Chris Tranchell

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Chris Tranchell
Born
Christopher Peter John Small

(1941-04-13) 13 April 1941 (age 84)
Ringwood, Hampshire, England
OccupationActor

Chris Tranchell (born Christopher Peter John Small, [1] 13 April 1941) is a British actor, best known for his role in the television drama Survivors as Paul Pitman. It was in one of these episodes (Law and Order) where he played the guitar and led the group in a rendition of the Buddy Holly song It Doesn't Matter Anymore which led to him becoming a presenter of children's programme Play School from 1976–1984. [2]

Contents

Early life

Changing his surname from Small to Tranchell (due to being under six feet tall and finding it unpleasant being called "Small" at school), he began his training at the Sander Theatre School in Southampton, wanting to become an actor. At 16, he passed an audition for the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, wanting to go there since it offered classical grounding. Two years later, he walked into the Grand Theatre, Southampton to ask Hector Ross for a job and successfully got one. [3]

Career

Tranchell appeared in three different Doctor Who serials: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve in 1966, The Faceless Ones in 1967 and The Invasion of Time in 1978. His other credits include Z-Cars , The Onedin Line , The New Avengers , The Bill and Casualty . Theatre work includes Thomas Malory’s Morte D'Arthur at the Lyric Hammersmith in the roles of Merlin and Pelles. [4]

Personal life

While performing in Margate in 1962, Tranchell met the actress Louanne Harvey. The following year, they were married and together they had three children. Over the next decade, the couple appeared in repertories such as Plymouth, Bellingham and Worcester during which she transferred from acting to designing sets and costumes. [5] While based at the Swan Theatre in 1973, the family became homeless after the lease on their lodgings ran out and as a result, spent 13 nights sleeping in a tent on the lawn at the home of then-theatre owner John Hole. [6] [7] Eventually, they were offered a flat for four weeks by Worcester Public Services Committee with the rent being paid by the theatre. [8] [9]

Louanne would later become a planning activist and campaigner, attended protests such as Cop 21 in Paris. She died in 2025. [5]

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ Room, Adrian (2010). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins. McFarland & Co Inc. p. 479.
  2. ↑ "Interview with Chris Tranchell". www.kaldorcity.com. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  3. ↑ "On their way UP". Southern Daily Echo . 15 August 1959. p. 11. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  4. ↑ KEVIN J. HARTY, Review: [Untitled],Reviewed Work: SIR THOMAS MALORY'S MORTE D'ARTHUR by David Freeman, Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, St. Paul's Church, Arthurian Interpretations, Vol. 4 No 2 (Spring 1990), pp. 88-90
  5. 1 2 "Other lives: Louanne Tranchell". The Guardian . 26 April 2025. p. 10. Retrieved 2 January 2026. (Obituary)
  6. ↑ "A tent for actor Chris and family of four". Worcester News . 18 August 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  7. ↑ "Theatre must pay the rent". Berrow's Worcester Journal . 13 September 1973. p. 26. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  8. ↑ "Tent family are offered flat". Worcester News. 4 September 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  9. ↑ "Homeless Actor Offered Flat". Berrow's Worcester Journal. 6 September 1973. p. 24. Retrieved 2 January 2026.


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