- published: 14 May 2014
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Ben Miles (born 1967) is an English actor, best known for his starring role as Patrick Maitland in the British TV comedy Coupling, from 2000 to 2004.
Miles was born in Wimbledon, London, but lived as a young man in Ashover Derbyshire, attending Tupton Hall School. He began acting in school productions, which he pursued mainly because it allowed him to miss classes. He trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which also boasts such alumni as Orlando Bloom, Daniel Craig and Joseph Fiennes. He moved into television roles in the 1990s, playing supporting roles in such series as The Bill and Peak Practice.
In 2000, he was cast as the womanising Patrick Maitland in the comedy series Coupling, a role which he played until the series ended in 2004. He continued other television work during his tenure in Coupling, appearing in The Forsyte Saga as the rakish Montague Dartie, and in Prime Suspect. In 2004, Miles portrayed Charles Ryder in the BBC Radio 4 production of Brideshead Revisited. Miles appeared in the 2005 BBC television drama Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle, playing the part of a teacher taking an unruly party of pupils on a daytrip to Salisbury Cathedral. In 2006, he appeared in the TV drama After Thomas as the father of a son with autism. He worked alongside actors such as Clive Mantle. In 2008 he appeared as the squire Sir Timothy in the British production Lark Rise to Candleford, and in 2009 appeared as the head of a stock market trading firm in the BBC city-based drama Sex, the City and Me (January 2009). He played the lead in Pulse opposite Claire Foy, who he also co-starred with in The Promise in early 2011, just after also appearing in BBC 1's Zen.