He first came to prominence playing a liberal Catholic priest - Father Sheehy - in RTÉ's iconic rural drama The Riordans.
[2] He appeared in such popular shows as Travelling Man (Granada TV 1984-5), Coronation Street, Between the Lines, 1990, Children of the North and Ballykissangel, and won an Irish Film and Television Academy Award for best leading performance for his role in the 1998 miniseries Amongst Women.
Tony Doyle also appeared in the first Minder episode, "Gunfight at the OK Laundrette", playing a drunken Irishman.
He played George Ferguson in 10 episodes of Kay Mellor's Band of Gold TV drama from 1995 to 1996.
[4] Cranitch subsequently starred in the BBC detective series McCready and Daughter, which had been written with Doyle in mind.