Bill Dean (Duggie Jebb in What Big Eyes)

 

Born as Patrick Anthony Connolly in Everton, Liverpool on 3rd September 1921 Dean took his stage name from the legendary Everton football William ‘Dixie’ Dean. His craggy features, and later his thick rimmed spectacles, made him an instantly recognisable face later in life when he found national fame with his role as the grumpy pensioner Harry Cross.

Dean trained as an armourer before serving in the Royal Air Force during World War Two, spending time in action in North Africa and Italy. After being demobbed he worked in a variety of manual jobs including insurance agent, pipe fitter, tram driver and docker. He was also working as stand-up comedian in the social clubs of the north of England in the evenings during the late 1960s. He gained national fame in the later years of his life playing Harry Cross in the Channel Four soap opera Brookside which he joined in 1983 and remained with for seven years until 1990. He briefly returned to the programme in 1999 in a heart breaking storyline which saw Harry suffering from dementia.

His career as an actor began under the name Billy Dean with work as a supporting artist or extra from the early 1960s. Amongst his first roles was as an extra as a Nazi follower in The Saint episode 'The Saint Plays with Fire' (1963). He could be seen as a German soldier (credited as Billy Dean) in the ITV Play of the Week story 'Jacko at War' (20th April 1964). Dean also contributed to several film productions, including an uncredited appearance as a policeman in the Margaret Rutherford starring Miss Marple production Murder Ahoy (1964), and another uncredited role as a German aircraft mechanic in the comedy film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).

It was on television that Dean found the most work during this period with the role of a crewman in the Out of the Unknown episode 'Sucker Bait' (15th November 1965), appearing as British soldier in the Man in A Suitcase instalment 'The Girl Who Never Was' (22nd November 1967), popping up as a taxi driver in an episode of Coronation Street transmitted 25th September 1968 and his first character with a name, Wart Wrigglesworth, in the Granada sitcom Her Majesty’s Pleasure in the episode 'You’re As Old as You Are' (20th November 1968).

His breakthrough role was as John Coyne in the Ken Loach directed Play for Today production 'The Golden Vision' (17th April 1968). The play was written by Neville Smith and Gordon Honeycombe, who at the time was an ITV newsreader, and detailed the lives of Everton football club fans in Liverpool. At the time Dean was working as a local government officer in Liverpool and he gave this role following 'The Golden Vision' to concentrate on acting fulltime. Loach later recalled that “we wanted to find new actors to match the novelty of the style. So Ernie Mack, a booking agent for social and working men's clubs, introduced us to a whole group of performers including Billy Dean (as he was always known to me), and it was immediately clear that he was ideal for a leading comic role.”[1]

Following his role as John Coyne Dean found himself a popular choice as a character actor playing dour and downbeat Northeners. Loach reused him in a small role for his Wednesday Play episode 'The Big Flame' (19th February 1969), playing a landlord in a drama about dock workers facing redundancy. Loach also utilised him for his BAFTA winning film Kes (1969) in which Dean appeared as a grumpy chip shop owner.

His TV work during this period saw Dean appear in a trio of Granada produced sitcoms; a coach driver in the Nearest and Dearest episode 'The Demon Drink' (22nd July 1969), a perturbed motorist in a third season episode of The Dustbinmen (17th August 1970) and as a grumpy waiter in 'The Date' (3rd November 1970), an episode of The Lovers. He also had a brief role as a postman who delivers a telegram to the corner shop in an episode of Coronation Street transmitted 31st August 1970.

More dramatic work followed with the role of the schoolteacher Arthur Foster in the ITV Sunday Night Theatre production 'Roll on Four O’clock' (19th December 1970), a play written by Colin Welland and based on his own experiences as a teacher in an inner city comprehensive school. Dean was reteamed with Ken Loach for a second ITV Sunday Night Theatre episode, 'After A Lifetime' (18th July 1971), playing Uncle Sid in another script supplied by Neville Smith. A particular highlight of the play is when Sid and a colleague attempt to carry a carpet across a busy road in order to lend dignity to a family funeral. His final television appearance for the year was as Charlie Keen in 'No Flowers, By Request' (19th November 1971) an episode of the anthology series Justice.

Dean’s television work during this period was bolstered by a couple of film roles. Ken Loach used Dean once more in his film Family Life (1971) giving him the meaty role of Mr Baildon, the father of a teenage girl who suffers a nervous breakdown. The film showed Dean at his best giving a moving performance of great sincerity. Director Stephen Frears, working from a script by Neville Smith, cast Dean as Tommy, a night club manager, in his Liverpool set crime comedy Gumshoe (1971) which starred Albert Finney and Billie Whitelaw.

Back on television Dean played Ernest Dewhurst in a couple of episodes of the Yorkshire Television drama series The Challengers during January 1972. He also had a small role as a labour agent in 'Under New Management' (12th January 1972), an episode of the World War Two domestic drama series Family at War. He had appeared in the series previously playing the character Alan Mills in three episodes during the programme’s first and second seasons in 1970.

Ken Loach cast him in Dean’s first appearance in a Play for Today production with the role of Billy in 'The Rank and File' (20th May 1971). Neville Smith, who had written several scripts featuring Dean, also featured in the cast. The Last of the Baskets is an obscure Granada sitcom that featured Arthur Lowe and Patricia Hayes. Dean appeared in the episode 'Nice Work If You Can Keep It' (7th February 1972) as a ‘rough man’. Dean then went on to appear as Dutchie Holland in the Budgie instalment 'Dreaming of Thee' (21st April 1972) which opened the second season of the series. Scene was a programme aimed at schools and colleges which used a mixture of fictional and documentary short films to provoke discussion on current topics. Dean appeared in two episodes during his career starting with playing the father in the episode 'Bank Holiday' (2nd March 1972).

 

Dean’s film work for 1973 included The Best Pair of Legs in the Business, a lacklustre British comedy which starred Reg Varney as a female impersonator. Dean appeared in the role of Bert. He could also be seen as Inspector Walker in the now forgotten horror thriller Night Watch (1973) which featured Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey and Billie Whitelaw in a cast directed by Brian G Hutton, who had overseen Kelley’s Heroes (1970) and Where Eagles Dare (1968). Further television work included playing Mr Steadman in the Public Eye episode 'It’s a Woman’s Privilege' (24th January 1973), portraying Leo in the one-off Granada drama Putting on the Agony (28th February 1973), Play for Today drama 'Speech Day[2]' (26th March 1973) as the school janitor, William James in the Six Days of Justice episode 'A Regular Friend' (29th May 1973) and Mr Clegg in the Follyfoot episode 'The Dream' (21st July 1973).

Following his appearance as Bernard Hobbs in the New Scotland Yard episode 'All That Glitters' (18th May 1974) and a cameo as a club owner in the film Slade in Flame (1975), Dean commenced on a lengthy run of television only roles which would occupy the rest of the decade starting with Stephen Frears’ Second City Firsts entry 'Match of the Day' (18th March 1974), again written by Neville Smith. Rooms was a twice weekly afternoon drama series which featured various characters who rented rooms in a lodging house. Dean appeared in the storyline 'Jo and Anne' (10th and 11th December 1974) playing the role of Frank. This was followed with a guest role as Charlie Norton in The Sweeney episode 'Thin Ice' (16th January 1976) and a rare upper class character as Sir Bernard Fickle in a second season instalment of the comedy series A Little Bit of Wisdom (31st January 1975). Alongside Bob Peck and Brian Glover he also appeared in the Second City Firsts edition 'Waiting at the Field Gate' (3rd April 1975). Also during 1975 Dean was cast as Charlie in the Liverpool set sitcom The Wackers (19th March – 23rd April 1975). This Thames Television production was so unpopular that the final episode was never aired.

Dean could be seen in a small role as the doomed shopkeeper, Mr Greenhead, in The Tomorrow People adventure 'A Man for Emily' (16th April 1975). Next was the Armchair Cinema production 'In Sickness and in Health' (21st May 1975) playing the character Mr Jackson. Amongst the cast was fellow Beasts actor Michael Sheard. 'Nothing To Declare' (11th August 1975) was another case to be solved by the contestants of Whodunnit, presented by Jon Pertwee. Dean appeared as Mr Campbell. He then played a character called Dixie in his second appearance in the series Scene. 'Break' (6th November 1975) was written by Willie Russell.

The year 1976 was a busy one for Dean with several appearances besides his role in the Beasts story 'What Big Eyes'. Red Letter Day was a Granada drama anthology series created by Jack Rosenthal though Dean appeared in another script by Neville Smith, 'Bag of Yeast' (22nd February 1976). Smith himself also appeared alongside Dean in the cast. Rocky O’Rourke was a BBC children’s drama based on the book A Pair of Jesus Boots by Sylvia Sherry. Dean played the character Simpson in the first four episodes (3rd – 24th March 1976). He then guest starred as Sam Platte in the Dixon of Dock Green episode 'Reunion' (1st May 1976) and was cast as Alf Bowen in the Softly Softly: Task Force instalment 'Not With a Bang…' (8th September 1976), which opened the eighth season of the police drama. He could also be seen as Leslie Stevens in The Expert episode 'Fail Safe' (12th November 1976). Between 1976 and 1977 Dean appeared as Jack in two seasons of the sitcom Oh No, It’s Selwyn Froggitt.

Post-Beasts Dean featured in the Dennis Potter drama Pennies From Heaven playing Alf in two episodes. During May 1978 he popped up in two episodes of the rural soap opera Emmerdale playing Abraham Scarsdale. Further roles for the year included 'A Detective’s Tale' (6th April 1978), an episode of BBC drama Law and Order, his third appearance in Z Cars – 'Exposure' (2nd August 1978) and playing Sid in 'Freedom of the Dig' (23rd October 1978), an episode of the BBC drama series Premiere. The year ended with Dean playing the character Ted in the BBC Play of the Week production 'Night People' (6th December 1978) penned by Alan Plater. His only onscreen role during 1979 was in the film version of the controversial Scum (1979) directed by Alan Clark. He then had a blink and you’d miss him role as a workman in the film version of the sitcom Rising Damp (1980).

