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

Peter Elliott

Peter Elliott:

In the David Hughes pseudo-documentary 'Missing Link' (1988)

The go-to guy for gorillas in the British film industry, Peter Elliott is one of the world's most accomplished animal actors, specialising in the movements of apes and ape-like creatures.   




Putting his face on, in 'Buddy' (1997)

And if he's done anything, he's done apes – donning the monkey suit for 'Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes' (1984), Gorillas In The Mist' (1988), 'Congo' (1995), The Island Of Doctor Moreau (1996), Fierce Creatures (1997), and 'King Kong Lives' (1986).

On all fours again, but no fun-fur this time. As one of
the sinister Wheelers in 'Return To Oz' (1985)  

In the days before CGI, this is how you did scenes of utter devastation and carnage.
A man in a gorilla suit treading on a model Lamborghini in 'King Kong Lives' (1986)

He's also been in Red Dwarf as a chimp and he played Bollo the gorilla, from 'The Mighty Boosh' - but only in the episodes set in Dixon Bainbridge's zoo.

The more domesticated Bollo from the later series of 'The Mighty Boosh'
isn't played by Elliott, but by Dave Brown 

Peter Elliott-imdb

Denis Lawson

Denis Lawson:

Compact and suavely handsome in a slightly weasely way, Scottish actor Denis Lawson is a stalwart of British television, but probably known only to the wider world - or the nerdier portion of it - as Wedge Antilles, one of the heroic X-Wing pilots of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy. Extra galactic trivia points are doubtless also accrued by being the uncle of Obi Wan Kenobi, Ewan McGregor. 

As Launcelot Gobbo in the 1973 ITV version of

'The Merchant of Venice'

'Survivors': an episode called 'The Future Hour' from 1975

Up until 'Star Wars' (1977) or whatever they call it now, he had been in an interesting grab-bag of serious drama, typified by the televised version of the NT 'Merchant of Venice' with Laurence Olivier, late night plays like 'Ms Jill or Jack' and 'The Paradise Run', and middle-brow TV hits like 'Survivors', and 'Rock Follies'.



Starring in the DJ sitcom 'The Kit Curran Radio Show'

made by Thames Television in 1984.

The '80s were a bit of a boom time and he appeared in memorable stuff like the quirky time-travel TV play 'The Flipside of Dominick Hyde' and the prescient neo-noir conspiracy crime serial 'Dead Head' as well as getting the starring role in the lightweight sitcom 'The Kit Curran Radio Show'.    

As a jet-setting assassin in 'Bergerac' 

There was also some day-to-day drama and comedy to fill the diary too, 'Boon' and 'Bergerac', 'Robin Hood' and 'Miss Marple', and 'The Good Companions' and 'Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV'. More recently, he had the key role of Jarndyce in the BBC's adaptation of 'Bleak House', as well as major parts in the ghost tale 'Marchlands', 'Criminal Justice' and now 'New Tricks'. I also enjoyed the bleak slapstick of the 'Inside No 9' episode where he played the victim of Shearsmith and Pemberton's hapless art thieves.

Aside from the George Lucas gigs, his film credits include a rare Scottish part in 'Local Hero' (1983) and Jack Rosenthal's clever class vignette, 'The Chain' (1984). He also appears alongside his nephew in 'Perfect Sense' (2011), an example of that under-represented genre, romantic Scottish epidemic-apocalypse sci fi. 

Dennis Lawson-imdb

Patricia Brake

Patricia Brake:

† Jun 25 1942 – May 28 2022

A British perennial with that winning mix of dolly-bird prettiness and an ear for comic dialogue, Patricia Brake might be familiar from the sitcom classic 'Porridge' as Fletcher's daughter Ingrid. She made an impression in one episode for her bra-less visit to Slade Prison, and later when she proves that she is wearing a bra by lifting her top up. She also appeared in the spin-off series 'Going Straight', but despite Barker and Beckinsale's best efforts the magic was noticeably absent.

 

In the forgotten US TV comedy 'The Ugliest Girl in Town'

As a sweet young British actress, she had been cast in the strange 1968 ABC sitcom, 'The Ugliest Girl in Town', the American network's attempt to tap into the swinging London phenomenon with Peter Kastner in drag following a London model over the pond. I don't think it was ever shown in the UK and it has come high in some 'worst TV shows of all time' lists, none of which is the fault of Patricia Brake who is glamorous and fun in it.

 

 

As Ingrid in 'Going Straight' with Ronnie Barker

 Very busy throughout the '60s and '70s, she appeared in dramas ranging from 'Lorna Doone' and 'Nicholas Nickleby' to the now lost David Hemmings serial 'Home Tonight' and 'No Hiding Place'. On the comedy front, she's in some you don't hear much about these days like 'Second Time Around' and 'Forget Me Not', as well as the more memorable; 'A Sharp Intake of Breath', 'Life Begins at Forty', the 1979 reboot of 'The Glums' and the aforementioned 'Porridge' and 'Going Straight'. I'm also intrigued by the sound of 'Mann's Best Friends' from 1985, with an impressive cast that features Fulton McKay, Bernard Bresslaw and Liz Smith, but I can't find anything much out about it.      



As Eth in the 1979 TV revival of the '50s favourite 'The Glums'.

Ian Lavender plays her ever-gormless beloved, Ron 

As the '80s progressed, she moved toward soap opera and potboiler dramas with roles in 'Emmerdale', 'EastEnders' and 'Coronation Street' (as Mike Baldwin's old flame/sister-in-law), also getting one of the main parts in the BBC's shortlived 'Eldorado'. After that, there's the predictable round of 'Midsomer Murders', 'Casualty', 'Holby City', 'Doctors' and 'The Bill', but also 'The Bounder'.

