[1] A student at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge,[2] Kirkness trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London.
[4] Kirkness has appeared in the London West End, where he played the leading role Dick Dewy, in Under the Greenwood Tree 1978-79, directed by Patrick Garland at the Vaudeville Theatre.
[5] He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company subsequently,[6] for The Irish Play by Ron Hutchinson, appearing as Dwyer.
[7] Kirkness was the TV presenter in Ali G Indahouse, with Sacha Baron Cohen, 2002.
[11] Kirkness played Vice Admiral Phillips in the drama series Dunkirk, for the BBC, 2004 and General Alanbrooke in Into the Storm 2009, with Brendan Gleeson, for HBO television.