As the 1980s progressed Dean famed himself in demand in small and supporting roles that benefitted from a bit of regional colour thanks to his strong Liverpool accent and dour features. BBC period drama God’s Wonderful Railway charted lives and work of three generations on the Great Western Railway from Victorian up until the Second World War. Dean was on hand to appear in the three-part storyline 'Fire on the Line' (12th – 26th March 1980) playing Ted Jarvis. Sounding Brass was an ATV comedy which featured Dean in the episode 'H G and the Whit Marches' (2nd July 1980). He also had a small role as a police Sergeant in the Minder tale 'All About Scoring, Innit?' (20th November 1980). His only film for this period was an uncredited cameo as a man in a village hall in The Mirror Crack’d (1980).

The Good Companions was a Yorkshire Television series based on the novel by J B Priestley about a touring concert party and was adapted for TV by Alan Plater. Dean appears in 'A Wind in the Triangle' (2nd January 1981). He then went on to a guest role as Stobbs in the When the Boat Comes In instalment 'Back to Dear Old Blighty' (17th February 1981) which opened the fourth season of the drama series. His final Play for Today appearance was audio only. He played one of several voices, alongside John Challis and Ian Sharp, in 'A Turn for the Worse' (28th April 1981). He had a small role as a painter in the BBC 2 Playhouse episode 'Going Gently' (5th June 1981) which provided Norman Wisdom with a rare dramatic role as a man dying of cancer. Maybury was a BBC drama series that starred Patrick Stewart as psychiatrist. Dean appears in the episode 'Maisie' (14th July 1981) in a small role. He then played Mr Bentham in the Juliet Bravo story 'Barriers' (14th November 1981).

Dean had a fleeting role credited simply as ‘Liverpool Man’ in the Channel Four single drama Lovers of the Lake (1983). He was also a recurring cast member as Billy Eccles in the BBC drama The Gathering Seed (7th September – 12th October 1983). He could be seen as Mr Hove in 'The Clergyman’s Daughter' (27th November 1983), an episode of the London Weekend Television crime drama Partners in Crime. He then had a cameo appearance as a garage attendant in the sitcom In Loving Memory – 'Flying Undertaker' (28th November 1983) and appeared as a compere in the film Slayground (1983).

Dean joined the Channel Four soap opera Brookside with the episode transmitted 5th October, 1983, playing the role of grumpy pensioner Harold Cross. The character would become his signature role and made him a household face, if not name. Dean finally left Brookside in August 1989 having appeared in the role of Harry for over six years. He appeared in the music video for Groovy Train by the pop group The Farm which was released in August 1990 as the first single off their debut album Spartacus. The single reached number six in the UK singles chart. The video was filmed at the amusement park Pleasureland in Southport. Dean appeared as a train driver with the band as passengers. The Brookside character Harry Cross was a retired train driver. This wasn’t Dean’s only musical connection as he also wrote the lyrics of the theme tune to the sitcom Oh No, It’s Selwyn Froggitt (1976 - 1977) which were unique to each episode.

Post-Brookside Dean he could be seen in the film Let Him Have It (1991) as the foreman of the jury who sentence Derek Bentley (Christopher Eccleston) to a death sentence and had a small role as a priest in the final episode of the BBC costume drama Clarissa (11th December 1991). He could be seen as Harry Capshaw in 'Endangered Species' (21st November 1993), an episode of the 1950s set cosy police drama Heartbeat. This was followed by a cameo role as an old man in the Screen Two production Skallagrigg (9th March 1994). Dean was the recurring character Albert Dawson in the second season of the Granada’s children’s drama series Three Seven Eleven (13th April – 15th June 1994).

Dean had previously appeared in two episodes of the original run of the sitcom The Liver Birds playing Uncle Jack in 'Birds on the Dole' (18th February 1972) and 'Birds on Strike' (3rd March 1972). When the sitcom was relaunched in the 1990s Dean appeared as the new character of Mr Hennessey for a trio of episodes; 'Mrs Boswell Comes To Call' (13th May 1996), 'Spare That Tree!' (20th May 1996) and 'Moving Out' (24th June 1996). Dean was also in a small role in Hillsborough (5th December 1996) which based on the real life events of April 1989 when 96 Liverpool football fans lost their lives during a FA Cup semi-final match.

In 1999 he returned to Brookside for three more episodes reprising his role as Harry Cross. The character was frailer and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and it made for powerful and poignant viewing, especially as this would be Dean’s final screen performance. He passed away on 20th April 2000 in Upton, Merseyside at the age of 78 after suffering a heart attack. Dean had three children, sons Peter and David, and a daughter called Diane with whom he had been living with shortly before his passing.

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[1] As quoted in Dean’s obituary in The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/apr/22/guardianobituaries (accessed 3rd March 2018)

[2] written by Kes scriptwriter Barry Hines

Madge Ryan (Florence Raymount in What Big Eyes)

Born in Townsville, Queensland, Australia on 8th January, 1919 Ryan was an established stage actor in Australia, and after emigration to the UK in 1957, she quickly established a reputation as a dependable and consummate theatre actor. One of her earliest stage roles in the UK was transmitted on the BBC as part of the series Theatre Night which presented excerpts from current stage plays in London. Ryan could be seen in the episode 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' (27th May 1957) playing the role of Pearl Cunningham. She, and the play, was an instant hit with critics and audiences alike.

Ryan made her first British television only appearance in an episode of Armchair Theatre playing Mrs Cornelius in the episode 'The Deaf Heart' (21st December 1958). 1959 was definitely a breakthrough year for Ryan with a flurry of television roles including two episodes of the ITV Play of the Week – 'A Dead Secret' (3rd March 1959) and 'A Man Involved' (8th December 1959). She also returned to Armchair Theatre for two episodes – 'Star in the Summer Night' (29th March 1959) and 'The Girl on the Beach' (24th May 1959). For the BBC Sunday Night Theatre series she made three appearances; 'The Exiles #4: Full Circle' (15th February 1959) as Hilda Binns, 'The Philadelphia Story' (14th June 1959) playing Margaret Lord[1] and 'The Potutukawa Tree' (18th October 1959) in the role of Mrs Atkinson. The same year she also had two roles in two films; playing a police woman in the comedy Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) and the more substantial role of Mrs Finch in the thriller Witness in the Dark (1959). Nicholas Palmer, who would later produce the series Beasts, supplied the script for Ryan’s final television production of the year, another single play, entitled A Man Involved (8th December 1959). On the stage Ryan appeared in The Shifting Heart, which had a pre-London tour in July 1959 taking in venues in Leeds, Newcastle and Nottingham. The play dealt with the difficulties an immigrant Italian family experiences when they settle in a Melbourne suburb and are not accepted by their neighbours.

1960 would see Ryan continue to be cast in prestigious plays with her making five separate appearances in episodes of Armchair Theatre; 'Where I Live' (10th January 1960), 'A Night Out' (24th April 1960) written by Harold Pinter, 'Pig’s Ears with Flowers' (2nd October 1960), 'The Cake Baker' (6th November 1960) and 'The Stranger' (20th November 1960). The ITV Television Playhouse series episode 'A Holiday Abroad' (12th February 1960), written by John Bowen, saw Ryan cast as Sylvia Bates whilst the anthology series Armchair Mystery Theatre furnished her with the role of Maud in the episode 'Flag Fall' (26th June 1960). She also appeared in an episode of the long running drama series Probation Officer (25th April 1960) playing Ella Rhodes.

During February 1961 she appeared in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs at the Pembroke Theatre, Croydon followed by Time and Yellow Roses, which was headlined by Flora Robson. The play debuted in Aberdeen on 20th March 1961 and then toured in major cities including Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Oxford before arriving in the West End in early May. She also appeared in the film Hand in Hand (1961) and this was complimented with another television appearance in an ITV Play of the Week in the production 'Ivanov' (1st August 1961).

At the start of 1962 Ryan had a guest role in 'Murder on Monday' (15th January 1962), an episode of the Rupert Davies starring Maigret, and this was quickly followed by one off drama Reunion Day (19th January 1962) for the BBC. Next were two more one off dramas for the BBC – The Slaughter of St Teresa’s Day (6th April 1962) and The One Day of the Year (14th December 1962). Just four days later audiences could see her in the ATV play The Shifting Heart (18th December 1962). She also made another film appearance playing Millie Brooks in Tiara Tahiti (1962). Regular screen work continued the following year with Ryan seen as Marthy Owen in the one-off BBC drama Anna Christie (4th January 1963) before making appearances in two well recalled films; playing Stella in the Cliff Richard vehicle Summer Holiday (1963) and a small role as Mrs Clapper in Doctor in Distress (1963). She provided support to Michael Caine and Ian McShane in the First Night instalment 'Funny Noises with Their Mouth' (20th October 1963). The Stage gave the production a positive review stating “A play with which Sidney Newman should indeed feel very pleased.[2]”

She then popped up as Eve Turner in The Avengers episode 'Mandrake' (1964) and appeared in the classic film drama This Is My Street (1964). She made two appearances in First Night productions, the first as Mercy Greely in 'Day of the Drongo' (4th January 1964) and as Roseanne Dexter in 'The Rock Pool' (22nd February 1964). Further TV roles included an episode of anthology series Love Story – 'Domino' (28th April 1964) and two episodes of Emergency Ward Ten (9th and 16th June 1964) as May Gorton.

Joe Orton’s first stage play, Entertaining Mr Sloane, was initially staged during the summer of 1964. Ryan undertook the role of the murderous landlady Kath in the original London stage run for which she received rave reviews. Also in the cast was Peter Vaughan and Dudley Sutton. The play was directed by Patrick Dromgoole who would later become a producer / director for HTV and bring to the small screen many children’s dramas that haunted their childhood memories including Into The Labyrinth, King of the Castle, and Children of the Stones. On television the BBC adapted the play Summer of the Seventh Doll (29th October 1964) with Ryan again taking the role of Pearl which she had popularised back in 1957.

Ryan joined the National Theatre Company during 1965 with her debut role coming with a staging of the Brecht play Mother Courage and Her Children. Ryan played the eponymous mother. During September 1965 the National Theatre players toured Russia with productions of Othello and Hobson’s Choice with Ryan as part of the cast. Television work for the year included playing Mrs Sutton-Piper in the series Public Eye for the episode 'And a Very Fine Fiddle He Was' (13th March 1965). She also appeared as Janet Harford in the Thirty Minute Theatre instalment 'Family Christmas' (23rd December 1965).

