As a young man, Bretherton was in an episode of the BBC TV series Miss Marple: "At Bertram's Hotel", playing Detective Inspector Campbell in 1987. Another early screen role came in The Balance of Nature (1983).[2]
Bretherton appeared in Rumpole of the Bailey in "The Barrow Boy" in November 1988 and made a brief appearance as "Rod" in Coronation Street also in 1988. He returned as "Robert Weston" in 1991, and again as "Ian Davenport" in 2004.
He was in Casualty as Andrew Bower (Lisa "Duffy" Duffin's husband), Footballer's Wives as Stefan Hauser, New Tricks as Doug Standeven. He also appeared in an episode of The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, "The Problem of Thor Bridge" in 1990 as Mr. Joyce Cummings Q.C. He has appeared in Series 1 of Murder in Suburbia, as Phillip Whitmore. He further appeared in the episode "Last Seen Wearing" of the television series Inspector Morse in the role of French teacher David Acum. He also appeared in the fifth and final series of Young Dracula as Roquelaire, the vampire high council's head of security and father of Vlad Dracula's bodyguard Talitha. He played Matthew Woodley in Midsomer Murders "Made-to-Measure Murders" in 2010, and as Alistair Deacon in As Time Goes By from 1992 to 2002 and then 2005 for a reunion special.
