David Calder

David Calder:

Super-familiar, classically-trained, all-purpose character actor, perhaps bearing a resemblance to the late Iain Cuthbertson. You might have seen him - in fact it would have been hard to avoid him - in a raft of popular light-middleweight cop and spy dramas over the last four decades. Consider the likes of 'Bergerac', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Dalziel & Pascoe', 'Spooks', 'Heartbeat', 'Boon', 'Widows', 'Widows 2', 'New Tricks', etc, and perhaps better stuff such as 'Cracker', 'Waking The Dead', the oddball sci-fi drama 'Utopia', and the 1981 precursor to the Alan Plater's Beiderbecke trilogy, 'Get Lost', with Alun Armstrong.      

He also had the lead role in the late-'80s sci-fi serial 'Star Cops' which has become a minor cult phenomenon in some corners of the internet, although it failed to catch on with a wider audience. He's never done a 'Doctor Who' though, something of a rarity for these pages.

On the cover of the Radio Times in the guise of Nathan Spring
from the 1987 sci fi series 'Star Cops'  

Other fertile areas include period drama, with appearances in 'Bramwell', 'Mr Selfridge', 'Houdini' (as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), 'The Mayor Of Casterbridge', 'Beethoven', 'Miss Marple', the recent 'Father Brown Mysteries' and commanding the ill fated liner in the 2012 TV mini-series 'Titanic'.   

In 'Hitler: The Rise Of Evil (2003)

As a TV comedy fan, you might have spotted him in the supermarket-set 'Trollied' or in the Greg Davies vehicle 'Cuckoo', or perhaps 'The New Statesman' or 'The Wrong Mans', but that seems like a minor section of his CV.

In 'Waking The Dead: Cold Fusion II'

On the big screen he has some mildly impressive credits, such as 'The World Is Not Enough' (1999), 'Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer' (2006), 'The Lady In The Van' (2015), and the Chinese addition to the Mummy franchise, 'The Mummy: Tomb Of The Emperor' (2008). He's also in the Hunt-Lauda F1 movie 'Rush' (2013). But, despite what imdb seems to claim, I'm pretty sure it's not him in the little-known US gay exploitation flick 'The Meat Rack' (1970)... 

A typical role, tweeded up in 'Midsomer Murders'

By way of consolation, here he is brazenly impersonating a Crime Prevention Officer in a Public Information Film, using an intermittent all-purpose reassuring Northern accent.

David Calder-imdb

George Costigan

George Costigan:


With a winning smile, tempered by a knack for portraying sarcasm and sleaziness, character actor George Costigan has a huge body of interesting work stretching back to the mid-'70s.

As the sinister Mr Kemp in an episode of the excellent Granada series
 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' starring Jeremy Brett 

As 'Philip the Bastard' in the 1984 TV version of 'King John'. A dispute over inheritance is
judged by the king (Leonard Rossiter). His half brother (Edward Hibbert, right) loses out. 

A favourite for me might be his cheerfully caustic copper from Alan Plater's 'The Biederbecke Connection', and he sticks in the mind as the randy lead in the (now probably unwatchable) 'Rita Sue and Bob Too', that jolly comedy look at grooming impressionable teenagers for sex.  

Different times indeed. With Michelle Holmes and Siobhan Finneran in the
Bradford-based schoolgirl sex comedy 'Rita Sue & Bob Too' (1987).   

He has also enjoyed a longish run in several shows including 'Emmerdale', 'Happy Valley', 'Holby City' and 'City Central'. Police roles have been usefully forthcoming, in the likes of 'Ruth Rendell Mysteries', 'The Long Firm' and 'See No Evil: The Moors Murderers'. Other popular primetimers have included 'Hetty Wainthrop Investigates', 'Bergerac', 'Inspector Morse', 2nd-generation 'Minder', Tennant-era 'Doctor Who', and dear old 'Midsomer Murders'. He's also in the movie 'Calendar Girls' (2003) as Penelope Wilton's husband Eddie. 

In the Christmas Day episode of 'Doctor Who' from 2007,
'Voyage Of The Damned' as Max Capricorn

Comedy has included 'The Riff Raff Element', 'Coogan's Run', 'Murder Most Horrid' and the rather antiquated ghost comedy, 'So Haunt Me', in which he played the harassed dad of a family pestered by Miriam Karlin as a spectral Jewish grandmother.
 