For the BBC Play of the Month episode 'Defection! The Case of Colonel Petrov' (27th September 1966) she was cast as Dusya and attracted rave reviews for her work “Madge Ryan met the demands of the story with one of the long scenes of continuously sustained high-pitched emotion I have ever seen…As a performance it was beyond praise[3]” She also guest starred in an episode of The Saint – 'Build A Better Mousetrap' during 1966. During October and November 1966 she played the role of Nurse in Romeo and Juliet at the Bristol Old Vic. As part of the Bristol Old Vic rep company she toured North America with a trio of Shakespeare productions – Hamlet, Measure for Measure and Romeo and Juliet. They returned to the UK at the end of May 1967 before embarking on a tour of Europe and Israel under the sponsorship of the British Council. Also in the repertory were Barbara Leigh Hunt, Jane Asher and Frank Middlemass. During September 1967 Ryan took over from actress Mavis Villiers for a run of Philadelphia Here I Come. Villiers had created the part of Lizzy Sweeney in the original New York production and collapsed due to nervous exhaustion during the prior-to London run of the play.

On the big screen Ryan was cast as Aunty Mary in the British crime thriller The Strange Affair (1968) and on TV could be seen as Lady Morcar opposite Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes in 'The Blue Carbuncle' (23rd December 1968). The following year would see her make several television appearances; portraying Mrs Kenny in the Parkin’s Patch episode 'Fame of a Kind' (10th October 1969) and playing Nancy Proctor in the Dixon of Dock Green episode 'No Love Lost' (11th October 1969). She could also be seen as Mrs Roden in the Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) story 'Could You Recognise the Man Again?' (1969). Further credits took in the ITV Sunday Night Theatre production 'The Funeral of Queen Victoria' (2nd August 1969) and her first appearance in the adventure series Paul Temple by playing Linda Burgess in the episode 'Message from a Dead Man' (30th November 1969).

Her first TV appearance for 1970 was in 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' (28th February 1970), an episode of Thirty Minute Theatre. Ryan featured as Mrs Purgold, a clairvoyant. Next was an episode of the World War Two drama series Manhunt, appearing as Celestine Moussac, in the episode 'The Price of Resistance' (13th March 1970) and this was followed by a role in sitcom The Best Things In Life playing Miss Rossiter in the episode 'The Emigrant' (13th July 1970). Her final TV appearance was in an edition of Armchair Theatre came with the episode 'Say Goodnight to Your Grandma' (27th October 1970) written by Colin Welland. Her only film appearance for the year was in I Start Counting (1970).

Her second appearance in Paul Temple came with the third season episode 'Cue Murder!' (28th March 1971) playing the role of Rose Mason. She then guest starred as Connie in 'In Deep' (7th May 1971) for the series Budgie and another Public Eye episode 'Come into the Garden, Rose' (11th August 1971). Her notable stage roles included A Hearts and Minds Job at Hampstead Theatre during July 1971. The production was directed by Donald McWhinnie who would later cast Ryan in the Beasts episode 'What Big Eyes'.

Now Look Here (5th November – 17th December 1971) was a BBC sitcom starring Ronnie Corbett. Ryan appeared in all seven episodes of the first season in the role of Mother. Her only film role of the year was in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971) playing Doctor Branom. More film work followed with the short The Man and The Snake (1972), Hitchcock’s thriller Frenzy (1972) and horror film Endless Night (1972). In the theatre she was cast in Traveller without Luggage at the Thorndike theatre, Leatherhead during September and October 1972. The cast included Jeremy Brett
December saw Ryan appear in a revival of Epitaph for George Dillon. Her last television appearance was in Zinotchka (16th December 1972), a short drama written by Melvyn Bragg from the story by Anton Chekhov transmitted on the BBC. Ryan appeared as Madame Sorin.

1973 would see Ryan make two separate appearances in the ITV Sunday Night Theatre series – 'The Regulars' (26th January 1973) and the science fiction drama 'A.D.A.M.' (8th April 1973). Her only film role for the year was as Della’s mother in the action drama Yellow Dog (1973). Don Leaver, the director of the Beasts episode 'The Dummy', cast Ryan in 'Burning Bush' (1974), an episode of The Protectors he oversaw. Ryan played the role of Mrs Apsimon. Her other television role was in Cakes and Ale, a three-part mini-series by the BBC as Mrs Barton Trafford.

Anne of Avonlea, the sequel to Anne of Green Gables (26th January 1975 onwards), was adapted as a six part series and featured Ryan in the role of Rachel Lynde. Ryan also appeared in a Crown Court case, 'Matron' transmitted from 22nd January 1975, undertaking the role of Bridget Behan. Further TV credits for the year took in 'Going, Going, Gone…Free?' (9th July 1975), a comedy pilot written by Carla Lane as part of the Comedy Playhouse series. Ryan could be seen as Mrs Dean in the cast. Moll Flanders (26th November 1975) was a feature length adaptation by the BBC. Ryan was in the cast playing Mrs Oliver. Her character Florence Raymount, from the Beasts episode 'What Big Eyes', was the next role on her resume. It’s worth noting that Ryan appeared alongside Patrick Magee in a stage production of The White Devil at the Old Vic during July 1976. Post-Beasts she appeared in episodes two, three and four (17th – 31st October 1976) of the BBC drama Katy playing Bridget. Her final role of the year was in episode of the medical soap opera Angels playing Mrs Dutton in the season three episode 'Somewhere To Go' (15th November 1976). 

Amongst her television roles in 1977 was Mrs Quillet in two episodes (22nd and 29th April 1977) of the third season of the comedy Beryl’s Lot and playing Mrs Vizzard in the Thames Television drama London Belongs To Me (6th September – 18th October 1977). She was also seen as Elizabeth in Play for Today drama 'One Day at a Time' (22nd November 1977). To start the next year Ryan appeared in the first season of All Creatures Great and Small playing Miss Harbottle in the episodes 'It Takes All Kinds' (22nd January 1978) and 'Calf Love' (29th January 1978). She also made a film appearance with the role of Beecham in the comedy crime caper Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe AKA Too Many Chefs (1978). Remaining roles for 1978 saw her as the recurring character Arabella Codsall in the BBC adaptation of A Horseman Riding By (24th September – 17th December 1978) and as Nanny in the juvenile horror anthology series Shadows episode 'Honeyann' (1st November 1978), written by Fay Weldon. Stage credits took in The Shadow Box at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge during March and April 1979. Also in the cast was Anthony Bate. December 1979 had Ryan playing Aunt Eller in a version of Oklahoma produced at Leicester’s Haymarket theatre before a run in London’s West End. Film appearances saw her as the character Rose Flood Porter in the remake of The Lady Vanishes (1979) and a small role as Violet Jessop in the TV movie SOS Titanic (1979).

After a break of a few years where she concentrated on her theatre roles Ryan returned to the screen to appear in a BBC version of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline (20th December 1982) as Mother in a cast that also featured Richard Johnson and Claire Bloom. 1983 would be her busiest on screen year for some time with a guest role in Bergerac – 'Prime Target' (30th January 1983) and the returning character of Lydia Crawford in the third season of the Wendy Craig starring drama series Nanny. She played the narrator for the one off drama Events in a Museum (25th November 1983) and played Mrs Todd, with Michael Gough portraying her husband, in the BBC Films comedy Heartattack Hotel (16th December 1983). Over the following six years Ryan worked solely in the theatre. She returned to the screen to appear in the Australian film drama Kokoda Crescent (1989) opposite Bill Kerr and Warren Mitchell. In 1990 she also popped up in the Australian / United Kingdom co-produced soap opera Families which was filmed in Australia and Cheshire for Granada. In 1992 she played Beattie in the Screenplay production 'The Countess Alice' (1992) and guest starred in 'One Step Forward' (24th October 1992), an episode of the long running medical drama Casualty.

During 1992 and 1993 she was a cast member of an acclaimed stage production of Euripide’s Medea. Diana Rigg undertook the title role. February and March 1993 saw her appear in a production of Oscar Wilde’s A Murder of No Importance at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. On television Ryan appeared in the comedy pilot The 10 Percenters (23rd February 1993) playing Gloria and in the cinema she had a small role as a woman walking her dog in the comedy film Splitting Heirs (1993). Her final screen role was as Lucy Lorrimer in 'Death in a White Tie' (16th May 1993), an episode of the Inspector Alleyn Mysteries. Throughout her stage and screen career Ryan preferred to play challenging roles and was often cast as unsympathetic individuals or misfits / outcasts from normal society. 

Ryan passed away the day after her 75 birthday on 9th January 1994 in London. Her obituary in The Independent said "what set her apart from the others was a certain, often powerful, independence of spirit and humour...It was a fulfilled career.[4]" There was a celebration of her life at St James Church, Piccadilly on 27th June 1994.

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[1] The cast also included fellow Beasts cast member Elizabeth Sellers who would later star in 'During Barty’s Party'

[2] “Mr Sharp Makes Fine Debut on First Night” by William Pearce, The Stage, Thursday 24^th October, 1963

[3] “A Dramatic Re-Creation” by N Alice Frick, The Stage, Thursday 29^th September 1966, page 12

[4] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-madge-ryan-1401217.html (accessed 26th February 2018)

Patrick Magee (Leo Raymount in What Big Eyes)

Magee was born as Patrick George McGee on 31st March 1922 in Armagh, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. He was the first of five siblings and was educated at St Patrick’s Grammar School in Armagh where he excelled in a number of school productions. With his low gravelly voice, tormented mad eyes, slightly stooped stocky frame, unkempt hair and unique pronunciation and intonation he would specialise in playing obtuse, disturbing, sadistic or oddball characters in a career that started in the late 1940s and lasted until his death in 1982 from a heart attack, aged just sixty years old. During this time he would become closely associated with the works of playwrights Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett and earn a reputation as a hell raising heavy drinker and gambler. It seems that Magee had little quality control over the film roles he took later in his career, appearing in everything from films by auteur Stanley Kubrick and Italian schlockmeister Lucio Fulci to works by Joseph Losey and Roger Corman. Above all Magee was a passionate lover of theatre and the money he earned from taking film roles was often channelled into funding his own theatre productions.