In a 2005 episode of 'Coronation Street' with Johnny Briggs

Movie roles include the oddball Peter Sellers piece 'The Optimists of Nine Elms' (1973) and the wrinkly romance 'Love/Loss' (2010). In  'My Lover My Son' (1970), she played the girlfriend of an unusually timid Dennis Waterman (she seems more comfortable with her fully nude scenes than Dennis does in his y-fronts), who is trying to escape the cloying influence of his mother, played by Romy Schneider. 

 

    

Dennis Waterman needs a bit of encouragement

for a change in 'My Lover My Son' (1970)

Patricia Brake-imdb

Barry Stanton

Barry Stanton:

A classical actor who knows his way around his 'King Lear' and his 'Hamlet' (he plays Claudius in the bizarre Quentin Crisp 1976 version), but also an archetypal 1970s 'big bloke', often playing a plain clothes copper who's a bit handy in a scrap, or the sort of hefty hard-nut who gets up slowly in a pub to show his size, before getting an unlikely duffing-up from a leading man. Barry Stanton appears in a fair bit of TV drama from the late-'60s on, such as 'The Saint', 'Z Cars', 'The Baron', 'Manhunt', 'Survivors',  'The Protectors', 'The Sweeney', 'Minder', and 'The Professionals'. He also turns up in the sadly-lost supernatural drama serial 'Witch Hunt' from 1967, high on many TV collector's list of BBC holy grails.   

As Noma in the 'Doctor Who' story 'The Twin Dilemma'

As Jim Hacker's press officer in 'Yes, Prime Minister'

In more recent years, he has been given less generic TV roles, such as his turns as a Jacondan alien in the first Colin Baker story for Doctor Who', 1984's 'The Twin Dilemma', and as Tory press officer Malcolm Warren in 'Yes, Prime Minister'. There was also the Shakespeare play cycle 'The Wars of the Roses' televised in 1990. 

   

As Claudius in the adventurous 'Hamlet' (1976) which featured Helen
Mirren as both Gertrude and Ophelia, and Quentin Crisp as Polonius 

'Demons Of The Mind (1972)

Film roles are also more varied: aside from 'Sweeney 2' (1978), there was Hammer horror 'Demons Of The Mind' (1972), 'Leon the Pig Farmer' (1993) and 'Robin Hood' (1991) - not the Kevin Costner 'Prince of Thieves' one from that year, another one starring Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman. He's in the Jackie Chan kung-fu in Victorian England romp, Shanghai Knights (2003), and portrays the playwright/MP Sheridan in 'The Madness of King George' (1994).

As the Lord Chancellor in, 'Shanghai Knights' (2003)

A rare leading role came in the Roy Clarke sitcom 'Mann's Best Friends' in which he appeared with the likes of Fulton McKay, Patricia Brake, and Bernard Bresslaw. Sadly, it seems to have disappeared without a trace. He's also the splendidly over-acting postman who delivers the vampire Alexei Sayle in the 'Young Ones' episode 'Nasty'. 

As miserly boss Mr Grayson in 'Tucker's Luck' 

Barry Stanton-imdb

Zara Nutley

Zara Nutley:

† Aug 19 1924 – Oct 9 2016

It's unfortunate in a way that this actress is best known for two of British televisions least lamented '70s sitcoms. She played the imperious and disparaging Miss Courtney in 'Mind Your Language', and the curious figure of Aunt Joan in 'Never The Twain'. Other roles include the Widow Attacliffe in an episode of 'Last of the Summer Wine', and one-offs in 'Grange Hill', 'Lovejoy', 'Terry & June' and 'Metal Mickey'.

The highly unflattering depiction of Zara Nutley from the opening
titles of the noticeably unreconstructed sitcom 'Mind Your Language'.

Hints of something better include roles in 'Within These Walls', 'Tales of the Unexpected', Victoria Wood's television shows - VW almost always has a good eye for actors - and an early part in Jack Rosenthal's 'Spaghetti Two Step' when it was televised by Yorkshire TV in 1977.

She certainly deserves a salute.      

Zara Nutley-imdb

Robert Putt



Robert Putt:

Very distinctive moon-faced character actor who flits occasionally across our screens, having progressed from non-speaking extra and minor roles. He's racked up an impressive list of TV programmes from 'The Sweeney' and 'The Professionals' to 'The Monocled Mutineer', 'Martin Chuzzlewit' and 'Our Friends In The North'. He's also blown bubbles at The Rutles in 'All You Need Is Cash' and chased a nun around Holby General with his flies undone.    



In an episode of 'The Professionals' 

Some other memorable appearances include playing East End killer Mad Danny Durbridge opposite Steve Pemberton in the oddball detective show 'Whitechapel' and the bloke who keeps a cricket ball down his pants - to hold his hernia in check - in 'Doc Martin'.   

In 'Ruby In The Smoke'

Inadvertently striking the exact mid point between John Bluthal and
David Lodge, in the Enid Blyton children's series 'Castle of Adventure'

The big screen has beckoned for roles in Mike Leigh's 'Naked' (1993) and 'Vera Drake' (2004), as well as 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1984), 'A Fish Called Wanda' (1988), and such varied fare as the movie of 'Porridge' (1979), 'Hawk The Slayer' (1980), 'Mike Bassett: England Manager' (2001) and our old favourite 'Confessions of a Driving Instructor' (1976). A classic all-rounder.   

Reading Imelda Staunton her rights in 'Vera Drake' (2004)

Robert Putt-imdb