David Wood

 

David Wood:

David Wood's innocent schoolboy looks, deployed so notably in Lindsay Anderson's remarkable 'If..' (1968), have stayed with him for his whole career. Which certainly isn't to say that he has been typecast, with an amazingly broad range of roles under his belt that show him hopping nimbly from outright menace to disarming sweetness with apparent ease.
  

With Malcolm McDowell in 'If..' (1968)

 In fact, it's in the field of children's drama and literature that he has made his most lasting impression: writing his own play for children, 'The Gingerbread Man', which he later adapted for television, and adapting a number of classic children's books for the stage. He proved a gifted storyteller on the much-loved BBC institution 'Jackanory' for  many years, and can be seen in episodes of schools programmes such as 'Watch' and 'Seeing & Doing' as well as tots' shows like 'Playaway'. He's also in the well-made children's serial, 'Huntingtower' from the late '70s.

Alongside Bernard Cribbins, Maurice Denham and
Jan Francis for 'Jackanory's' take on 'The Hobbit'.

While all this wholesome fare very much suited the David Wood who would later come to be dubbed Britain's Children's Dramatist, the darker side of '70s television drama also proved to be in search of his talents. He can be seen in the the Wednesday Play 'Mad Jack' about Siegfried Sassoon and the horrors of the trenches, in the feverish adventures of the Pre-Raphaelites in 'The Love School', and he's in episodes of those cult-favourite collections of the uncanny: 'Out Of The Unknown' and 'Menace'.  

 

With Ann Morrish and Patrick Troughton in
the 'Out Of The Unknown' episode 'The Chopper'

 On the movie front, David Wood crops up in a few interesting titles, starting with the aforementioned 'If..' (1968), and including the psychological portmanteau horror 'Tales That Witness Madness' (1973) with Donald Pleasance, Robert Powell and Joan Collins. He's reunited with Malcolm McDowell in the 'Journey's End' adaptation, 'Aces High' (1976), and plays one of the baddies in 'North Sea Hijack' (1980) pitted against a bearded Roger Moore, throwing the kitchen sink at escaping his Bond persona with more bizarre quirks than he can realistically manage to pull off.          

 'Tales That Witness Madness' (1973)

In the First World War flying movie, 'Aces High' (1976)

There's a smattering of period dramas, including Turgenev's 'Fathers And Sons' and Goldoni's 'The Venetian Twins' from the BBC, and the ambitious but slightly awkward 'Disraeli' with Ian McShane. He's in some old sepia-toned TV favourites such as 'Danger UXB', 'Enemy At The Door', and 'When The Boat Comes In'. A memorable moment for me is his tap-dancing martial arts duel with Purdey in 'The New Avengers', one of the few times when the series approached the surreal heights of its '60s ancestor.

In the ATV historical drama 'Disraeli' in which he portrayed
Lord Derby. Here with Ian McShane in the title role.

 His last listed performing role was in the star-studded TV movie 'Longitude' in 2000, but David Wood is still seemingly busy with his work in children's drama, adapting Roald Dahl and other writers for the stage, publishing plays and books, and lecturing school drama classes. An engaging actor and a dedicated educator, deserving of this little salute and more.   

David Wood-imdb

Vivian Pickles

 

Vivian Pickles: 

You may well say that here I am pushing the premise of 'Familiar Unknown' a little too far. After all, Vivian Pickles is something of a grand dame of the theatre and has worked with many of the greatest actors and directors of her generation, and yet I feel she is not so well known to recent generations as, say, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench or Vanessa Redgrave, and still able to sneak in under the radar in some rather surprising TV roles.

In the 1964 'Avengers' episode 'The Charmers'

Vivian Kay Pickles was a child actor in the late '40s, trained at the Aida Foster Drama School and began her adult career on the repertory stage of the fifties alongside a number of illustrious stars of the era. This was the time of the 'angry young man' and 'kitchen sink' in British drama and she was a hit in new plays by the likes of Willis Hall and John Osborne. As an attractive and talented young actress, it's unsurprising that she appeared in some of the new and popular programmes of the '60s: drama serials 'Emergency Ward-10', Harpers West One', 'Z-Cars' and the Honor Blackman-era 'Avengers' episode 'The Charmers'.

As the doomed artistic free-spirit Isadora Duncan
in Ken Russell's acclaimed 'Isadora' (1966)

A big break comes with the Ken Russell-directed 'Isadora' a remarkable tour-de-force biopic in stark monochrome which boosted her career and that of Russell who was afterward propelled beyond the realm of BBC shorts and into the art-cinema boom of the '70s. For the actress, now in her mid-thirties, it heralded a purple patch of quality roles, beginning with her casting as Mrs Bennett in the BBC's admired 1967 adaptation of 'Pride And Prejudice', and leading to a brief arc of interesting cinema parts: she's in 'Play Dirty' (1969) - a war story penned by her BBC Arts connection Melvyn Bragg - before 'The Looking Glass War' (1970), 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' (1971), 'Nicholas & Alexandra' (1971), and 'O Lucky Man!' (1973).         