Magee changed his stage name to supposedly avoid confusion with another actor called Patrick McGee. He was given to exaggeration in interviews and often stated that he was originally a street fighter from Dublin when in fact he was born into a comfortable middle class family. His father, Pat McGee, was the Master of Banbrook School. Magee joined the Belfast Group Players theatre group in 1948 and appeared in several acclaimed production during the three years he stayed there. He left to travel to England under the auspices of the renowned director Tyrone Guthrie to appear in a series of Irish plays staged at the Hammersmith Lyric as part of the Festival of Britain in 1951. He returned to Ireland with a tour of Shakespeare productions. Part of the acting company was the aspiring actor Harold Pinter who would strike up a lifelong friendship with Magee.  

Magee returned to the UK to work in repertory theatre and soon picked up the occasional role on television. His debut in the TV medium came with the role of Harry Berks in the BBC Sunday Night Theatre episode 'The Adventurer' (31st July 1955). He later returned to the anthology series with appearances in the episodes 'Juno and the Paycock' (17th March 1957), an Irish based family drama, and in a small role as a policeman in 'Teru' (4th August 1957). He would later return to the BBC series for two further instalments; 'Gracie' (12th October 1958) and 'Mooney’s Wreck' (3rd May 1959). Magee also found himself cast regularly in ITV’s flagship drama anthology series, ITV Television Playhouse, with the role of Maguire in 'The Shadow of the Gun Man' (11th July 1957) based on the Sean O’Casey play, portraying Mate in a version of the Herb Tank play 'Longitude 49' (17th July 1959) and as a unnamed police detective in 'Who’s Owen Stephens..?' (10th November 1960). His final appearance in the programme was in the episode 'Too Old For Donkeys' (4th April 1963).

Magee met the writer Samuel Beckett in 1957 and was soon recording excerpts from Beckett’s novel Molloy and the short story From an Abandoned Work for transmission on BBC radio. Beckett was impressed with the quality of Magee’s voice and set about writing Krapp’s Last Tape[1] especially for the actor. The play was first presented at London’s Royal Court Theatre in October 1958 with Magee starring as an aged misanthrope who listens to recordings of his former self with increasing intensity. The relationship between Magee and Beckett continued to flourish and Magee would later appear as Hamm in the play Endgame (1964) presented the RSC at Aldwych in July 1964. In 1958 Magee married Belle Sherry and in February 1961 they became the parents of fraternal twins – Mark and Caroline.

His television career continued to bloom. For the crime drama series Dial 999 Magee appeared as Parsons in the episode 'The Great Gold Robbery' (1959) and as Michael Davitt in the ITV Play of the Week episode 'Parnell' (10th February 1959), a political drama based on the life and times or the Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell. Next was the BBC Sunday Night Theatre play 'Mooney’s Wreck' (3rd May 1959). On stage he took on the role of Max in the Kenneth Jupp play The Buskers during March 1959. Later the same year he appeared as the aptly named Father Domineer in the English Stage Company production of Cock-A-Doodle Dandy by Sean O’Casey during September and October 1959, Having established the part of Ulrich Brendel in the English Stage Company’s production of Rosmersholm during October 1959 Magee retired from the role which was taken over by Alan Dobie when it transferred from the Royal Court to the Comedy Theatre in January 1960.

The first year of the new decade would see Magee making television appearances in an episode of Deadline Midnight (25th July 1960) and playing the character Jason in the BBC thriller series Here Lies Miss Sabry (8th August – 12th September 1960). His final television appearances for the year were in the BBC Sunday Night Play production 'The Ruffians' (9th October 1960) and Philip Broadley’s Associated Rediffusion play Owen Stephens (11th November 1960). Magee played a police man doggedly pursuing two men who have stolen a small fortune from a local business. He made a suitable film debut as the dour chief prison warden Barrows in Joseph Losey’s film The Criminal (1960) opposite Stanley Baker and Sam Wannamaker. This was followed by the role of Paddy Flynn, a drunken bully, in the crime drama Rag Doll AKA Young, Willing and Eager (1961) and appearing as Ben Black in the Edgar Wallace thriller Never Back Losers (1961).

His TV appearances for 1961 took in an episode of No Hiding Place – 'Explosion Underground' (30th June 1961) and playing a lawyer in 'Inquest at Golgotha' (1st October 1961) an episode of the ATV production About Religion. He ended the year with by appearing in a rare science fiction flavoured episode of Armchair Theatre – 'Murder Club' (3rd December 1961). He was equally busy in stage with A Whistle In The Dark at the Royal theatre, Stratford during September 1961. The play, authored by Thomas Murphey, was written as an entry to an all-Ireland amateur drama competition two years previously, but was held back on the grounds that the content was too controversial ever to be presented in the theatre. Also in the cast were Derren Nesbitt, Michael Craig and Dudley Sutton.

The start of 1962 saw Magee appear in 'Stab in the Dark' (23rd January 1962), the fourth episode of the new police drama series Z Cars, as the character Mr O’Conor. He popped up in an uncredited role as Mr Lee in the film The Boys (1962) and could be seen as RSM Hicks in A Prize of Arms (1962). Back on TV he made his second appearance in an episode of the ITV Play of the Week taking the central role of lighthouse keeper Duncan Bishop in the comedy drama 'Miracle on Mano' (14th August 1962). His next TV appearance was in the second episode of a dramatization of Sophocles' Antigone (16th October 1962) in the role of Teiresias.

The following year, 1963, would his busiest period yet for film and television jobs. His film appearances for the year featured work with the director Roger Corman on The Young Racers (1963), playing Sir William Dragonet, and the role of Inspector Cummins in Ricochet (1963), an Edgar Wallace potboiler. He had a supporting role in the thriller The Very Edge (1963) which was filmed in his native Ireland along with proto-slasher Dementia 13 (1963), Francis Ford Coppola’s first film as a director. Magee appeared as Justin Caleb in the horror thriller which was funded by Roger Corman. Magee joined a largely Yugoslavian cast for Operation Titian (1963) playing Doctor Morisijus, with Corman again providing financial backing. The film has a complex history with Corman repackaging and re-editing the film for television where it played as Portrait in Terror. However, Corman was still unsatisfied with the results and so hired director Jack Hill to film some new sequences. This version was released as Blood Bath (1966). This version was sold again to television with further scenes added by another director and became known as Track of the Vampire. Magee’s major film role during 1963 was as Bishop in a restaurant in the Joseph Losey film The Servant (1963) which was headlined by James Fox and Dork Bogarde. This was his second film for Losey.

The actor was equally as busy with television roles during 1963 appearing in 'The Escape' (20th June 1963), an episode of the adventure series Moonstrike, Zero One episode 'Stopover' (21st August 1963) as the character Gallegos and playing a police inspector in 'Express Delivery' (12th October 1963), an episode of The Sentimental Agent. He also popped up in two episodes of the soap opera Compact playing the character Sligo in the episodes 'Faith and Begorra' (10th September 1963) and 'A Touch of the Blarney' (12th September 1963). There was also two appearances in The Avengers; playing Pancho in the second season instalment 'Killer Whale' (2nd March 1963) and the third season story 'The Gilded Cage' (9th November 1963) as criminal mastermind J P Spagge. Finally he appeared as William Breen in The Plane Makers episode 'The Old Boy Network' (21st October 1963) which was followed by his return in the later episode 'The Smiler' (14th January 1964).

More high profile film work came with the role of surgeon James Reynolds in the classic Zulu (1964), Alfredo in the sumptuous looking Roger Corman production of The Masque of Red Death (1964) and as Inspector Walsh in Bryan Forbe’s Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964). His TV resume for the year included playing Jack Mullen in two episodes of Z Cars written by Eric Paice – 'The Fire Raiser' (21st March 1964) and 'The Witness' (28th March 1964) – and playing The Duke of Wellington for the Theatre 625 episode 'Carried By Storm' (25th October 1964) directed by Donald McWhinnie who would later direct 'What Big Eyes'. The Stage review singled out his performance in the play “Patrick Magee showed us yet another side of his considerable talent, and was indeed the Iron Duke when he delivered lines like “The only rules of war that concern is gentlemen. Are mine.[2]””

Magee joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1964 following a request from Harold Pinter who wanted Magee to appear in a revival of The Birthday Party, with Pinter directing, at the Aldwych theatre during June 1964. Magee played the role of the torturer McCann. Further RSC roles included the role of Roche in another revival, Afore Night Come by David Rudkin, during July. August saw a legendary production of The Persecution and Assassination of Marat as Performed By The Inmates of The Asylum of Charenton Under The Direction of the Marquis de Sade. Magee was the Marquis de Sade. After a successful run in London the play transferred to New York to much praise including Magee winning a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play in 1966 for his portrayal. This would lead to international recognition and enable Magee to go from B to A class budget films in due course.
Magee was so busy with the RSC that he only found time to make two television appearances in 1965; essaying the role of James Spalding in 'Beware of the Dog' (16th May 1965), an episode of Dr Finlay’s Casebook, and featuring as Tetzel in the BBC Play of the Month production 'Luther' (19th October 1965). Film wise he appeared as a police surgeon on the British horror flick The Skull (1965) and could be seen as Doctor Henderson in Die, Monster, Die! AKA Monster of Terror (1965) which was based on the H P Lovecraft story The Colour Out of Space. Magee also played a criminal out to steal a valuable painting in Portrait in Terror (1965).

Magee made no film or TV appearances during 1966 due to his stage commitments including Marat/Sade and various prestigious RSC and Broadway productions. He would recreate his Tony Award winning performance as the Marquis de Sade in the cinema production of Marat/Sade (1967). One of his only two TV roles during this period was as Mephistophilis in a production of 'Doctor Faustus' (27th January 1967) made for the ATV educational programme Conflict. This series was hosted by John Gielgud and presented scenes from classic dramas especially adapted for schools and colleges. Magee’s other television role was in the Dennis Potter production Message for Posterity (3rd May 1967), as the elderly painter James Player, who is commissioned to paint a portrait of the former Conservative Prime Minister Sir David Browning played by Joseph O’Connor.

