Michael Percival:
† 2015*
Many people's principle memories of Michael Percival date from when he played the sardonic form-teacher Mr Mitchell in the heyday of the popular BBC school series 'Grange Hill'. He's another of those actors who used to show up regularly, but are infuriatingly difficult to place.
Perhaps you can spot him in feature films like 'Marat/Sade' (1967), 'No Blade of Grass' (1970), and the John Cleese trio 'Clockwise' (1986), 'A Fish Called Wanda' (1988) and 'Fierce Creatures' (1997),
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| Unusually casual behind the bar in an episode of 'Inspector Morse' |
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| As an art dealer in 'Allo Allo'. As you'd imagine, he has just purchased the 'Portrait of the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies'. |
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| Having his car stolen by John Cleese in 'Clockwise' (1986) |
*Sorry to see Michael Percival's name included in the 'In Memoriam' section of Equity magazine's Winter 2015 issue. I can find no further details at the moment.
Michael Percival - imdb
Currently rewatching Grange Hill! He's Mr Janet Fielding too - Tegan from 80s Doctor Who
ReplyDeletePercival was the founder of Grange Hill from the teacher's side of things - pity that when it came to reunions and the like, it was always Todd Carty, Lee Macdonald, Erkan Mustafa and the pupil characters that get a mention.
ReplyDeleteConsidering all the "one episode" characters he did, it was something a lot different to be the very first regular teacher character in GH. Even the TV listings in my local paper back in 1978 mentioned Percival by name for GH's first episode.
He also appeared in two episodes of Coronation Street in around 1968 or 1969, as two characters according to Corriepedia - one was as an estate agent.
I was 14 when Grange Hill first started, watching them all again March 2017, racist remarks flying about but we had them at school, chimp, chocolate, etc, love to rewind and go back.....
ReplyDeleteThe final episode in the first series is a great example - when Trisha and Benny are in that Civic Centre art gallery place while bunking off school, they exchange words to each other like "nig-nog" and "honky". I bet that the episode was written by someone who had previously worked on Love Thy Neighbour.
DeleteI am also certain that Michael Percival appeared in a Kenco coffee advert in around 1982 (post Grange Hill, but pre-Give us a Break on his IMDB timeline) which I saw on a Granada ad break on YT that Neil Miles add on a few months ago - it looks and sounds like him. He enters a coffee blending place, says "ground coffee, please", and when he was told how many kinds of coffee there were, he faints on the spot - I am almost 100% certain that it was Michael Percival as well.
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