With Sean Scanlon, as the cynically comedic coppers on an
overtime-generating stake out in 'The Beiderbecke Connection'  

George Costigan-imdb

Edward Kelsey

Edward Kelsey:

† Jun 4 1930 – Apr 23 2019

The voice of the rascally Joe Grundy on the BBC Radio 4 serial 'The Archers', Edward Kelsey is a stalwart actor with a list of TV and film credits stretching back to the late '50s. He appeared in several of those timeless series which we now like to call 'cult', including both 'The Avengers' and its '70s rehash 'The New Avengers', as well as 'Colditz', 'Doomwatch', 'The Saint', 'The Tripods' and three different Dr Who stories; the Hartnell-era 'Slave Traders', 'The Power Of The Daleks' with Patrick Troughton, and alongside Tom Baker in 'The Creature From The Pit'.         

 Colonel K in 'Danger Mouse'

A popular voice actor, he is also known for providing the bluster of Danger Mouse's boss Colonel K and his arch enemy Baron Greenback, and creating a pastiche of his own Joe Grundy role as Mr Growbag in the Wallace & Gromit film, 'The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit'. Other animations to benefit from his low growl include 'The Wind In The Willows', 'The Reluctant Dragon' and the Terry Pratchett-penned 'Truckers'.      

In an early (1962) episode of 'The Avengers'

In an episode of the Peter Davison cosy crime
favourite, 'Campion' from 1990

Not very much comedy, save for a spot in 'The Vicar Of Dibley' and 'Minder', but lots of mainstream TV drama over the past four decades. Highlights include 'The Plane Makers', 'Cranford' and 'Anna Of The Five Towns', with more everyday stuff like 'The Cedar Tree', 'Softly Softly', 'Penmarric', 'Z-Cars', 'Angels' and the ever-present 'Casualty'.  

It's not how I'd pictured Joe Grundy really, but that's him.

Edward Kelsey-imdb

Ian McNeice

Ian McNeice:

 

Over the years, Ian McNeice has physically expanded to something like Fred Emney proportions, but his cold, regarding eyes have kept him well supplied with roles on the slightly sinister side of the street. Graduating from LAMDA and joining the RSC in the early '70s, he made a breakthrough into TV with the newly-created Channel 4's star-studded 'Nicholas Nickleby'. There followed a role in the also ambitious, but now horribly dated 1983 mini-series 'The Cleopatras'.      

 

As Harcourt in  'Edge Of Darkness'

The mid-'80s saw him hit the big screen, in comedies like 'Top Secret!' (1984), 'Personal Services' (1987), and 'Whoops Apocalypse' (1988), but also in dramas such as '84 Charing Cross Road' (1987), Cry Freedom' (1987) and with Bob Hoskins in 'The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne' (1987) and 'The Raggedy Rawney' (1988).

 

   

As an antique dealer, straight from central casting in 'Lovejoy'

Television also beckoned, with light everyday fare ranging from 'Bergerac' and 'CATS Eyes' to 'Lovejoy' and 'Minder'. There's also a fair bit of detective doings, including 'Cadfael', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Murder Rooms: The Casebook Of The Real Sherlock Holmes' and Jonathan Creek. Perhaps more impressively, there was the memorable double act with Charles Kay in the acclaimed conspiracy drama 'Edge Of Darkness'.

 

In the Play For Today 'Miss Pym's Day Out' from 1991

The '90s and early '00s saw an increased demand from the cinema, both home-grown and in Hollywood, with roles in 'The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down A Mountain (1995), 'Ace Ventura:When Nature Calls' (1995), 'From Hell' (2000), The Fourth Angel (2001), 'Town & Country' (2001), and 'Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason' (2004).  

 

He appears as Winston Churchill in several Matt Smith-era
'Doctor Who' episodes, including 'Victory Of The Daleks'

As the '00s and '10s have rolled on, there have been good parts in popular TV movies and shows including 'Longitude', the BBC/HBO series 'Rome', 'Doctor Who' - reprising his characterisation of Churchill - and the regular looming presence of Bert Large in 'Doc Martin'. 

