Clive Merrison was born on 15 September 1945 in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. He trained at Rose Bruford College before building a long and distinguished career across stage, film, television and radio.
Merrison is best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on BBC Radio 4, playing the role in all 64 episodes of the 1989-1998 dramatisations of the Conan Doyle stories, opposite Michael Williams as Dr Watson. He later reprised the role, with Andrew Sachs as Watson, in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, broadcast between 2002 and 2010. He became the first actor to voice Holmes in adaptations of every short story and novel Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about the character.
On stage and screen, Merrison originated the role of the Headmaster in Alan Bennett's The History Boys, appearing in the original National Theatre and Broadway productions before reprising the part in the 2006 film. His film credits also include Escape to Victory (1981), Heavenly Creatures (1994) opposite Kate Winslet, and The English Patient (1996), while on television he appeared twice in Doctor Who, in The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967) and Paradise Towers (1987), and played Clement Attlee in Bert and Dickie (2012).
Merrison's career, spanning more than five decades, has kept him one of the most recognisable voices to come out of Pembrokeshire.