Liz Crowther

Liz Crowther:

Daughter of the late TV personality and presenter Leslie Crowther - but not the one that married Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy - Liz Crowther is an actress, albeit one who has generally concentrated on the stage. She has been a member of the RSC and involved with several theatre projects over the years, but has still found time to appear in a number of TV series.

In 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', a 1967 production
over ten episodes, almost all of which are now lost.

As a child she appeared as Lucy in the 1967 ITV production of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' and the completely lost 'Queen Street Gang', but after studying drama in London and Paris she embarked on a career focused on the stage. She has nevertheless been seen in a number of very popular shows, including some longer stints as a main character. For example, she was Annie Hart, the matriarch in Channel 5's attempt to take on the soap opera market, although her character was written out in a reboot by notorious soap hatchet-man Brian Park.   

In the 1983 BBC production of 'Mansfield Park', playing Julia Bertram

As Sergeant Jane Kendall in 'The Bill'

She was also a regular in 'The Bill', 'London's Burning', 'Growing Pains', 'Doctors' and 'Shoestring', as well as making many other one-off drama appearances in the likes of 'Miss Marple', 'Lewis', 'The Cost Of Loving', 'A Year In Provence', 'Bergerac', 'Holby City' and  'EastEnders'.   

As annoying English neighbour Jill, in 'French Fields'

In a comedy vein, you'll see her in 'The Comic Strip presents: Funseekers', 'French Fields', and the flop supermarket sitcom 'Tripper's Day' with Leonard Rossiter, which became the even floppier 'Slinger's Day' with Bruce Forsyth after Rossiter's death.  

'Growing Pains' with Ray Brooks

Definitely a familiar face, perhaps all the more so for the faint family resemblance to her late father, and a talented actor who deserves to be better recognised. 

Liz Crowther-imdb       

Rachel Bell

Rachel Bell:  

John Sullivan's '80s lonely-hearts sitcom 'Dear John' had a pleasingly melancholy undertow that makes it more appealing - to me, anyway - than his poll-winning national treasure, 'Only Fools And Horses'. A lot of that can be put down to the downbeat performance of Ralph Bates, previously best known for playing dashing Hammer Horror leading men, but also to a strong ensemble cast. The encounter groups were led by the fearsomely helpful Louise, played strongly by Rachel Bell as a self-help dragon spouting lurid Freudian analysis and trite '80s motivational claptrap.       

Under tough questioning in a 'Crown Court' episode from 1978

With Ronnie Barker in 'The Magnificent Evans' 

Before 'Dear John' in 1987, a number of television productions had featured her talents, among them 'Disraeli' with Ian McShane, 'The Magnificent Evans', 'Alas Smith & Jones', 'Miss Marple', a couple of 'Play For Today' dramas, and the 'Only Fools...' episode 'To Hull And Back'. She was also a regular in a spoof chat show on the newly-created Channel 4 called 'For 4 Tonight', written by  a pre-fame Ruby Wax and directed by a post-fame Mickey Dolenz. Sounds interesting, maybe, but I can't find any archive video.      

The latter '80s and early '90s included some situation comedies: 'Home To Roost', The Upper Hand',  'Last Of The Summer Wine'; some drama 'We'll Meet Again', 'Goodbye Cruel World', and the very odd 'Doctor Who' story 'The Happiness Patrol', before she landed another plum role, as the snooty Edith Pilchester in 'The Darling Buds Of May'.        

In 'Dr Who: The Happiness Patrol'. The weird Sylvester McCoy
era story with the Bertie Bassett-esque alien, The Kandyman  

As Miss Pilchester in 'The Darling Buds Of May' 

'Grange Hill' gave her a long run as Deputy Head Mrs Holmes during its later few years, and the new millennium has brought a steady supply of work ranging from 'Chucklevision', 'Birds Of A Feather' and 'The Bill', to 'The Detectorists' and JK Rowling's low-key detective series 'Strike'.   

As a teacher in the post-Harry Potter reboot
of 'The Worst Witch' for CBBC   

She can be spotted in a few feature films: 'The Edge Of Love' (2008), 'Red Mercury' (2005), 'Mary' (2005), and 'Sweet William' (1980), and also stepped neatly into Patricia Routledge's shoes for the stage version of 'Keeping Up Appearances'  

Rachel Bell-imdb

Ken Bones

Ken Bones:

A great name for this vaguely familiar skull-headed actor with a mix of doomy gravitas and steely intensity, Ken Bones has appeared in many TV favourites, from 'Doctor Who' and 'Doctors' to portentous religious epics like 'Bible' and 'AD: The Bible Continues'. 

In Jack The Ripper (1988)

Ken Bones in 'Spooks'

Other TV credits include cosy stuff like 'New Tricks', The Inspector Lynley Mysteries', 'Bergerac', 'The Hour', 'Heartbeat' and six different roles in six episodes of 'The Bill'. These are nicely balanced by medium-heavy historicals ranging from 'The Virgin Queen', 'Henry VIII: Mind Of A Tyrant' (in which he plays the theologian Erasmus), and 'Medici: Masters Of Florence' to the Nazi dissenter Otto Strasser in 'Inside The Mind Of Adolf Hitler'. 

