Diane Fletcher

 

Diane Fletcher:

Diane Fletcher's first feature film was Roman Polanski's 'Macbeth' (1970), in which she appears in the brief but pivotal role of Lady Macduff. By that time she had already been in an episode of 'Boy Meets Girl' (great theme tune), and perhaps more importantly, played Lady Blakeney in 'The Elusive Pimpernel', and Queen Isabella in the BBC's production of 'Edward II' with a young Ian McKellen. Which all suggests that she came out of RADA in '66 already invested with much of the imperious manner that became something of a hallmark of later roles.     

Fairly Secret Army

She was fantastic as Nancy in 'Fairly Secret Army' as the surprising love interest of Geoffrey Palmer's hapless reactionary, as well as being seen in 'Inspector Morse', 'Agatha Christie's Poirot', 'Within These Walls', 'Midsomer Murders' and appearing in 'Coronation Street' as Derek's first wife, much to the consternation of Mavis. To these we might add 'The Irish RM', 'The Borgias' and the Robert Hardy-starring 'Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years'

With Jonathan Pryce in 'Roger Doesn't Live Here Anymore'
a quality, but rather laugh-free, effort by John Fortune 

One of her other defining roles was as the wife of cunning Tory politician Francis Urquhart in Michael Dobbs 'House of Cards' and its two sequels 'To Play the King' and 'The Final Cut'. 

In the Poirot episode 'Death On The Links'

In the BBC televised theatrical performance of
'The Tragedy of  Macbeth' screened in 2023 

And in a rather nice bit of synchronicity harking back to Polanski's movie, she also features in the refreshingly staged 2023 BBC production of 'The Tragedy of Macbeth' as one of the wyrd sisters.    

Diane Fletcher- imdb

Brian Gwaspari

Brian Gwaspari: 

Wiry, resolute sort of character actor, swerving equally expertly through some of the better action thrillers and comedies of the '70s and '80s, Londoner Brian Gwaspari is a more familiar face than he is a name. Getting an initial TV break in the bedsit 1974 drama serial 'Rooms', he soon started to crop up in popular shows such as 'The Sweeney', 'Van der Valk', 'The Professionals', 'Hazell' and 'The Gentle Touch'. He hit the big screen, in a comparatively small way, in 'The Spy Who Loved Me' (1977) and 'A Bridge Too Far' (1977) and was in a European-set episode of the American TV series 'Remington Steele' with Pierce Brosnan.     

After all that burning rubber and gunplay, the '80s saw a bit more comedy and light-hearted material. He had a stint as a copper investigating Roy's car-lot fire on 'EastEnders', and can be spotted in 'Ever Decreasing Circles', 'Help!', 'Roll Over Beethoven', 'No Frills' (a short lived sitcom with Kathy Staff reprising a sort of Nora Batty role in yuppy London), 'Hi De Hi', 'Yes, Prime Minister', and 'Joint Account', surely one of the beige-est sitcoms ever, about a female bank manager - whatever next?    

'Sweeney 2' (1978)

And an episode of The Professionals

Into the '90s and '00s and we've got a dusting of cosy crime sneaking into the mix: 'Wycliffe' and 'Poirot' for example, and a few more sitcoms, such as the Gwen Taylor vehicle, 'Screaming', 'The Brittas Empire' and 'Waiting for God'. On the cop show front, we can see him in 'The Chief' with Tim Piggot-Smith, and the oddball, largely-misfiring 'Virtual Murder' a character-actor-studded 1992 effort that might have attained some cult status if not let down by its dreary low budget feel.    

The Brittas Empire

More recently, there's the short 'Raspberry Ripple' (2007), followed by a single episode of 'Doctors' and a 'Midsomer Murders' in 2010. He's about 75 at time of writing, so hopefully he may pop up again somewhere unless he's got out of the business. In any case, a great supporting actor.          

