour, and then again in 1990 in an Opera London production at Sadler's Wells, subsequently recorded by Virgin Classics.CD Review Benjamin Britten, A Midsummer Night's Dream Op. 64, Virgin Classics 3818322. accessed 4 March 2024.

On television, Fletcher has appeared in the major HBO drama, Band of Brothers and in a supporting role in the BBC One historical drama The Virgin Queen (US PBS 2005, UK 2006). He also appeared in Kylie Minogue's music video for "Some Kind of Bliss" (1997). He starred on BBC One in a series based on Imogen Edwards-Jones's book Hotel Babylon that ran for four series before being cancelled in 2009. He also appeared in "The Booby and the Beast", an episode in the second series of the BBC's series Robin Hood and in the 2008 radio series The Way We Live Right Now. He appeared in the Bo' Selecta! spinoff A Bear's Tail as The Scriptwriter. He played a brief role in the BBC series New Tricks, in the episode "Final Curtain", as an actor named Tommy Jackson. In 2009, Fletcher also appeared in Misfits as Nathan Young's dad, reprising the role in 2010 for the second series.

Fletcher has been the voice for McDonald's television adverts and (feigning a US accent) is the narrator of The Game audio book written by Neil Strauss. He also narrated the Five series Airforce Afghanistan, as well as the Chop Shop: London Garage series on the Discovery Channel. In 1993, he was the voice of Prince Cinders in the short animated comedy of the same name. Also in 1993, he was the uncredited UNIT soldier narrator of the UNIT Recruiting Film – a five-minute spoof piece that preceded a BBC1 repeat of the sixth and final episode of Doctor Who story Planet of the Daleks. In 2014 he narrated the BBC1 show Del Boys and Dealers. In 1998, Fletcher featured on the song "Here Comes the Flood" from the album Fin de Siecle by The Divine Comedy.

Directing Fletcher's debut as a director was for a script he co-wrote, Wild Bill, which was released on 20 March 2012. His second film as director is a musical film by Stephen Greenhorn, Sunshine on Leith, based around the Proclaimers songs, which was released on 4 October 2013. In 2015, he directed the feature film Eddie the Eagle. In December 2017, Fletcher was announced as Bryan Singer's replacement director on the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. The film was released in November 2018. While Fletcher had helped finish the film, Singer received sole directing credit and he received executive producer credit. Fletcher directed the 2019 biopic Rocketman about the life and music of Elton John. In February 2020, he signed on to direct a reboot of The Saint for Paramount Pictures. He also directed the Apple TV+ feature film Ghosted, which was released in April 2023.

Personal life Fletcher was born in Enfield, the youngest of three boys, in north London, and grew up with his brothers in Woodford Green and Palmers Green; his parents were teachers.

In 1997, he married Lithuanian film and theatre director Dalia Ibelhauptaitė in Westminster. His best man was fellow actor Alan Rickman. Dexter's brothers were also actors; Graham Fletcher-Cook and Steve Fletcher. Fletcher is a dual British and Lithuanian citizen, having been granted Lithuanian citizenship in recognition of his work promoting Lithuanian cultural affairs.

Fletcher was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2026 Birthday Honours for services to film and television.

Filmography

Acting credits +Key Denotes works that have not yet been released

+ Films Year Title Role Notes1973Steptoe and Son Ride AgainSmall Boy 1976 Bugsy Malone Babyface 1979 The Long Good Friday The boy who asks for money to watch Harold's car 1980 The Elephant ManBytes' Boy 1984 The Bounty Able Seaman Thomas Ellison 1985 Revolution Ned Dobb 1986 Caravaggio Young Caravaggio 1987 Lionheart Michael 1988 Didn't You Kill My Brother? Bike thief The Raggedy Rawney Tom 1989 The Rachel Papers Charles Highway Twisted Obsession Malcolm Greene 1991 All Out Angelo 1993 Prince Cinders Prince Cinders 1996 Jude Priest 1997 The Man Who Knew Too Little Otto 1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Soap 1999 Topsy-Turvy Louis Tube Tales Joe Segment: Mr Cool 2000 The Patriot Cornwallis' tailor/valet 2002 Below Kingsley 2003 Stander Lee McCall 2004 The Secret of Year Six Mike Layer Cake Cody 2005 Doom Marcus "Pinky" Pinzerowski 2006 Tristan & Isolde Orick 2007 Stardust Skinny Pirate 2008 Autumn Michael 2010 Kick-Ass Cody Amaya Frenchman Dead Cert Eddie Christian 2011 Jack Falls Detective Edwards Fedz Hunter The Three Musketeers D'Artagnan's father Wild Bill Mysterious Barry 2012 Coven Mr. Sheers St George's Day Levi 2014 Muppets Most Wanted Cameo; deleted scenes Respectable: The Mary Millington Story Narrator 2016Smoking GunsPaul McVeigh 2018 Terminal Vince Sherlock GnomesReggieVoice role 2023 Ghosted Raoul 2023 Love at First Sight Val

+ Television Year Title Role Notes 1976 Chimp Mates Joey Graham TV series 1978 Les Miserables Gavroche TV film 1989 The Bill Tony Gillespie Episode: "The Strong Survive" 1989-1993 Press Gang James (Spike) Thomson Main role; 43 episodes 1991 Murder Most Horrid Colin Season 1, Episode 5 "Murder at Tea Time" 1993–1994 GamesMaster Presenter Season 3 1997 The Famous Five Lou Solomon Rehoboam 2001 Band of Brothers John Martin 2003 The Deal Charlie Whelan TV film 2004 The Virgin QueenThomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex 2006–2009 Hotel Babylon Tony Casemore 32 episodes 2007 Robin Hood Count Friedrich 1 episode 2008 New Tricks Tommy Jackson Episode: "Final Curtain" 2009 Misfits Mike Young 2011 White Van Man Ian 2013 Death in Paradise Grant, The Cabin Barman 2014 Rev. Mike Tobin Episode: 3.3 Mount Pleasant Gus 2020 I Hate Suzie Benjamin

Filmmaking credits Year TitleDirector ExecutiveproducerWriter Notes 1999 Let the Good Times Roll Short film2010Just for the Record Dead Cert 2011 Wild Bill 2013 Sunshine on Leith 2015 Eddie the Eagle 2018 Bohemian Rhapsody for the final two weeks of filming;Received credit as executive producer in accordance with DGA rules 2019 Rocketman 2022 The Offer Directed 2 episodes 2023 Ghosted

References

Bibliography Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 358–360.

External links

Interview with Dexter Fletcher