In the 50th anniversary episode of 'Doctor Who'

On the big screen, his major appearances were in 'Troy' (2004) and 'Exodus: Gods And Kings' 2014', but he also shows up in 'Bellman And True' (1987), 'Split Second' (1992) and as the 13th landlord in 'The World's End'.  

He seems like a natural for a JK Rowling franchise, but in fact you'll only see him if you visit a thrill ride at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Florida where he appears as Salazar Slitherin in the short 'Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey'.    

Ken Bones-imdb

Avril Elgar

Avril Elgar

†April 1 1932 - Sept 17 2021

A splendidly severe-looking actress, yet impressively versatile, sympathetic and  compelling. Her long career encompasses roles as varied as society ladies and exhausted servants, via a slew of nouveau riche harridans, cruel nurses, shy spinsters and nosy neighbours.     

In 'Ladies Who Do' (1963)

Although Imdb suggests that she is best known for three feature films, 'Room At The Top (1959), 'Betrayal' (1983) and 'Wilde' (1997), her contribution to these is worthy but minimally memorable. Better perhaps to remember her turn in 'Spring And Port Wine' (1969) as Mrs Duckworth next door, or even the slightly strained comedy 'Ladies Who Do' (1963) in which, with fellow City office cleaning ladies Peggy Mount, Miriam Carlin and Dandy Nicholls, she indulges in some lucrative insider dealing. She's also briefly in 'The Medusa Touch' (1978) with a cursed Richard Burton.

The Ken Russell-directed silent movie version of 'Diary Of A Nobody' made for the BBC's 'Monitor' arts programme in 1964, which saw her play Mrs Pooter in a great cast that also included Bryan Pringle, Murray Melvin, Jonathan Cecil and Brian Murphy. It also has a harmonium score by Ivor Cutler.    
       

As Lou Evans in the Nina Bawden adaptation 'Carrie's War'
a major BBC family drama success of 1974.

  

Publicity shot for 'The Three Sisters' with George Cole.

She's a highly respected stage actress with previous at the National Theatre, and a successful and widely publicised 1967 run of Chekhov's 'Three Sisters' at the Royal Court Theatre with Glenda Jackson and Marianne Faithfull. But it's probably in television that she's most familiar. Sitcom fans will immediately spot her as Yootha Joyce's social-climbing sister Ethel in the popular 'Man about The House' spin-off, 'George & Mildred'. She had a slightly similar role in one of Roy Clarke's gentle Northern comedies, 'Rosie', as the young copper's monstrously overbearing mother.  

In George & Mildred' as the social climbing Ethel with wealthy hubby
Humphrey, played by king of the sitcom bosses, the late Reginald Marsh.

Other television includes 'Campion', 'Agatha Christie: Poirot', 'Midsomer Murders', 'A Taste For Death', 'Shoestring', two episodes of 'Tales Of The Unexpected', 'Minder', 'New Tricks' and a good few more. Quite revealing as to her range is the fact that she has appeared in three episodes of 'Doctors' as three very different characters between 2004 and 2011. Sterling work.  

Trivia note: After 20 years, Avril Elgar appeared in 'The Moles', an episode of 'Tales Of The Unexpected', alongside Harry H Corbett, her co-star in the film 'Ladies Who Do'. It was to be his last role and was screened a month after his death in 1982.    

Avril Elgar-imdb

Michael Cochrane

Michael Cochrane:

Another familiar face, equally often seen with a villainous sneer as with a cheerful grin. Michael Cochrane's expressive mouth and narrow eyes, combined with his suave manner, have seen him cast in a range of upper-class roles over the years. Seemingly able to convincingly embody the quick-tempered brooding bully or the likeable silly ass, he has appeared in a long list of popular British TV dramas over the years, from 'The Pallisers' in the early '70s, to its modern counterpart 'Downton Abbey'.          

 

In an episode of the dogfight drama 'Wings' from 1977

After 'The Pallisers', another early success came with the popular WW1 drama 'Wings' following the early days of the Royal Flying Corps, in which he played young officer Charles Gaylion. Throughout the '80s and beyond, he was ubiquitous in quality TV drama such as 'The Life & Times Of David Lloyd George', 'The Citadel', 'The Far Pavilions', 'Nancherrow', and 'Holy Flying Circus' in which he played Malcolm Muggeridge. Cult TV fans will clock him in two 'Doctor Who' stories from the '80s - and Radio 4 stalwarts will know his voice as that of permanently exasperated country gent Oliver Sterling from 'The Archers'.

