The Scots actor is taking part in BBC Celebrity Traitors alongside fellow stars including Tom Daley, Charlotte Church and Cat Burns
Mark Bonnar is staring in BBC’s Celebrity Traitors(Image: BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)
Scottish actor Mark Bonnar has become a familiar face on British television, known for his roles in Shetland, Line of Duty, Casualty and Dept Q. Now, he is stepping into a completely different role on BBC’s Celebrity Traitors, joining the celebrity spin-off of the hit reality series.
Speaking about his role on the Celebrity Traitors, the Edinburgh-born star said: “I was thrilled to be asked to be honest with you. I’m a fan of the show. It’s one of the few things that we watch as a family. It’s put together very well, and it’s proved itself, in its popularity.”
He added: “I thought it’d be really exciting to be a part of the first celebrity version – an interesting challenge! If anything comes my way that scares me, I try to make sure I do it, and this is way out my comfort zone!”
Ahead of the launch of the new season, Mark took to social media to share a message with his following where he teased that things were going to “get very, very nuts….”
The star is competing alongside fellow well-kent faces including Jonathan Ross, Paloma Fith, Alan Carr and Kate Garraway. The first episode of the celebrity version of the popular whodunnit reality show filmed at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands aired last night (Wednesday) and had the audience hooked from the start.
Mark has appeared in multiple hit TV shows over the years(Image: Getty Images)
Acting career
While many viewers may recognise Mark from a string of TV projects over the years, it can sometimes be hard to place exactly where.
The 56-year-old’s career spans decades, after getting his start in the original version of Rebus in 2000. Since then, he has gone on to appear in some of the UK’s most popular dramas such as Casualty, The Bill, Psychoville and award-winning Edinburgh based BBC thriller, Guilt.
Some of Mark’s most recent roles include Duncan Hunter in the BBC detective series Shetland, where he appeared in 23 episodes from 2013 to 2022, and most recently he stared in Netflix’s smash hit drama Dept. Q as Stephen Burns.
He also appeared in Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, as the character Roderick McGill, which premiered in January this year.
Mark played Stephen Burns in the hit Netflix show Dept Q which debuted this year(Image: Netflix)
Growing up in Scotland
Before becoming an actor, Mark lived in several parts of Scotland, moving around with his father, who was an artist. The family spent time in Dundee while his dad studied at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee.
However, in his early teenage years, the family moved back to the Lochend area of Edinburgh. While in secondary school, he worked delivering newspapers.
He later described the area he hails from as one of the toughest neighbourhoods in Edinburgh in the 1980s, and admitted he was surprised he survived his paper route, because he sometimes did deliveries in some unusual attire.
Explaining he got his style from Adam Ant, from the new wave group Adam and the Ants, he previously told the Record: “He was on the ceiling above my bed .There were two posters. There was Adam Ant and there was Debbie Harry.”
“I think I really fell for Adam in a big way, to the extent I used to have a paper round where we stayed in Lochend – in Restalrig Circus – and sometimes I would don a white stripe across my nose and tie some ribbons in my hair and go and do my paper-round,” he continued.
“I’m surprised I’m still here to be honest, after doing a paper round dressed up like that in Lochend.”
Mark left his life in Edinburgh behind in the 1990s, when he started studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, completing his degree in acting and graduating in 1996.
Family life
Mark has been married to Lucy Gaskell since 2007(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Away from the spotlight, Mark found love with fellow actress Lucy Gaskell, who has been a familiar face on British television since the 2000s. She’s known for her roles in popular series such as Misfits, Casualty, where she plays Kirsty Clements, and BBC drama Cutting It.
The pair tied the knot in 2007 and reportedly met four years earlier, in 2003, whilst preforming in a production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. It was Lucy’s professional stage debut, where she played Dunyasha, while Mark took on the role of Trofimov.
According to The Guardian, Mark and Lucy live in Hertfordshire with their family.
Reflecting on their relationship during a 2023 appearance on Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time, Mark spoke fondly about his love for Lucy. “It was our 15-year wedding anniversary [in] December. I couldn’t believe it was 15 years we were celebrating because I’m still filled with love when I look at her, you know, which is a wonderful thing to feel,” he said.
He went on to add: “She’s really kind of taught me a lot about life and about love and care and commitment.”
They share two children together, a daughter named Martha, born in July 2011, and a son named Samuel, born in July 2015. Previously Mark opened up about how much fatherhood means to him, admitting it was something he had always wanted.
Mark and Lucy prefer to keep their two young children out of the spotlight (Image: Instagram)
“Having kids was late in the day for me,” he confessed. “I met Lucy when I was in my mid-30s and we had eight years before we had children.”
Speaking about parenting he explained: “My parents always said to me, ‘If you’re happy, we’re happy’ and I’m going to try to do the same with my kids. As a parent, your children’s happiness is the most important thing.”
“I mean, it’s a whirlwind from the moment you get up to the moment they go to bed. But then you cry and have a bottle of wine and watch some Bake Off,” he joked.
BBC’s Celebrity Traitors continues tonight on BBC One at 9pm.
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