He had a handful of television roles the following year; appearing as an old man in the two-handed play 'A Private Place' (3rd January 1968) for Thirty Minute Theatre, playing Arnold Jessie in The Wednesday Play instalment 'Nothing Will Be The Same' (6th November 1968) opposite 'Murrain' star Bernard Lee, appearing as Pedraza in The Champions story 'The Iron Man' (20th November 1968) and undertaking the part of Philo in 'Neutral Ground' (2nd December 1968) a play by Tom Stoppard for the ITV Playhouse series directed by Piers Haggard, who would later helm the final Quatermass TV series. The play was based on the classical Greek legend of the warrior Philoctetes updated to a 1960s Central European spy story. Magee featured as a double-crossed and abandoned secret agent. Film work for 1968 included General Starkey in the war film Battle For Anzio (1968), playing a lunatic prisoner in the comedy film Decline and Fall…of a Bird Watcher (1968) and revisiting his stage role as Shamus McCann, one of the evil tormentors of Robert Shaw’s character in William Friedkin’s film version of the Harold Pinter play The Birthday Party (1968). 

Magee continued to be busy with his preferred platform for acting in the theatre and so in 1969 he had only a handful of film or television credits. His only film appearance for the year was to add some flavour as the character Alexi to the otherwise bland thriller Hard Contract (1969), a vehicle for James Coburn and Lee Remick. He also made the TV movie Destiny of a Spy (1969) which was headlined by Lorne Greene and Anthony Quayle. His TV appearance for the year was in an episode of the BBC’s The Canterbury Tales which adapted the works of Chaucer. Magee could be seen as an old man in 'The Pardoner’s Tale' (13th November 1969).

The following year Magee played the role of Mark in the Peter Shaffer play The Battle of Shrivings at the Brighton Royal during January with a London run in February 1970. Mark sounds typical Magee material from The Stage review description of his character as a “raging, coarse, earthy force of destruction[3]”. As well as the legends of stage John Gielgud and Wendy Hiller in the cast there was a young actor just making his mark, Martin Shaw, who would later play a lead role in the Beasts episode 'Buddyboy'. The first year of the new decade saw Magee make only two film appearance with the role of Hugh Peters in Cromwell (1970) and as General Ataturk in the action comedy You Can’t Win ‘Em All (1970). His non-stage work for 1971 consisted of three film roles the first of which was for director Peter Brook’s version of King Lear (1971) playing the role of Cornwall. The next was in the obscure historical epic The Trojan Woman (1971) undertaking the role of Menelaus. The final film role for the year is possibly one of his most famous, playing Mr Alexander, the householder who tortures Malcom McDowell’s character Alex in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971) after his home is invaded by Alex. McDowell and Magee had previously met when they had worked on the 1965 Royal Shakespeare Company production Squire Puntila and His Servant Matti. Magee had the lead role of Matti and McDowell was a lowly supporting artist.

1972 would be the year that Magee really threw himself into horror film roles starting with the portmanteau Tales From The Crypt (1972). Magee featured in the segment 'Blind Alleys' playing the role of George Carter, the leader of a group of blind people who have their revenge on the callous new owner of their care home. He also took the lead role of the sinister unnamed minister who leads a religious sect called The Brethren in Robert Hartford-Davis’ grubby horror flick The Fiend AKA Beware My Brethren (1972). Next was another portmanteau horror, Asylum (1972), with Magee essaying the role of the distinctly odd Doctor Rutherford who instructs a new doctor (Robert Powell) that he must guest which one of four inmates is the doctor he has come to replace. This acts as the framing story for the portmanteau film. His final horror film for the year was the Hammer production Demons of the Mind (1972) in which he chews the scenery as Falkenberg. His other film appearances for the year included appearing as General Bindon Blood in Young Winston (1972) and as an elderly monk in Pope Joan (1972). He also made two appearances in two editions of Thirty Minute Theatre, the first was as Michael in 'Thrills Galore' (4th September 1972), whilst his second was in a performance of 'Krapp’s Last Tape' (29th November 1972).

Magee had a guest role as Gardner in The Persuaders episode 'Chase' (2nd March 1973) before appearing in the Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries adaptation of 'The Monkey’s Paw' (10th November 1973) playing the central role of Sergeant Morris. Also in the cast was Michael Kitchen who would later appear alongside Magee in the Beasts episode 'What Big Eyes'. Magee then made his second appearance in a BBC Play of the Month production playing The Storyteller in an adaptation of Brecht’s play 'Caucasian Chalk Circle' (16th May 1973). His film credits included another horror film, And Now The Screaming Starts (1973) playing Doctor Whittle, the Donald Sutherland starring crime thriller Lady Ice (1973) and the truly bonkers psychedelic science fiction film The Final Programme AKA The Last Days of Man on Earth (1973) as mad scientist Doctor Baxter. 

Film roles for 1974 took in in the Italian drama Simona (1974) and Luther (1974), a film version of the John Osborne stage play, starring Stacey Keach as Martin Luther supported by a wealth of Brit character actors including Hugh Griffith, Julian Glover, Judi Dench and Robert Stephens. Television roles included playing Corporal Donovan in 'The Last Charge' (3rd March 1974), a second season episode of The Adventures of Black Beauty. His major television role for the year was undertaking the title role in a Thames Television production of King Lear (24th September – 5th November 1974). This was a six-part production for schools and colleges and originally transmitted on Tuesday mornings from 24th September. The adaptation, intended for secondary school pupils boasted a cast that also had roles essayed by Patrick Mower (Edmund), Peter Jeffrey (Cornwall) and Wendy Allnut (Cordelia). The production was later edited into a single play running to two hours in length and was released on DVD in 2004. In the year prior to his role in Beasts Magee played Cardinal Bellarim in the biopic Galileo (1975) which saw him reunited with director Joseph Losey. Rather strangely Topol was cast as the eponymous 17th Century Italian astronomer. His only other film role for the year saw him also reunited with Stanley Kubrick for whom he undertook the role of gambler the Chevalier du Balibari in Barry Lyndon (1975). During the filming a card game scene Magee had difficulty in saying his lines due to being distracted by having to wear an eye patch. When he did get the line right his hands were not in the position that Kubrick required and so a hand model was used to shuffle and deal the cards. However this caused continuity problems because the hand model had smooth hands and Magee’s were very hairy. Kubrick’s solution to match the shots was for Magee to shave his hands.

On television he could be seen playing another mad scientist, Professor Marcus Carnaby, in the Thriller episode 'A Killer in Every Corner' (1st February 1975). Carnaby is a psychologist who habitually records his voice on a tape recorder, possibly a direct reference to Krapp’s Last Tape. Next was a role as Vamvakaris in the Quiller episode 'Mark The File Expendable' (7th November 1975). On the stage there was a revival of Krapp’s Last Tape at the Greenwich Theatre during December 1975. Magee directed with Max Wall taking on the central role previously written by Beckett for Magee. During May 1976 to mark the seventieth birthday of Samuel Beckett the Royal Court staged a new production of his play Endgame, directed by Donald McWhinnie who would cast Magee in his episode of Beasts. Magee played the central role of Hamm whilst a young Stephen Rea essayed Clov. This was followed with McWhinnie also directing a production of Beckett’s trilogy Play, That Time and Footfalls. Magee appeared in That Time. Further stage roles for the year included The White Devil at the Old Vic during July 1976 and part of the Oxford Theatre Festival Magee directed a revival of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot during August.

Magee’s role as Leo Raymount in the Beasts episode 'What Big Eyes' was his only film or television appearance during 1976. Perhaps Magee’s biggest achievement of the year was not on the screen or on the stage, but in the realm of politics. He joined fellow actors Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson in successfully campaigning to persuade the actor’s union Equity to boycott South African because of Apartheid. Post-Beasts there was a third and final appearance in a BBC Play of the Month production with Magee in the supporting role of Fergus Crampton in a version of the George Bernard Shaw play 'You Can Never Tell' (30th October 1977). This was followed by a role in 'The Well' (12th December 1977), an episode of the BBC drama series Who Pays The Ferryman? His only film work for the year was as a Russian KGB officer, General Strelsky, in Don Siegel’s action film Telefon (1977) which starred Charles Bronson. During 1978 Magee’s sole television appearance was as the recurring character Ebenezer Balfour in HTV’s production of Kidnapped. He then appeared on screen in the strife-torn Belfast set Play for Today episode 'The Last Window Cleaner' (13th February 1979). Tony Harrison’s staging of Aeschylus trilogy of plays was filmed by the BBC and Magee could be seen in the role of Kalchas in the opening episode Agamemnon (7th March 1979). For the French film production Les soeurs Bronte (The Bronte Sisters) (1979) Magee played the strict Anglican pastor who fathered the eponymous siblings. Churchill and the Generals (1979) was a star studded TV movie which featured Timothy West as Churchill. The production examined the relationship Churchill had with his army generals during the war and Magee appeared as General Sir Archibald Wavell. Magee also appeared as Muldooney in the Play for Today production 'The Last Window Cleaner' (13th February 1979).

 

In the last few years of his life Magee became more active onscreen than he had been in recent years. In 1980 he appeared in four cinema releases; playing Ernst Mueller in heist movie Rough Cut (1980), popping up as the sacrilegious Reverend Slodden who declares he is the anti-Christ in comedy vehicle Sir Henry at Rawlinson’s End (1980), portraying the Marquis in obscure Swedish horror film The Sleep of Death AKA Inn of the Flying Dragon (1980) and a cameo as a priest in the low budget fantasy film Hawk The Slayer (1980). His only TV role for the year was in a Play for Today episode which unusually featured a science fiction storyline. 'The Flipside of Dominck Hide' (9th December 1980) featured Magee in the role of Caleb Line.

His appearance as the pompous aristocrat Lord Cadogan, head of the British Olympic Committee, in the Oscar winning film Chariots of Fire (1981) is possibly his most recognisable role from his final years and is certainly the most highly visible with his other film roles for the year being in the horror genre. The Monster Club (1981) was a late entry into the horror portmanteau field and feels and looks very old fashioned. Magee graced the film with his role as the Innkeeper in the third and final segment. The Black Cat (1981) was an Italian horror film directed by the notorious director Lucio Fulci which featured Magee as Professor Robert Miles opposite David Warbeck’s police inspector and Mimsy Farmer. Professor Miles is a psychic who is able to communicate with his pet cat who he sends to wreak vengeance on those that wronged him. His final horror film role was as General William Danvers Carew in Walerian Borowczyk’s art porn horror The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981). The director had seen Magee in Sir Henry at Rawlinson’s End and recruited him and the cinematographer, Martin Bell, to work on his production following the viewing. Magee’s final film appearance was in the documentary Samuel Beckett: Silence To Silence (1982) which celebrated the work of the writer with who Magee had been a lifelong friend to.

