Nicholas McArdle

Nicholas McArdle:

As a regularly recurring sight on the TV screens of the UK during the '70s-'90s, Nicholas McArdle's trademark drooping moustache and bald pate are so much more familiar than his name. His perennially middle-aged image has been lent to roles as politicians, council functionaries and dignitaries, accountants, army officers and a vast swathe of policemen of every rank from cloddish constable to chief inspector. See, for example, various coppers in 'Z-Cars', 'Crown Court', 'The Sweeney', 'The Professionals', 'Taggart' and 'Softly, Softly Task Force'.        

In 'The Sweeney' episode 'Hearts and Minds'

In the last series of  'It Aint Half Hot Mum'

It hasn't all been flashing lights and blue serge drama though. He is an accomplished comedy actor, with sitcom appearances in the likes of 'Happy Ever After' and 'Terry & June', 'To The Manor Born', 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum', 'No Place Like Home', 'Are You Being Served?', 'Butterflies', 'Time Of My Life' and 'Citizen Smith' - although he was actually playing a policemen in the last three of those. He also crops up in various comedians' light entertainment shows: see 'Kelly Monteith', 'The Mike Reid Show', 'Marty Amok', and 'The Howerd Confessions'. 

'Porridge' (1979) giving Mr McKay a hard time in the movie version

In the cinema, his name has appeared in the lower credits for movies such as 'Porridge' (1979), 'Dance With A Stranger' (1985), 'Sir Henry At Rawlinson End' (1980), and the sex comedy 'Can You Keep It Up For A Week?' (1975) - not as saucy as it sounds, it's about an accident-prone young chap trying to keep a job for seven days so that he can get married. Valerie Leon and Richard O'Sullivan also feature.     

 

'Can You Keep It Up For A Week?' (1975)

Fans of cult TV may recall seeing him in the 1978 'Doctor Who' adventure 'The Stones Of Blood'. He is also in the anthology chiller series 'The Supernatural', the sci fi drama 'The Flipside Of Dominick Hyde' and both 'The Goodies' and its forgotten 1968 forerunner 'Broaden Your Mind'. 

Does a lot of voiceover work these days. Check out the commercial sound clips at this site for a hint of his range.  


Nicholas McArdle-imdb

John Quentin

John Quentin:

Biographical details seem hard to pin down, but surely this lofty, upper crust actor was born to play effete aristocratic roles. One can hardly see him as a horny-handed son of the soil. As a young man he was often cast as the insufferable snob or floppy haired aesthete, while more recent roles have seen him as the eminent or sinister civil servant. Sadly, perhaps, I suspect he would be easiest called to mind by one phrase; 'Sheer nectar, Jeeves'  from the Croft Original sherry ads of the '80s, but in fact his career has been fairly distinguished.

Television titbits include the excellent '70s Dorothy L Sayers adaptation 'The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club', 'Blakes 7', 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum', 'Colditz' and the blue-screen '80s kids show 'The Return of The Antelope'. Movie appearances take in the Karel Reisz/Melvyn Bragg biopic 'Isadora' (1968), 'Man At The Top' (1973), 'Gandhi' (1982), 'A Handful Of Dust' (1988), and the Sean Connery terrorist thriller 'Ransom' (1974).

This is a little gem, though: 'The Waterloo Bridge Handicap' (1978) 

John Quentin - imdb profile