 

Well played Doctor! As a cricketing aristo congratulating Peter Davison
in the 1982 'Doctor Who' story 'Black Orchid'

More 'Doctor Who'. Proposing to blow Sylveste McCoy's head off
with an elephant gun in the 1989 story 'Ghost Light' 

More lightweight fare includes 'Jonathan Creek', 'Spooks', 'Pie In The Sky' and a briefcase-full of police procedurals, whodunnits and courtroom dramas. The comedy strand is a decently varied collection stretching from 'The Two Ronnies', 'Shelley' and 'To The Manor Born' to 'Keeping Up Appearances', the Ardal O'Hanlon sitcom 'Big Bad World' and even an episode of 'Love Thy Neighbour'.         



As the ever-unpleasant Sir Henry Simmerson in 'Sharpe' 

Movie work has been regular, but there isn't a career-defining role among his appearances in 'Escape To Victory' (1981), 'Return Of The Soldier' (1982) and 'Iron Lady' (2011), or a host of forgettable titles like 'Ascendancy' (1983), 'Real Life'(1984), spy spoof 'Number One Gun' (1991) and the Val Kilmer take on 'The Saint' (1997).

His most recent recognition has come through 'Downton Abbey' in which he plays the enthusiastically Anglican village vicar, Reverend Travis.

Michael Cochrane-imdb

Zienia Merton

Zienia Merton:

† Dec 11 1945 – Sep 14 2018

With her elegant gamine good looks and sophisticated demeanour, Anglo/French/Burmese actress Zienia Merton was cast in a number of 'vaguely exotic' roles in her early days, including the 'Marco Polo' story strand from the William Hartnell-era Doctor Who (now sadly wiped), a Kashmiri girl in 'Tales from Rudyard Kipling', and as the middle-eastern Zeba Hameed in an episode of the 'Strange Report'. On the big screen, she turns up as an Indian priestess in 'Help!' (1965 ), and as Maoist Mata Hari, Ting Ling, in the Gregory Peck spy romp, 'The Most Dangerous Man in the World', aka 'The Chairman' (1969).

    

In 'The Most Dangerous Man in the World' (1969) 

Dennis Potter's (very racy for the time) 'Casanova' in 1971 saw her playing Cristina to a world-weary Frank Finlay's eponymous libertine. Although the screenplay was intended to highlight the sadness, religious guilt and regrets behind his great romantic reputation (it is Dennis Potter, after all), most people, Mary Whitehouse included, tended to remark on the indulgent use of nudity (did I mention Dennis Potter?).      

In 'Casanova', the BBC's most talked-about drama of 1971

However, it was the Gerry Anderson sci-fi drama 'Space: 1999' which ran for two seasons of 48 episodes and gave her international exposure. Playing sensitive officer Sandra Benes, she featured in most of the show's heavy-handed plots, as the Andersons attempted to prove that it wasn't a children's show. Personal melodramas and cod-mystic astro-psychedelia vied for prominence, as the kids waited patiently for some explosions and spaceships. 

Since her Moonbase days, she has been in an interesting mix of mundane and fantasy fare, from 'EastEnders', 'Coronation Street', 'Casualty' and 'The Bill', to 'Hammer House of Mystery & Suspense', 'Dinotopia', 'Wizards vs Aliens' and 'The Sarah Jane Mysteries', which ties in nicely with her early adventures in 'Doctor Who'.       

Zienia Merton officiating at the wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (the late Elizabeth Sladen),
until the Doctor (in this case Tennant) arrives to stop her marrying Nigel Havers      

Zienia Merton-imdb

Diane Keen

Diane Keen: 

Lovely lovely Diane Keen. During the '70s she was a regular presence on television screens, playing attractive women in roles that ranged from the demure to the dubious. Making her debut in the long-lost sci-fi mod pic 'Popdown' (1967) and the ever-present 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush', but she soon graduated out of the miniskirt moppet casting pool and into some more serious productions, including Fay Weldon's Wednesday Play 'Fall Of The Goat', and quality output like 'Budgie', 'Fall of Eagles', and the 1975 series of 'The Legend of Robin Hood (with 'Blake's Seven's Avon, Paul Darrow, as the Sheriff of Nottingham). She was also in the rather exhausting kids' drama 'The Feathered Serpent' as an Aztec queen. She went on to star in wholesome sitcoms like 'Rings On Their Fingers', 'The Cuckoo Waltz' and 'You Must Be The Husband'. As the '70s became the '80s she matured prettily into roles in 'The Shillingbury Tales', 'Ruth Rendell Mysteries', 'Oxbridge Blues' and 'Foxy Lady' before finding a nice regular slot in the long-running 'Doctors'.

In the meantime there were a couple of cinema parts, in the movie of 'Sweeney!' (1977) and 'Silver Dream Racer' (1980), but nothing big. 

One minor hiccup was caused by the generally harmless (it's got Christopher Biggins in it) British soft-core movie 'The Sex Thief' (1974). Never too shy about doing topless scenes, she did a stirling job in this limp effort, which duly slipped into obscurity. Unfortunately, the film was later 'beefed up' by a foreign producer with hard-core scenes spliced in, making Ms Keen's role appear decidedly spicier. It probably only cemented her place as '70s ITV sex-symbol.                         

Diane Keen - imdb profile