Sessions attended
RADA in the late 1970s, studying alongside
Kenneth Branagh; the two would work together on many occasions later in their careers. His name change occurred when he became a performer, owing to the presence of a John Marshall already on the
Equity register. In the early 1980s, he worked on the small venue comedy circuit with largely improvised freewheeling fantasy
monologues. He topped a double bill with
French and Saunders during this period. Sessions played to his strengths in improvisation and comedy with his one-man stage show
Napoleon, which ran in London's
West End for some time in the mid-1980s. He and
Stephen Fry were the only two regular panellists on the original radio broadcast of
Whose Line Is It Anyway? in the late 1980s. When the show, still hosted by
Clive Anderson, made the transition to television, Fry departed from regular appearances, but Sessions remained the featured panellist for the first season. A frequent player in the second, he did not appear again after his two appearances in the third series. A gifted impressionist who also voiced characters for
Spitting Image, he drew heavily on his extensive literary education and developed a reputation for being "a bit of a swot", being able to quote extensive passages of text and make endless cultural and historical references. His ready ability to switch between accents and personae meanwhile allowed his career in improvisation to flourish. On
Whose Line Is It Anyway?, his ability to affect the contrived witticisms of
Restoration Comedy became an audience favourite. In 1987 he played Lionel Zipser in
Channel 4's mini-series
Porterhouse Blue. In 1989, he starred in his own one-man TV show,
John Sessions. Although billed as improvisation, these were increasingly pre-planned. 1991 also saw Sessions in the BBC drama
Jute City, a three-part thriller concerning a sinister
Masonic bunch of villains, co-starring with vocalist
Fish (Derek W. Dick, singer in the first incarnation of rock band
Marillion). In 1994, Sessions auditioned for the role of the
Eighth Doctor in
Doctor Who. In 1996, he was commissioned by the
Royal Academy of Arts to write "Paint, said Fred", the life of
Frederic, Lord Leighton, the pre-eminent Victorian artist, in a one-man show that used his comic writing abilities and his gift for impersonation. Sessions also starred in
Stella Street, a surreal "soap opera" comedy about a fantasy suburban British street inhabited by celebrities such as
Michael Caine and
Al Pacino, which he conceived with fellow impressionist
Phil Cornwell, the two of them playing several parts in each episode. Sessions later returned to formal acting, with parts ranging from
James Boswell (to
Robbie Coltrane's
Samuel Johnson) in the UK TV comedy drama ''Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the
Western Isles (1993) to Doctor Prunesquallor in the BBC adaptation of Gormenghast (2000) and in 1998 as Hercules Fortesque, a BBC HR manager in the BBC mini-series In The Red
adapted from the book and the BBC radio series by Mark Taverner. He provided the voice of the Professor in The Adventures of Pinocchio'' in 1996. He also appeared in several
Shakespeare films, playing Macmorris in
Kenneth Branagh's
Henry V (1989), Philostrate in ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999), and Salerio in the movie The Merchant of Venice (2004), with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. He also contributed "Sonnet 62" to the 2002 compilation album When Love Speaks'' (
EMI Classics), which consists of famous actors and musicians interpreting Shakespearean
sonnets and play excerpts. In between appearing in regular film and TV roles, Sessions made appearances on
Have I Got News for You and, more recently, as a semi-regular panellist on
QI. Other Sessions' creations appeared on Berkeley's show in subsequent years. Sessions had taken the role of narrating the popular
Asterix stories for
audiobook, since the death of
Willie Rushton. Sessions made a guest appearance in a special webcast version of
Doctor Who, in a story called
Death Comes to Time, in which he played General Tannis. He occasionally appeared in the
BBC series
Judge John Deed as barrister Brian Cantwell QC. In 2007, he guest-starred in the
Doctor Who audio adventure
100. In 2006, Sessions presented some of the BBC's coverage of
The Proms and featured in one of the two
Jackanory specials, voicing the characters and playing the storyteller in the
audiobook version of
Paul Stewart and
Chris Riddell's children's book
Muddle Earth. In 2007 he appeared in the final episode of the second series of
Hotel Babylon, playing hotel owner Donovan Credo, and as
Geoffrey Howe in 2009's
Margaret. In 2010, he played Kenny Prince in
Sherlock. Sessions appeared in the teen drama TV show
Skins in 2011 as one of two adopted fathers of
Franky Fitzgerald. He had the distinction of playing two British
prime ministers in films,
Harold Wilson in
Made in Dagenham and
Edward Heath in
The Iron Lady. In 2013 he appeared in the premiere production of the new play
Longing. In 2014, he made a short appearance in
Outlander as Arthur Duncan. In October 2014, Sessions was heard as Gus, the mysterious, psychopathic computer that controlled the eponymous train/spaceship in the
Doctor Who episode "
Mummy on the Orient Express" as well as appearing as
Mycroft Holmes in the 2015 film
Mr. Holmes. In addition to appearing in the role of
Arthur Lowe in the 2015 drama ''We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story
. he also played Dr Hermann in the 2016 film Florence Foster Jenkins''. Sessions narrated a 10-part radio adaptation of
The Adventures of Captain Bobo on
Fun Kids in 2020, which was still running at the time of his death. ==Personal life==