Next was the role of Alfred in 'Horace Finds a Friend' (22nd April 1982), an episode of the Yorkshire Television comedy series Horace starring Barry Jackson in the title role. His final posthumous appearance saw him reprise the role of Caleb Line in the Play For Today story 'Another Flip For Dominick' (14th December 1982)

Despite all this success Magee still struggled financially, in part due to his vices. A low in his stage career came when he appeared opposite Helen Mirren in a production of the play The Faith Healer at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Magee was cast in the central role of Frank McCabe and was eventually sacked for appearing on stage drunk. The playwright Thomas Kilroy who was rehearsing another production at the Royal Court reflected “I have never been so frightened in the theatre. Most of those nights Magee was so drunk that he barely made it into the spot on the stage. To compound matters, Mirren was giving a performance of matching power and you ached for even one respite to allow these two performances to speak to one another. It never quite happened because the real danger that Magee was about to fall head over heels into the front rows of the stalls.[4]”

Magee died from a heart attack (probably caused by his drinking and hell raiser lifestyle) at his home in Fulham, London on 14th August 1982. His wife Belle passed away in September 2006. In 2017 his life was commemorated with a blue plaque by the Ulster History Circle at his former family home in Armagh. The plaque was unveiled by actor Stephen Rea who had appeared with Magee on stage in a 1976 production of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame.

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[1] The script was originally titled Magee’s Monologue and written in only three weeks

[2] “Carried by Storm” review by Susan Kay, The Stage, Thursday 29^th October 1964, page 12

[3] “Gielgud, Hiller, Magee in Shaffer Drama”, The Stage and Television Today, Thursday 29^th January 1970, page 14 

 [4] Quoted in “A Drunk, Gambler and Hell-Raiser, But A Towering Acting Talent… Remembering Patrick Magee”  by Ivan Little, Belfast Telegraph Digital, available at https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/a-drunk-gambler-and-hellraiser-but-a-towering-acting-talent-remembering-patrick-magee-35974861.html (accessed 19th March 2019)

Michael Kitchen (Bob Curry in What Big Eyes)

Michael Kitchen was born on 31st October 1948 in Leicester General Hospital. His father, Arthur Ernest Kitchen, was a butcher’s assistant and his mother, Elsie Betty Kitchen, was a hairdresser. During his childhood he was the head chorister in the local church choir and attended the City of Leicester Grammar School. It was here that he had his first taste of ‘treading the boards’ when he appeared in a school production of Shakespeare’s Cymbaline. He completed work with the National Youth Theatre and then as an assistant stage manager at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry[1] before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) between 1967 and 1969. Whilst still a drama student he won the 1969 Emilie Littler Award for outstanding talent and aptitude for the professional theatre. From the start of the 1970s he could be seen in small roles in films whilst becoming a familiar face on television. The 5’7’’ tall actor is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle in the ITV crime drama Foyle’s War.

Whilst still attending RADA he was approached by the talent spotter Peter Froggat and signed on with the agency Plant and Froggat Ltd. One of his earliest professional stage appearances was playing Harry Hardcastle in a production of Love on the Dole staged at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. Amongst his first television appearances was an episode of Thirty Minute Theatre, 'Is That Your Body, Boy?' (9th May 1970). Kitchen was one of the main characters, Waller, alongside Ron Moody performing from a script by Andrew Davies. This was followed by a guest role as Trevor in 'The Prime of Life' (11th January 1971), an episode of Man at the Top. Kitchen made his Play for Today debut with the episode 'Hell’s Angel' (21st January 1971) which also featured Quatermass actor Andre Morrell in the cast. Next was the obligatory role in Z Cars appearing as Ray Hall in the two part story 'Hold Up' (1st and 2nd March 1971).

Kitchen made his film debut playing the school boy Bungabine in the macabre and sadly underseen Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971), adapted from the play written by Giles Cooper. Kitchen’s character was one of the murderous schoolboys who plot a similar deadly outcome for their new teacher, John Ebony, played by David Hemmings. Kitchen's next film role was as Greg, one of the young people in 1970s swinging London who find themselves confronting Christopher Lee’s vampire in the Hammer horror Dracula AD 1972 (1972). On the stage he could be seen in the Royal Court production of Big Wolf during April and May 1972. During September 1972 he appeared in double bill of two genre flavoured plays staged for lunchtime audiences at the King’s Head Theatre Club. The Day They Came saw aliens invade Brighton Pier whilst A Night Out from The Ghosts offered necrophilia and cannibalism.

His television roles for 1972 included 'The Web' (3rd December 1972), an episode of the drama anthology ITV Sunday Night Theatre, and a guest role in 'Hoax' (29th December 1972), an episode of the police drama series New Scotland Yard. He also made his second Play for Today appearance with 'The Reporters' (9th October 1972) which told of a meeting between a fresh faced news reporter and a jaded old hack. Kitchen played the younger reporter, Alan, with the veteran journalist, Vic, portrayed by Robert Urquhart. The play was written by Arthur Hopcraft who had worked as a reporter for the Daily Mirror and The Guardian newspapers. The trade paper The Stage’s review highlighted Kitchen’s contribution; “Michael Kitchen was capably cast as Alan, the young cub. He managed to find all the flair, drive, and repressed vulnerability that Hopcraft wrote into the character.[2]”

His next television work was for another drama anthology production, Country Matters, and it was here that he first worked alongside director Donald McWhinnie - this would lead to him being cast by the director in the Beasts episode 'What Big Eyes'. Kitchen played Henry Batley, a journalist who stays at a bed and breakfast and has a fling with the landlady in the episode 'The Four Beauties' (11th March 1973). The production was adapted from an H E Bates short story.

The year of 1973 was a breakthrough year for Kitchen and would prove to be his busiest year so far in the medium of television. Following his work with Donald McWhinnie Kitchen moved onto an episode of another drama anthology series, Late Night Theatre, with the episode 'Susan' (13th June 1973). He then guest starred as Philippe Villon in 'Chantelle' (15th October 1973), an episode of drama anthology Crime of Passion, written by Adele Rose. He was also cast as Branwell Bronte in The Brontes of Haworth (30th September – 28th October 1973), a five episode dramatization of the life and times of the Bronte sisters, co-produced by Yorkshire Television and Granada Television. The Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries episode 'The Monkeys Paw' (10th November 1973) would see Kitchen cast as the ill-fated Herbert White, who would return from death mangled, but living. Based on the WW Jacobs short story the production also featured Patrick Magee as the old soldier who passes on the titular paw with the power to grant wishes to Herbert’s parents. Playing Mr and Mrs White was Cyril Cusack and Megs Jenkins[3]. Kitchen also took the lead male role of Ray in 'Audrey Had A Little Lamb' (4th December 1973), an episode of the romantic drama anthology series Love Story. Earlier in the same day Kitchen could be seen as Simon in the first of a two part storyline for the drama series Marked Personal (4th and 5th December 1973).

The following year, 1974, was also an industrious year which Kitchen began by playing King Thrushbeard in the BBC single drama King Thrushbeard and the Proud Princess (27th February 1974). In the theatre he was involved with a touring production of Spring Awakening for the National Theatre from May until July 1974. Also amongst the cast was Jenny Agutter, Beryl Reid and Peter Firth. 'St Martin’s Summer' (7th July 1974) was an instalment of the television anthology series Seven Faces of Woman written by Shelagh Delaney. Kitchen played the character Archie. Three days later he appeared as Tommy in the ITV Playhouse production 'A Kind of Bonus' (10th July 1974). Next was playing Trotsky in two episodes of the BBC historical drama The Fall of Eagles – 'The Last Tsar' (12th April 1974) and 'Absolute Beginners' (19th April 1974). During September 1974 Kitchen took over the role of Romeo from Peter Firth in a touring production of Romeo and Juliet before ending the year appearing in the BBC mini-series The Early Life of Stephen Hind (30th November – 14th December 1974). Kitchen took the titular role as a venal and manipulative man who will stop at nothing to rise to the top.

During February and March 1975 Kitchen played the title role in John Osborne’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Greenwich Theatre. Television roles for 1975 included 'King Thrushbeard and the Proud Princess' (13th February 1975) - an episode of children’s show Jackanory Playhouse, playing The Earl of Rochester in 'A Bill of Mortality' (28th April 1975), the 18th episode of the BBC’s ambitious failure Churchill’s People, portraying kidnapper and terrorist Carlos Esquerdo in the BBC feature length single drama Savages (12th November 1975) and his first television encounter with the supernatural in 'The Imp of the Perverse' (20th December 1975). Kitchen could be seen as the student in a cast which also featured Milton Johns and Lalla Ward working with a script by Andrew Davies. The production was transmitted as part of the drama anthology strand Centre Play. Stage work for the latter half of the year took in Iago in a production of Othello for the Young Vic Theatre during October and Macbeth[4] in a Young Vic Theatre production of the play during October

Prior to appearing in the Beasts episode 'What Big Eyes' Kitchen made his second ITV Sunday Night Drama appearance with the role of Ken, a wounded British soldier who stumbles across an abandoned tank in the desert, in the episode 'Enemy' (24th April 1976). His role as RSPCA inspector Bob Curry in 'What Big Eyes' was next. Kitchen also appeared in the Dennis Potter play Brimstone and Treacle made during 1976. However, the controversial production was to remain unscreened until 1987. Post-Beasts Kitchen was seen in the three-part BBC drama A Divorce (6th August – 20th August 1976) in the role of Laurence, the husband involved in the breakup of his marriage from the quiet beginnings through to the legal proceedings. Kitchen then entered a quiet period for television appearances during the next few years as he concentrated his energy on theatre and stage appointments. He was romantically linked to Joanna Lumley during this period of his life.

During February and March 1977 he was in the cast of the premiere run of Bedroom Farce by Alan Ayckbourn presented at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre. May 1977 saw the premiere of Robert Bolt’s State of Revolution at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre before moving to the National Theatre’s South Bank complex in London. The play featured leading Russian political figures like Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin played by Michael Bryant, Michael Kitchen and Terence Rigby. Other roles were filled by Brian Blessed and Sara Kestelman. He was then cast as Maurice Rossitter in an episode of the Thames Television single season drama anthology Romance. 'House of Men' (30th March 1977) was based on a story by Catherine Cookson and directed by Piers Haggard who would later oversee the final Quatermass series. In 1978 Kitchen featured in No Man’s Land (3rd October 1978), a TV adaptation of the Harold Pinter play which was headlined by John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson.

