Film and television career One of Crook's earliest television appearances was in the 1998
Channel 4 sketch show
Barking as grotesque schoolteacher Mr. Bagshaw, said to be based on a variety of obnoxious overbearing science teachers Crook had in school. In 1998, Crook was offered his first major television role as a comedy sketch contributor on
Channel 4's ''
The Eleven O'Clock Show'', from which he was later dropped. In 2001, Crook auditioned for the role of
Gareth Keenan in
Ricky Gervais' and
Stephen Merchant's popular
mockumentary The Office. Though it was originally written for a larger, thuggish actor, Crook won the role, Crook was featured in
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'' (2007), as
Ragetti, a pirate with a comically ill-fitting wooden
false eye, who is teamed with Pintel (
Lee Arenberg). Crook has appeared in advertisements as the character for
Visa and
M&M's. He has also been heard as himself in adverts for
MTV and
Film4, and as a voiceover artiste for motor insurance company
Green Flag in 2007. In 2010, he narrated an advertisement for electrical retailer
Currys. Crook appeared as Launcelot Gobbo in
Michael Radford's
2004 film adaptation of Shakespeare's
The Merchant of Venice, and had a minor role in the 2004 film
Finding Neverland as a theatre usher. Crook played the leading role of Paul Callow in the comedy film
Three and Out, released on 25 April 2008. On 10 May 2008 he appeared in an episode of the BBC1 comedy/drama
Love Soup playing the character Marty Cady and appeared in an episode of
Andrew Davies' 2008 BBC adaptation of
Charles Dickens'
Little Dorrit. He also provided his voice and movements to a character in
Steven Spielberg's
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which began filming in January 2009 and was released in 2011. Crook starred in Wyndham Price's drama ''Abraham's Point
as Comet Snape and appeared in City of Ember as Looper, and on TV was featured in the documentary Tattoos: A Scarred History
(2009). He also appeared in Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack and the ITV drama Demons
(originally titled The Last Van Helsing
) as the vampire Gladiolus Hadilus Tradius Thrip. In January 2009, Crook assisted in the second and third episodes of the third series of the E4 teen drama Skins, where he played psychotic Bristol gangster Johnny White. In September 2009, he appeared in Merlin'', for the first episode of the second season, as Cedric. In November 2010, Crook starred in
A Reluctant Tragic Hero, a comic play by Anton Chekhov, on the
Sky Arts channel, which also starred
Johnny Vegas, with whom he also starred in 2004's
Sex Lives of the Potato Men, a film about the sexual antics of a group of potato delivery men in Birmingham. Crook played Corporal Buckley, a brutal career soldier, in Jimmy McGovern's
Accused, broadcast on BBC One in November 2010. During the 2012
San Diego Comic-Con it was announced that Crook would play the role of Orell in the third season of
Game of Thrones. Crook also wrote, directed and starred in the television comedy series
Detectorists, which was first broadcast on BBC Four on 2 October 2014. Filmed in the countryside of Suffolk and the market town of
Framlingham, the show is a gently humorous and affectionate portrayal of a pair of metal-detecting enthusiasts, Andy (Crook) and Lance (
Toby Jones), and their colleagues in the fictional Danebury Metal Detecting Club. In 2015, Crook won a
British Academy Television Craft Award for Best Writing in a Comedy Series for the show, whilst the series won the
British Academy Television Award for Best Situation Comedy. A second series was broadcast in the UK in October/November 2015. A Christmas special was broadcast on 23 December 2015. In 2017 the third and final series of
Detectorists was broadcast. A final special episode was released for Christmas 2022. Crook played the role of Nestor of Maddox in the television fantasy-comedy series
Yonderland, broadcast on
Sky One, which starred and was written by the cast of the educational historical comedy series
Horrible Histories. He plays the father of the main character Debbie, played by
Martha Howe-Douglas, and appears in three episodes of series 2: episodes 1, 2 and 4. In 2026, Crook wrote and directed the
sitcom Small Prophets which stars
Pearce Quigley (also from
Detectorists),
Lauren Patel,
Michael Palin and himself.
Theatre Crook played Billy Bibbit in the 2004 London West End production of the stage play of ''
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest opposite Christian Slater, Starting at the Royal Court Theatre in London in February/March 2007, it transferred to Broadway in September 2008. In December 2008, he finished the Broadway run of The Seagull'' at the
Walter Kerr Theatre. He and the play received positive reviews and it was transferred to the West End's
Apollo Theatre in February 2010. In May 2011 he was nominated for the
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, for his role in the Broadway transfer of the show and also appeared in the 2011 London revival. Another revival of the play ran in 2022 at the
Apollo Theatre, featuring the creative team from the first production as well as
Mark Rylance and Crook in their original roles as Johnny "Rooster" Byron and Ginger. On 18 April 2010, Crook took part in the fund raising event
We Are One, a celebration of tribal peoples, in aid of indigenous rights organisation
Survival International, at the
Apollo Theatre,
Shaftesbury Avenue. The evening was a performance of tribal prose and poetry from some of the UK and Hollywood's leading actors and musicians. The event was created and directed by
Mark Rylance. Crook appeared as Jasper in
The Aliens at the
Bush Theatre in October 2010. In early 2012 he played Sergeant Kite in
The Recruiting Officer at the
Donmar Warehouse.
Other work Crook has directed a music video for the London electro band Paw Paw (his sister Zoe is one of the band members). The stop motion animation video accompanies the band's debut single 'Wired OK', released on 16 July 2007 on Albino Recordings. Crook appeared as a postman in the music video for
Paul McCartney's single "
Dance Tonight" alongside actress
Natalie Portman. The video for the song was directed by
Michel Gondry and was posted exclusively on YouTube on 22 May 2007. Crook has a deal with publisher
Faber to illustrate and write a children's book. The book contains references to a
storm in 1987 which hit Dartford and surrounding areas. On 9 April 2010, it was announced that Crook would star in the music video for
Slow Club's new single, "Giving Up on Love", after band member
Rebecca Taylor wrote to him. Crook regularly works in radio, and appeared in the BBC Radio Four show
North by Northamptonshire, in 2011 alongside
Geoffrey Palmer,
Sheila Hancock,
Lizzie Roper and
Jessica Henwick. Crook narrated the audiobook version of the novel
Charlotte Street by
Danny Wallace. In June 2024, it was announced that Crook would direct the second series of
Bridget Christie's
Channel 4 comedy-drama about
menopause The Change. Crook has written two children's books:
The Windvale Sprites and
The Lost Journals of Benjamin Tooth. His first book written for adults,
If Nick Drake Came To My House, was set for release in November 2024. ==Personal life==