Parker’s most famous role was probably as Detective Inspector Lynley in BBC1’s The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. Nathaniel Parker joined the National Youth Theatre, and became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company after training at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. According to a Radio Times interview in 2007, Parker said his first big television breakthrough came from playing a Battle of France pilot in the 1988 ITV glossy six-part drama Piece of Cake.