He was also the bad guy of the week in The Professionals episode 'Runner' (8th December 1979) playing the political terrorist Duffy. More highbrow was the BBC 2 Playhouse instalment 'School Play' (7th November 1979) set in a public school with all the school boys played by adults which included Kitchen, Tim Piggot-Smith and Jeremy Kemp. The only female in the cast was Jenny Agutter who played the school cook. Kitchen played Rose, a new boy at the school.

Kitchen started the new decade with gusto and a return to regular television guest roles. Festival: The Misanthrope (27th January 1980) was a feature length single drama adapted from the play by Moliere. Kitchen appeared as Acaste opposite a talented cast that also featured Annette Crosbie, Cherie Lunghi and Nigel Hawthorne. Kitchen then appeared as a man of the cloth, Reverend Father M’Enery, in 'Not For the Nervous' (27th July 1980), an episode of themed drama anthology series Ladykillers. Next was a television version of the Alan Ayckbourn play Bedroom Farce (28th September 1980) and the role of Larner in the New Wave film musical Breaking Glass (1980). His most enduring role for the year was as Peter in the Stephen Poliakoff BBC 2 Playhouse drama 'Caught on a Train' (31st October 1980). During October and November 1980 Kitchen was also appearing in the theatre production The Provok’d Wife at the Lyttelton Theatre situated at the South Bank in London.

The year of 1981 was an industrious one for Kitchen. His credits began with The Bunker (27th January 1981), an American and French television co-production TV movie, which starred Anthony Hopkins as Hitler in his last days in his underground bunker in Berlin. Kitchen played Rochus Misch, one of the Hitler’s bodyguards. February 1981 saw production of a stage version of the radio play Family Voices by Harold Pinter. Kitchen, along with Mark Dignam and Peggy Ashcroft, reprised the roles they had played on the radio for the stage production presented at the Lyttelton theatre. Kitchen also headlined a season four episode of Tales of the Unexpected, 'The Best of Everything' (26th April 1981), playing Arthur Price.

Willis Hall’s play The Long and the Short and the Tall was first produced in 1958 and out of all of the different versions since Hall himself was apparently most pleased with a BBC schools and colleges production. This version was compiled and transmitted on BBC 2 during the evening of Saturday 27th June 1981. Kitchen was a cast member alongside Mark McManus. Patrick Stewart was Doctor Edward Roebuck, lead character in the BBC drama series Maybury, a psychiatrist who would deal with a different case each episode. Kitchen was a guest star in the first season episode 'Indoor Games' (21st July 1981). Kitchen was next be seen on the television as Stephen in the Play for Today episode 'A Room for the Winter' (3rd November 1981). This was his third, and final role for the drama anthology series. On the big screen Kitchen appeared alongside Hywel Bennett and Judy Geeson in the short film Towards The Morning (1981), based on a story by Melvyn Bragg.

The next couple of years were quiet with only a handful of television appearances whilst Kitchen again concentrated in stage work. He did find time to appear in two Shakespeare adaptations for the BBC undertaking the role of Edmund in a version of King Lear (18th October 1982) starring Michael Horden as Lear under the direction of Jonathan Miller. The following year he appeared as Antipholus in The Comedy of Errors (24th December 1983) which featured rock star Roger Daltrey in the role of Dromio.

He was teamed with Bernard Hill for the BBC 2 feature length single drama Still Life (2nd May 1984). Kitchen was cast as Bob, a teacher who becomes paralysed following being knocked off his bike by a lorry. For the London Weekend Television drama anthology series Weekend Playhouse he then appeared in the production 'As Man and Wife' (22nd July 1984). His biggest television role of the year was playing Ernst von Fleischi-Marxow in the BBC biographical period drama Freud (14th September – 19th October 1984) which starred David Suchet as Sigmund Freud. Fleischi-Marxow was an Austrian physician who became noted for his investigations into electrical activity in the brain and nerves. He also continued his association with the Lyttelton Theatre by appearing in a production of the Tom Stoppard play Rough Crossing during November 1984. 

Kitchen’s most prominent role of 1985 was playing Berkeley in the film Out of Africa (1985) though he also appeared in a couple of television movies during the year as well – a BBC iteration of Terence Rattigan’s The Browning Version (31st December 1985), which also figured Judie Dench and Ian Holm in the cast, and Love Song (6th April 1985) playing the younger version of William Hatchard with Maurice Denham playing the same role as an old man. The screenplay was based on a story by Jeffrey Archer. For the next few years Kitchen concentrated on stage roles. From September 1986 through to May 1987 Kitchen was a member of touring RSC production of Richard II playing Bolingbroke. February onwards 1987 he was in a touring production of The Art of Success as the Victorian painter William Hogarth. Niamh Cusack played his wife. April 1987 he played Mercurio in a version of Romeo and Juliet staged at The Barbican. 

Though produced in 1976 the BBC version of Dennis Potter’s Brimstone and Treacle (25th August 1987) was not transmitted until 1987, five years after the film version starring Sting as the demonic Martin Taylor. Kitchen played the Martin Taylor role in the television play and he imbues the roles with much more demonic shading than Sting was able to muster in the film version. Denholm Elliott and Patricia Lawrence played the parents of Pattie (Michelle Newell) who is in a permanent vegetative state following a road accident. Kitchen claims to be Pattie’s suitor and uses this to charm his way into the household. Kitchen made no film or television appearances during 1988. He returned to the small screen with the guest role of Maltese Tony in the Minder episode 'Fiddler on the Hoof' (30th January 1989) before moving onto the BBC drama series The Justice Game (7th – 28th April 1989) to play Tim Forsythe. Kitchen‘s next appearance on television was 'Benefactors' (28th May 1989), an episode of the BBC 2 anthology strand Theatre Night. He also popped up in the Norwegian feature film Dykket (1989) playing the role of Bricks in a largely Norwegian cast. 'Home Run' (1st October 1989) was an episode of Screen One and Kitchen’s appearance in this production was followed by the clumsily named Ball Trap on the Cote Sauvage (27th December 1989), a single feature length comedy drama written by Andrew Davies. Crossing To Freedom AKA The Pied Piper (8th April 1990) was a TV movie which starred Peter O’Toole as a man who helps a group of children escape Nazi Germany. Kitchen played Major Diessen in the production which was adapted from a Neville Shute novel. 

During 1990 he was also involved in two cinema releases – Fools of Fortune (1990) where he played the local landowner, Mr Quinton, in a tale set in Ireland during 1918. The second film was the Sean Connery vehicle The Russia House which was adapted from a John Le Carre novel. The movie plays host to many a familiar British character actor and Kitchen found himself in the company of such names as David Threlfall, James Fox and even director Ken Russell popping up in a cameo role. He then had a small role in the BBC production of The War That Never Ends (28th March 1991) based on the writings of Thucydides and Plato. Kitchen could be seen as an Athenian representative in the production which depicted the Peloponnesian Wars, which pitched Athens against Sparta and lasted 27 years, as a series of news broadcast talking heads. Central Television’s drama series Chancer, starring Clive Owen, also featured Kitchen in two episodes – 'The Fall' (28th May 1991) and 'Sacrifice' (4th June 1991) playing the role of Roman. His only other TV appearances during 1991 were in an episode of the series Stay Lucky. He guest starred as Ray Monk opposite series regulars Dennis Waterman and Jan Francis in the instalment 'Shingle Beach' (23rd November 1991). He also appeared in Faraday’s Dream (21st September 1991), a thirty minute BBC 2 drama celebrating the life of the inventor Michael Faraday, played by Kitchen.

The year of 1992 started with a guest role in an episode of Lovejoy, 'Kids' (15th March 1992), before Kitchen moved on to the Scottish Television mini-series Advocates II (9th – 23rd March 1992) playing barrister James McCandlish. Only two days later ITV viewers could enjoy another Kitchen guest role in the Inspector Morse episode 'The Death of the Self ' (25th March 1992) when he played the role of Russell Clark. He could also be seen in the BBC Films production Enchanted April (5th April 1992). He then appeared in the forgotten UK action thriller film Hostage (1992) which starred Sam Neill as a secret agent. Kitchen has a small role as the character Fredericks.

Kitchen was next seen on screen as the amoral attorney Steven Vey in the two-part Central drama series The Guilty (8th and 9th June 1992). Vey rapes his secretary who fears going public with the incident until Vey is made a judge. Kitchen completed the year with another guest role, portraying Donald Blake in the Boon episode 'Shot in the Dark' (1st December 1992). He could be heard, but not seen, for his final TV credit of the year playing the narrator of 'Hamlet' (7th December 1992), an episode of the BBC Shakespeare The Animated Tales series. Kitchen’s first televised appearance of 1993 was a guest slot in the Keith Barron / Nigel Havers comedy drama The Good Guys in the episode 'Old School Ties' (15th January 1993) playing Graham Croxley, a local councillor whose son is suspected of attacking an old age pensioner. He then appeared in the BBC Films version of Franz Kafka’s The Trial (1993) opposite Kyle MacLachlan as Josef K. Kitchen essayed the character Block.  

Next was a guest role in the American TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles with an appearance in the episode 'Paris, May 1919' (24th July 1993). Kitchen played Lloyd George. Back on UK TV he had a further guest role for the Between the Lines episode 'The Fifth Estate' (16th November 1993). Kitchen appeared as the character Roger Boshier. During the same year he also acted as the narrator on the documentary Hell in the Pacific (1993) which examined the issues of land rights and their exploitation by mining companies in Papua New Guinea. His final televised role for the year was as The King in the BBC mini-series To Play The King (21st November – 12th December 1993).

Kitchen undertook the role of Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong in the London Weekend Television crime drama Dandelion Dead (6th February 1994). The Major is a solicitor who stands trial for killing a business rival and his wife and was based on a real-life case. This was followed by playing Dudley Hooperman in the first episode of the comedy drama Pie in the Sky – 'The Best of Both Worlds' (13th March 1994). Next was the American TV movie Doomsday Gun (23rd July 1994) which saw Kitchen appear alongside such quality Hollywood stars as Frank Langella, Alan Arkin and Kevin Spacey in the dramatization of the events around Sadam Hussein’s super gun. This was followed by another American TV movie, Fatherland (26th November 1994), based on the novel by Robert Harris and set in an alternate world where Nazi Germany won the Second World War. Kitchen appeared as the character Jaeger. He also made a return to Shakespeare The Animated Tales to voice the character Polixenes in “The Winter’s Tale” (7th December 1994). 