Ian McNeice-imdb

Carol MacReady

Carol MacReady:

An adaptable actress with expressive eyes and a face made to convey every nuance of doubt and disapproval, Carol MacReady has been a regular presence on the small screen since the early '70s.

Some prestigious dramas include the 1968 Peter Cushing series of 'Sherlock Holmes', 'The Flame Trees Of Thika', 'Mapp And Lucia' 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII', the Michael Hordern 'Christmas Carol' from 1977, as Mrs Cratchitt, and a regular role in the 1975 Thames series 'Couples'.  

As the sister of Anne of Cleves (played by Elvi Hale, right) in
'The Six Wives of Henry VIII' 

There were also roles in sofa-filling favourites like 'The Sweeney', 'Tales Of The Unexpected', 'The Darling Buds Of May', 'Heartbeat', and more recently 'Doc Martin'. Outright comedy and sitcom shows have included 'Victoria Wood', 'Waiting For God', 'The Vicar Of Dibley', 'Birds Of A Feather' and the dreaded 'Never The Twain'. 

As Kath the Aussie barmaid in an episode of 'The Sweeney'

From 'Never The Twain' it's a short hop to children's television. A big success seems to have been the kids' series 'Bodger & Badger' which was a bit after my time, a patently low-budget slapstick affair that makes 'The Sooty Show' look like PG Wodehouse. Her other children's TV appearances include 'The Return Of The Psammead', 'Danger: Marmalade At Work', and feature films like '102 Dalmations' and 'A Feast At Midnight'.

In the kids' show 'Bodger & Badger', mid '90s.

Alongside comedy and children's TV, she seems to have made a speciality of crime drama, with roles in 'Poirot', 'Inspector Alleyn Mysteries', 'Midsomer Murders', Love Lies Bleeding', and the excellent Dorothy L Sayers adaptation 'Gaudy Night' with Harriet Walter. All good solid stuff.     

Carol MacReady-imdb

Robert Lee

Robert Lee:

† 1913 – Dec 1 1986*

A versatile veteran East Asian British character actor. I'd guess he is of Hong Kong Chinese descent, but he has been cast by British studios as Japanese and Korean almost as often. In any case, he is probably only second to the ubiquitous Burt Kwouk in cornering 'oriental' roles on British screens.

His early film work involves a few uncredited roles and non-speaking parts in budget adventure and soho detective movies, with titles like 'Outcast Of The Islands' (1951), 'The Desparate Woman' (1954), 'The World Of Suzie Wong' (1960), 'Visa To Canton' (1961), and 'The Sinister Man' (1961).

In the 1963 'Avengers' story, 'The Golden Fleece'

In the 1978 TV series 'Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense'

The burgeoning world of television in the early '60s offered a steady stream of work, in primetime favourites ranging from 'The Avengers', 'Danger Man' and Dixon Of Dock Green' to comedy like 'The Arthur Askey Show' and 'Hugh & I' with Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd.

      

In a science fiction-y episode of the weird detective
gameshow 'Whodunnit' hosted by Jon Pertwee

As the '70s rolled into the '80s, Mr Lee made his big leap into the nation's consciousness with his role as Japanese businessman Mr Nagazumi in the problematic but popular sitcom 'Mind Your Language'. Other work that came his way included 'The Bill', 'Reilly Ace Of Spies' and predictable appearances in 'Tenko' and 'The Chinese Detective'. There were also various movie bit-parts such as Harry Grout's tailor in 'Porridge' (1979), the Chinese Ambassador in 'Half Moon Street' with Michael Caine and Sigourney Weaver, and Mr Banzai in Lindsay Anderson's scattergun 'Britannia Hospital' (1982). 

Portraying Japanese Admiral Togo in 'Reilly Ace Of Spies'

I don't know when he was born, but he must be getting on a bit now, having made his uncredited film debut in 1944, and his last recorded appearance is from 2010.

Whatever he's doing now, he deserves this small bow of honour. 

* The news of Robert Lee's death had not found its way to the imdb or the larger internet when I added this post in 2015. In general, my intention with this blog is to salute living, British, actors whose faces are more familiar than their names. Although Mr Lee didn't perhaps qualify on either count, I would like to leave the entry here to acknowledge his contribution to UK film and television.     

Robert Lee-imdb

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