Lindsay was born 13 December 1949,[1] in Ilkeston, Derbyshire,[2] to Joyce (née Dunmore) and Norman Stevenson, who worked at the local Stanton Ironworks.[3] He was one of three children and his father was a World War II veteran, having been on a minesweeper.[4]
Lindsay attended Gladstone Boys' School, in Ilkeston,[5] then enrolled in the drama department of Clarendon College in Nottingham.[6] His friends at Nottingham Playhouse encouraged him to apply to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and in 1968, and he was accepted there with the aid of a government grant.[7] He graduated in 1970 with an Acting (RADA Diploma).[8]
Career
Lindsay's early career included roles in British films such as That'll Be The Day (1973),[1]Three for All (1975), and Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976).[2] He came to prominence as the cockney Teddy Boy Jakey Smith in the ITV comedy series Get Some In! (1975–1977),[9] that was based on National Service life in the RAF. In 1977, he landed the starring role as delusional revolutionary Wolfie Smith in the BBC sitcom Citizen Smith (1977–1980).[4] He had now become a television star watched by 24 million people.[6]
He later appeared as Fagin in the 1999 ITVOliver Twist miniseries.[2] His longest-running role has been Ben Harper in the popular BBC sitcom My Family (2000–11), playing the role for over a decade.[9]
He appeared in the 8th Ricky Gervais Video Podcast, in which Gervais announced that Lindsay would be in the second series of Extras,[9] appearing in the last episode of the 2006 series as an arrogant, mean-spirited version of himself. Lindsay also appeared in the romantic comedy Wimbledon,[2] as the tennis club manager who hires Peter Colt. In 2007 at the Old Vic Theatre, Lindsay played Archie Rice in John Osborne's The Entertainer, a role first performed by Olivier in 1957.[13] In 2009, he played the protagonist, Maddox, from the Radio 4 comedy Electric Ink by Alistair Beaton.[9]
In 2012, Lindsay appeared in the Sky detective series Falcón, episode "The Silent and the Damned", as Pablo Ortega. In 2014, Lindsay starred as Lawrence in the UK première production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Savoy Theatre London, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell.[15]
In 2016, Lindsay recurred on the second season of the ABC fairy tale-themed musical comedy series Galavant as Chester Wormwood, an evil wizard/wedding planner.[1]
In 1974, Lindsay married Cheryl Hall, who later appeared opposite him in Citizen Smith.[18] They divorced in 1980,[19] when he started a long-term relationship with actress Diana Weston, with whom he has a daughter, Sydney Laura Stevenson,[20] and who co-starred with him in three episodes of My Family. He married English actress, dancer, and television presenter Rosemarie Ford on 31 December 2006.[7]
On 13 September 2006, Lindsay researched his family tree in the third series of Who Do You Think You Are? He travelled to his hometown and to Turkey, where his grandfather, Raymond Dunmore, had taken part in the Gallipoli campaign during World War I.[2]
Lindsay is a lifelong supporter of Derby County F.C., which he revealed in a short section on the CBBC programme Newsround entitled "My Team".[21]
Lindsay is known for his left-wing political beliefs, usually describing himself as a staunch socialist, and has marched in support of miners. He is a passionate supporter of the Labour Party, but an outspoken critic of then Prime Minister Tony Blair's controversial decisions to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, saying that he was "furious" and feeling disillusioned with mainstream politics: "You see those images of Iraq and Afghanistan and Lebanon, don't you? And I suspect somewhere, when he goes home at night and the kids are in bed, he must go, 'Jesus, what have I done?'"[22]
In 2011, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which was treated surgically.[10]