Kitchen started 1995 with an appearance in Rik Mayall Presents, an anthology series designed to show the dramatic capabilities of the eponymous actor. Kitchen appears in the episode 'Dirty Old Town' (5th February) which sees Mayall play a tramp with Kitchen in the role of Jeremy Swain. In between the guest slots Kitchen also committed to a couple of min-series during the year – BBC period drama The Buccaneers (5th February – 5th March 1995), which saw Kitchen play the role of Sir Helmsley Thwaite, and The Hanging Gale (14th May – 4th June 1995). This was another period drama with Kitchen playing Captain William Townsend who persecutes the Phelan brothers – played by the real-life McGann brothers; Paul, Joe, Mark and Stephen. Up next was another American TV movie, this time a version of Kidnapped (5th November 1995), with Armand Assante as an unlikely Alan Stewart. Kitchen adds character to the production playing William Reid. He also acted the narrator on the two-part Network First documentary 'Gettys – Tragedy of Riches' (7th and 14th November 1995). His most high profile role for the year was undoubtedly playing Bill Tanner in the James Bond film Golden Eye (1995). He then reprised the role of Dudley Hooperman in the Pie in the Sky episode 'Money Talks' (31st December 1995).

During 1996 he took part in the three-part miniseries Wilderness (30th September – 14th October 1996) based on the horror novel by Dennis Danvers and adapted by Andrew and Bernadette Davies. Kitchen appeared as Luther Adams, a psychiatrist working with Alice White (Amanda Ooms) who believes she turns into a wolf once a month. Kitchen may have had flashbacks to dealing with a similar lycanthrope obsessed individual in his Beasts episode “What Big Eyes”. There was also a solitary guest role, Jonathan Meyerbridge, in the A Touch of Frost episode “The Things We Do For Love” (21st January 1996). Kitchen was the narrator on “The Power and the Glory” (11th December 1996), an episode of the BBC documentary programme Modern Times. The subject was the annual power boat race at Cowes, on the Isle of Wight.

As Kitchen approached his fifties he was even more in demand than ever and 1997 onwards would be a particularly busy time for film and television roles starting with a guest role in the sketch show Harry Enfield and Chums playing a director called David in an episode transmitted 11th February 1997. This revealed a flair for comic timing which would lead Kitchen to take more comedic roles in future. Next was the romantic drama series Reckless (6th February – 13th March 1997) with Kitchen appearing as David Crane, the ex-husband of Francesca Annis’ character. Crane also happens to be boss of Annis’ new lover. Produced by Granada this soapy eternal love triangle also starred David Bradley as Crane’s ailing father. 

Kitchen followed this with another comedy role in the forgotten BBC comedy gem Sunnyside Farm (18th April – 23rd May 1997) which also starred Mark Addy and Phil Daniels. Kitchen played the unpleasant, flat cap wearing local landowner Mr Letchworth who bullies his way through all six episodes. The series sported a theme tune by Damon Albarn (assisted by Phil Daniels) and featured an early appearance of Matt Lucas in a series of cameos as kinky or half naked countryside characters. The programme received a set of harsh reviews. It ran for one season only and has never been repeated or released on DVD. Film wise Kitchen appeared in Mrs Dalloway (1997), a version of the Virginia Woolf novel adapted by ex-actress Eileen Atkins who, together with her husband Bill Shepherd, bankrolled the adaptation with their own money. The venture nearly bankrupted them when the film flopped at the box office. Kitchen appears as the character Peter Walsh whilst Vanessa Redgrave headlined as Mrs Clarissa Dalloway. A Royal Scandal (10th October 1997) was a BBC feature length costume drama based on the story of the disastrous marriage between George, Prince of Wales and Caroline of Brunswick. Kitchen played Lord Malmesbury in a glittering cast which also included Richard E Grant as George, Susan Lynch as Caroline, Denis Lawson, Frances Barber and Ian Richardson.

One of his more unusual roles during 1998 was for the Swedish crime thriller movie Sista kontraktet (1998). Kitchen appeared as the master assassin Ray Lambert who is being hunted by the police as he pursues his plan to kill the Swedish prime minister. Reckless: The Sequel (18th April 1998) was a feature length follow up the romantic drama series screened the previous year. Robson Green and Francesca Annis returned as the romantic couple, now on the verge of marriage. Kitchen also recreated the role of bitter ex-husband David Crane who this time schemes to tear the happy couple apart. He then had a guest role as Philip Swain in the Dalziel and Pascoe episode 'Bones and Silence' (18th October 1998).

Kitchen started 1999 with his most distinguished role for the year which was another return to a previously played character. He appeared in his second James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough (1999), once more playing Bill Tanner. The next television role for Kitchen was the kindly Mr Brownlow in a BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist (28th November 1999 – 19th December 1999). The script, provided by Alan Bleasdale, also offered roles to Julie Walters, Annette Crosbie, Lindsay Duncan and Robert Lindsay (as Fagin). Kitchen was then seen as the father in Carlton Television’s version of The Railway Children (12th November 2000). Cast as mother was Jenny Agutter who had appeared as a juvenile actor in the film version. The Holocaust on Trial (29th April 2000) was a feature length documentary which investigated Hitler’s Final Solution. The programme also contained dramatic reconstructions of the trial of historian David Irving who was accused of being a Holocaust denier. Kitchen was cast in the reconstructions as Professor Richard Evans, a British historian and expert on 19th and 20th Century Germany who was called to give evidence for the prosecution in the trial. 

The mini-series The Secret World of Michael Fry (25th April & 2nd May 2000) featured Ewen Bremmer as the eponymous character, a council planner who uncovers a sinister secret in a sleepy Welsh seaside town. Kitchen could be seen in the supporting role of Herbie. Film roles for the year started with the British drama New Year’s Day (2000) written by Ralph Brown, more commonly recognised for his acting roles including the drug dealer Danny in cult comedy Withnail and I (1987). Kitchen then took the part of Ian Harvery in the Hollywood film Proof of Life (2000) which starred Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan under the direction of Taylor Hackford.

Kitchen could also be heard as one of the voices reading aloud from historical documents in the first season of Simon Schama’s BBC documentary series A History of Britain (30th September – 11th November 2000). He was then cast as Judge Jeffries for the BBC adaptation of Lorna Doone before moving onto feature in the BBC crime drama Second Sight in the episode 'Parasomni'” (8th June 2000) as Bruce Roddam, the father of a girl with a sleep disorder accused of murdering her fiancé.

Kitchen had been a jobbing guest star actor and had featured in several mini-series, but he had never undertaken a recurring role in an ongoing television series before. During 2001 and 2002 he made his debut in such a series, Always and Everyone, a medical drama produced by Granada Television, starting in the third season as one of the principal characters, Jack Turner. The character was created to act as a catalyst between established characters Robert Kingsford (Martin Shaw, another Beasts luminary) and Christine Fletcher (Niamh Cusack) and continued into the fourth and final season in 2002. He also narrated a couple of World War Two documentaries - Hitler’s Fixer (2002), which detailed the life of Hitler’s right hand man Martin Bormann, and Adolf and Eva (29th April 2001).  

2002 would see Kitchen take on what has become his signature television role, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle who investigates crimes as England confronts Nazi Germany during the Second World War. The character has appeared in twenty eight episodes produced between 2002 and 2015. Kitchen himself has been a consultant producer on other twenty episodes of the series. The character was created by writer Anthony Horowitz and was commissioned by ITV after the cancellation of Inspector Morse. Foyle’s War was cancelled in 2007, but a torrent of complaints and good ratings for the fifth series in 2008 prompted the programme to be revived. The final episode was broadcast in January 2015 after eight series.

During 2003 Kitchen took the role of Doctor Adams in the short film Crisis (2003) and the role of Greg Brentwood in the two-part mini-series Alibi (25th & 26th August 2003) - a black comedy written by Paul Abbott which sees Greg discover with the dead body of his wife’s lover and his attempts to cover it up. Kitchen also utilised his vocal talents by narrating the first season of the reality series Faking It USA (2003). Kitchen was once again cast in a production scripted by Andrew Davies with Falling (6th March 2005), a Granada Television romantic thriller based in the novel by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Kitchen appeared as Henry Kent who starts a romance with writer Daisy Langrish (Penelope Wilton), but his advances are not always done with the best intentions. 

With his Foyle’s War commitments Kitchen found little time to make many appearances in other programmes. One of his guest roles in another production was as David Guest in the three-part thriller series Mobile (19th March – 2nd April 2007). Following this role Kitchen confined himself purely to appearing in Foyle’s War and it would be four years before Kitchen appeared outside of the wartime detective drama. This came in the form of a supporting role as Hugh Perceval, the British screenwriter and producer, in the film My Week with Marilyn (2011). He then fully capitalised on his earlier entries into comedy with feature length comedy drama Hacks (1st January 2012), playing the media baron Stanhope Feast, as well as taking on the recurring role of John Farrow, the splenetic agent of Brian Pern, in the spoof documentary series The Life of Rock with Brian Pern which ran for three seasons between 2014 and 2016. A one-off special followed, Brian Pern: A Tribute (29th March 2017), after Pern had passed away. Kitchen’s most recent screen role to date has been in the Amazon original series The Collection, a drama series set in a post-War Parisian fashion house. Kitchen guest stars in the episode 'The Scent' (10th February 2017) as Frederic Lemaire.

In 1988 he married Rowena Miller and the couple have two children. They met whilst Miller was working as a dresser for the Royal Shakespeare Company. A very private individual, Kitchen very rarely gives interviews.

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[1] Kitchen also appeared on stage during his time in Coventry, making his debut for the company when he took over the role of Lord Fellamar from David Munro, who had to spend time in hospital. This was in May 1967 shortly before Kitchen enrolled at RADA.

[2] “The Reporter” review by Sheldon Larry, The Stage and Television Today, 12^th October 1972, page 12

[3] Jenkins had appeared in a short film version of the story in 1948

[4] The role was played by three actors including Kitchen, the other iterations being Alfred Lynch and Michael Graham Cox