Tuesday 4 June 2013

Simon Chandler


Simon Chandler:

Another of the grey men. Simon Chandler's assured portrayals of middle-class anxiety and establishment brinkmanship seem to have led to his being cast in a long string of substantial TV roles. His longest and probably highest profile residency in a TV series has come in 'Judge John Deed' in which he plays Martin Shaw's machiavellian nemesis Sir Ian Rochester. He was also in the wry comedy 'Teachers' and played the Reverend Farebrother in the 1994 adaptation of 'Middlemarch'.   


It's a bit of a giveaway that your profile isn't as high as it could be, however, when you get cast as a number of characters over the course of a long-running series. He has been in 'The Bill' in several different one-off roles between 1992 and 2007, but more worryingly, was able to pop up in 'Doctors' in 2011 as one Elliot Taylorman, despite having appeared as semi-regular Andrew Hewitt in three different earlier storylines. The 'Doctors' audience was presumably untroubled by any confusing memory of that character.
     


In the Mel Gibson version of 'The Bounty' (1984)
As Dr Finlay in 'The Singing Detective'
More satisfying TV work has included: 'The Singing Detective', 'Brideshead Revisited', 'Bulman', 'Anglo Saxon Attitudes' and 'The Thick of It'. A glance at imdb also reveals that he has also appeared in a quite impressive collection of major feature films, ranging from 'The Bounty (1984), 'Vera Drake' (2004) and 'Perfume, The Story of a Murderer' (2006) to 'The Iron Lady' (2011), 'The King's Speech' (2010) and the voice of Merry in Ralph Bakshi's truncated and gloomy animated version of 'The Lord of the Rings' (1978). 

'Urban Gothic'
'Midsomer Murders'


Simon Chandler - imdb

2 comments:

  1. "you're profile"? An excellent foil who needs foiling. Judge John Deed just manages, & with aplomb. Bravo to both veteran actors. Just saw Mr Chandler in THE BLETCHLEY CIRCLE.

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  2. Ouch, thanks. Goof fixed. Haven't seen 'The Bletchley Circle' yet but looks promising.

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