Brian Gwaspari - imdb

Haydn Gwynne

Haydn Gwynne:

† March 21 1957 - October 20 2023

Edit, Oct 26 2023: I'm saddened to hear of the death of Haydn Gwynne, which has come while this salute was in preparation. I try to stick to actors who are still with us, but make an exception here 
 
Smart and classy roles have been the mainstay of Haydn Gwynne's acting career, utilising her rather forbidding aura of upper middle class confidence, feminine strength and intellect. Early roles in the '80s and '90s include 'Lovejoy', 'Poirot', and 'Kavanagh QC'. She then matured into some substantial parts, including 'Peak Practice', Calpurnia in the HBO series 'Rome', and cosy crime stuff like 'Lewis', 'Father Brown', and  'Midsomer Murders' as well as more contemporary/gritty stuff like 'Silent Witness', 'Ripper Street' and 'Sherlock'.       

As ruthlessly critical mum-in-law Joan in 'Uncle' 

TV comedy includes astute journo Alex in 'Drop The Dead Donkey', as well as 'A Very Peculiar Practice', 'Uncle', and playing Camilla to Harry Enfield's Charles in 'The Windsors'. 

In the 'Agatha Christie: Poirot' story 'The Third Girl'

Films include 'Car Trouble' (1986), 'The Pleasure Principle' (1992) with Peter Firth, and more recently, the much vaunted live-action 'Beauty & The Beast' (2017) with Emma Watson.

Haydn Gwynne - imdb

Granville Saxton

Granville Saxton: 

Gaunt and hawk-like character actor Granville Saxton has turned his hand successfully to comedy and drama since the mid-70s. He appeared in several of the ensuing decades' most popular series, though never really grabbing a solidly memorable role in any. You might possibly recognise him from the not-much-loved 1979 BBC version of 'The Old Curiosity Shop' in which he plays Dick Swiveller, or from the kids TV drama 'The Feathered Serpent', a wordy, studio-bound tale of Mesoamerican temple intrigue that sent kids running outside to play in 1978.                

His 1975 TV debut in the Brian Clemens 'Thriller' episode 'Kill Two Birds' 

As Xipec in the exhausting kids drama series 'The Feathered Serpent'

He pops up in a modest way in some quality series during the '80s and '90s, including 'Poirot', 'Charters & Caldicott, 'Our Friends In The North', and 'Shine On Harvey Moon'. Also, there's some variable comedy fare, ranging from 'The Comic Strip Presents' and the mildly diverting 'If You See God, Tell Him' to playing sketch characters in Jimmy Cricket's 'And There's More'.  One intriguing role was as the sinister Mr Fowl in the grimly satirical school comedy 'Hardwicke House' which seemed to aim for the triangular midpoint between 'Grange Hill', The Young Ones' and 'Britannia Hospital' (1982), but fell somewhat short, resulting in a sort of hyperactive, traumatised version of 'Please Sir'. Even a cast including the late great Roy Kinnear and Familiar Unknown favourites Tony Haygarth and Roger Sloman could save it from being axed after only two episodes.      

As Mr Fowl, brushing up on his classroom technique in 'Hardwicke House' 

The cast of 'Hardwicke House', Granville Saxton to rear,
behind the great Roy Kinnear. 

He's also a Harry Dean Stanton-esque Death Eater in parts I and II of 'Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows' (2010/2011), which I suppose is where more people have seen him than in any other role. Here's to many more like it.

Suited for the wizarding world. 

 Granville Saxton-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

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

John Castle

John Castle:

A serious actor, strikingly handsome in a sullen way, looking rather like a cross between Derek Jacobi and Oliver Reed. Trained at RADA, he hit the acting scene with a modest bang, securing early appearances in 'Blow Up' (1966), 'The Lion in Winter' (1968), and the most talked-about TV show of the day, 'The Prisoner', though he didn't seem to quite grab the public imagination like some of his illustrious young contemporaries. He played Caesar in Charlton Heston's unloved film version of 'Antony & Cleopatra' (1972) and the Duke in 'The Man of La Mancha' (1972), but then things seemed to go a little bit quiet.  