A bravura turn as Harold's exasperated mother in the 
cult classic 'Harold And Maude' (1971)

It was also during this period that she made her only appearance in a Hollywood movie, Hal Ashby's 'Harold And Maude' (1971) in which she plays the remote and bewildered mother of the troubled Harold (Bud Cort). Although not a big grossing success at the time, the film is now considered a cult classic. 

As Mary Queen Of Scots in 'Elizabeth R'

     

Her television presence also peaked during these years, with solid drama including 'Vile Bodies', 'The Great Inimitable Mr Dickens' and the high profile 'Elizabeth R' in which her Mary Queen Of Scots squared up fatally to Glenda Jackson's terrifying virgin queen. It's here though that her profile begins to lower a little, at least as far as film and television are concerned.
       

As the vain Lady Montdore in 'Love In A Cold Climate'

Bertie's redoubtable Aunt Dahlia in 'Jeeves & Wooster'

From the middle-'70s we see Vivian Pickles in such varied TV output as 'Love In A Cold Climate', 'Rebecca', and the excellent 'Velvet Glove' episode about Marie Stopes, while largely steering clear of the primetime potboilers other than 'Bergerac' and 'Midsomer Murders'. Big screen parts, meanwhile are limited to the Disney romp 'Candleshoe' (1977) with David Niven and Jodie Foster and, by way of contrast, the chaotic satire 'Britannia Hospital' (1982).  

As a sidenote, she was a very prolific story reader on 'Jackanory' which I always consider a badge of honour, and turns up as a fun bag-lady in the Brixton barbershop comedy 'Desmonds'. She was also my favourite of the actresses that portrayed Aunt Dahlia in 'Jeeves & Wooster'.   

[Edit: Nov 2025. I previously repeated an IMDB claim that Vivian Pickles was related to various other illustrious persons named Pickles, but am informed that this is not the case.]  

Vivian Pickles-imdb

Lee Montague

Lee Montague:

† Oct 16 1927 – March 30 2025

The faintly mysterious and baleful good looks of veteran actor Lee Montague did net him a couple of leading man roles but his long career is mostly one of solid supporting performances. He was born in London, from a liberal Jewish background, but in the days before political correctness (perhaps calling it cultural respect would make it less of a Daily Mail bugbear – probably not) he was often cast in 'more exotic' roles. From a number of Japanese officers, as in 'Camp On Blood Island' (1958), or in TV's 'The Baron', to a string of Spaniards, Russians, Greeks, Mexicans, Chinese and points between.

The inscrutable face of the Orient in 'The Baron'

The golden age of British TV in the '60s gave him plenty of work, including 'Danger Man', 'The Baron', and 'Department S', alongside lots of Wednesday plays and weightier series. In the '70s and '80s he crops up in 'Quiller', 'The Sweeney', 'Jesus of Nazareth' (as the prophet Habbukuk), and 'Space 1999'. He was also the star of the not-much-remembered ITV football comedy 'Feet First'.             

In 'How I Won The War' (1967).

As the composer's father in 'Mahler' (1974)

In the cinema, he appears in a string of '50s and '60s war pics, including: 'Silent Enemy' (1958), 'Foxhole in Cairo' (1960), and the Richard Lester satire 'How I Won the War' (1967), memorably teaching army drill to John Lennon, Roy Kinnear and Ronald Lacey. Other movie jobs include 'Moulin Rouge' (1952), 'Billy Budd' (1962),  'Mahler' (1974), 'The Best Pair of Legs in the Business' (1975), and 'Silver Dream Racer' (1980).

Trivia: (Yes, I know it's all trivia.) He was the very first storyteller on the BBC's long-running children's programme 'Jackanory'.             


Lee Montague - imdb

Bernard Holley

Bernard Holley: 

† Aug 9 1940 – Nov 22 2021

Here's another very familiar face - one of the stalwarts of British television - although perhaps he never quite had the spark of charisma or flashy acting chops to get to leading man status, despite his good looks and reassuring voice. His television appearances stretch back to the '60s and include 'Z Cars' and 'Doctor Who' ('Tomb Of The Cybermen' and 'Claws Of Axos'). He was also in 'Please Sir!' after John Alderton left in 1972, as well as 'The Tripods', 'Birds of a Feather','The Gentle Touch', 'A Touch of Frost', and lots of cops and nurses potboiler stuff like 'Casualty', 'The Bill', 'Doctors' and 'Holby City'.

In a late episode of 'Please Sir!'

His readings of the 'Johnny Briggs' stories on 
'Jackanory' helped sell many copies of the books  

I particularly remember him reading the Johnny Briggs stories on 'Jackanory' and was surprised to find that he wan't a northerner, but hails from Middlesex. (That's what we call acting, dear boy.)

In 'Elizabeth R', the acclaimed BBC historical
dram starring Glenda Jackson 

He's got a few clips up on his own YouTube channel, which is here. But I particularly like this one.

Bernard Holley - imdb profile