As Number 12 in 'The Prisoner' episode 'The General'

At the circus with Charlton Heston in 'Antony & Cleopatra' (1972)

There was a certain amount of television drama in the late '60s and early '70s, such as Johnny Speight's 'If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have to Invent Them' and a sprinkling of one-offs like 'ITV Sunday Night Theatre', and 'The Wednesday Play'. His next high profile role was as Postumus in the BBC's toga-ripper 'I, Claudius', which seemed to kick-start another spate of varyingly prestigious work. There are quite a few costume dramas and period pieces, which seem to suit his austere, brooding presence, such as 'The Fight Against Slavery', 'King John', 'Lillie', 'Penmarric' and a Jeremy Brett 'Sherlock Holmes'. He also plays Teddy, the destructive love-interest in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' with Geraldine McEwan. There were also a few action and police jobs like 'Strangers', 'The New Avengers', 'Softly, Softly' and 'The Professionals'. Not much in the way of comedy.

In the BBC's 2013 Christmas ghost story, MR James's "The Tractate Middoth'

The '80s and beyond have seen more of the same on TV, with the emphasis on providing some slightly sinister class to cosy crimes, ho-hum hospitals and political potboilers. Less cosy, perhaps, was the unenviable job of portraying racist historian David Irving in 'The Holocaust on Trial'. The big screen has also not been as forthcoming with good parts as one might hope, offering only the likes of 'RoboCop 3' (1995), Finnish mid-ocean thriller 'Merisairas' (1996), the Richard Gere Old Testament epic, 'King David (1985) and a few others.   

He is, however, in the excellent Mark Gatiss adaptation of the MR James ghost story, 'The Tractate Middoth', which is where I was reminded of his great presence and ability. 

Salvte. 

John Castle - imdb

Selina Cadell

Selina Cadell:

The sister of the late Simon Cadell, who played the endearingly shy and anxious Mr Fairbrother in 'Hi-De-Hi!', Selina Cadell has similarly made a number of popular comedy roles her own. Most recently, she has been playing the infatuated pharmacist Mrs Tishell in 'Doc Martin', constantly mooning over Martin Clunes' insensitive doctor.     

As the lovelorn Mrs Tishell in 'Doc Martin'

Other comedy roles include: 'French & Saunders', 'Victoria Wood', 'This Is David Lander', 'Birds of a Feather', 'A Bit of Fry & Laurie', 'Jeeves & Wooster', 'Bremner Bird & Fortune', 'The Catherine Tate Show' and a leading role in the curious laboratory sitcom 'Lab Rats'. She seems also to have been much in demand for kids' shows in the '80s and '90s, cropping up in 'Just William', 'Bodger & Badger' (as the nice hippy teacher Miss Moon), 'T-Bag', and 'The World of Peter Rabbit'.  

Brother and fellow actor Simon Cadell, who sadly died in 1993.  

In 'Prick Up Your Ears' (1987) pictured with her
fellow outraged librarian, played by Charles McKeown

Light television drama is another of her strengths, as evidenced by roles in 'Lovejoy', 'Miss Marple', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Jonathan Creek', 'Kavanagh QC', etc. She has also appeared in quite a few feature films, including 'Prick Up Your Ears' (1987), 'Mrs Caldicott's Cabbage War' (2002), Clint Eastwood's 'Hereafter' (2010), the Vanessa Redgrave film version of 'Mrs Dalloway' (1997), and a couple of Martin Freeman's less well-regarded films, 'Confetti' (2006) and "Nativity!' (2009).

BBC publicity shot for 'Lab Rats'

Trivia: From a theatrical family, she is also the cousin of actor Guy Siner, Lieutenant Gruber from 'Allo Allo', and she's apparently best pals with Sigourney Weaver.  

Selina Cadell - imdb

Pauline Moran

Pauline Moran:

As far as I can ascertain, Pauline Moran is only now about to appear in her first big screen role, in Alan Rickman's period drama, 'A Little Chaos'. As well as directing, Rickman appears as Louis XIV and Kate Winslet plays Versailles landscape architect Madame Sabine De Barra. I don't know what part the most excellent Pauline Moran will play but, after a long career in television, it seems overdue.    

As the estimable Miss Lemon in an episode of 'Poirot'

Best known as Hercule Poirot's resourceful and efficient secretary, Miss Lemon, in 32 episodes of the long-running series of dramatisations starring David Suchet, she has given the part a lot more sassiness than Agatha Christie wrote into the rather severe and spinsterish character. Which isn't to say that there isn't a touch of severity about Ms Moran's attractive features. Her austere good looks have graced such roles as the memorable Cleopatra Berenike in the slightly hysterical 1983 BBC series 'The Cleopatras', while other famous actors made poor headway against the tide of comical costumes and novel video tricks.  

A first glimpse of 'The Lady In Black'

In the 1981 version of Ford Madox Ford's 'The Good Soldier'

She was cast as the disquieting spectre in the 1989 TV version of 'The Lady In Black', but also as the frail and vulnerable Maisie Maiden, deceived by the suave Jeremy Brett in the Edwardian period drama 'The Good Soldier'. Other appearances include 'Nicholas Nickleby' (the 1977 Nigel Havers one), DH Lawrence's 'The Trespasser',  and an episode of Jim Henson's 'The Storyteller' that saw her play the kindly queen to evil king Philip Jackson, later to be Poirot's Scotland Yard connection, Inspector Japp.      

A year before her Poirot debut, with Philip Jackson in 'The Storyteller' 

Trivia: In her early twenties she was the bass player in the all-girl rock group She Trinity (sometimes known in Europe as British Maid, or later, Gilded Cage), and nowadays she is also a professional astrologer. Get your own personal chart from her here.  

With all-girl rock group
 She Trinity in the late '60s.

Rebranded as Gilded Cage, as in 'I'm Only A Bird In A...' 

Pauline Moran - imdb

Terrence Hardiman

Terrence Hardiman: 
† April 6 1937 - May 8 2023

Steely-eyed, cadaverous, Christopher Lee type. He was memorable looming out of TV screens as Abbot Radulfus in 'Cadfael', and has appeared in 'The Demon Headmaster', 'Poirot' and 'Secret Army'. Rather less fearsomely, he took the classic comic role of Mr Pooter in the 1979 television version of 'Diary of a Nobody', with Sheila Steafel as his long-suffering wife. He was also in the 2010 'Doctor Who' episode 'The Beast Below', the one with the horrible Smilers.

In fact, there seems to be hardly a TV genre that he hasn't conquered. Drama: in 'Colditz', 'When The Boat Comes In', 'Prime Suspect 3', and 'Hannay'. Comedy: in 'Home to Roost', 'Surgical Spirit' and the Dickens pastiche 'The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff'. And a fair bit of kids' TV: 'Chucklevision', 'The Worst Witch', and 'Magic Grandad'.

In an episode of 'Colditz'

'No more questions, m'lud.' In a 1975 episode of 'Crown Court'

I don't remember 'Skorpion', a well-received BBC terrorist thriller series from 1983 that he starred in, but which seems to have been consigned to the corporation's deeper basements. A pity, as it sounds pretty good.

As Abbot Radulfus in 'Cadfael'

In full 'Dr No' mode as 'The Demon Headmaster'

He crops up in a few feature films; 'Pope Joan' (1972), 'Running Scared' (1972), and as Ramsay MacDonald in 'Gandhi' (1980) and Thomas Cromwell in the Tudor thriller 'God's Outlaw' (1986).


Terrence Hardiman - imdb