Michael Angelis

Michael Angelis
Born	Nicolas Michael Angelis (1944-04-29)29 April 1944 Paddington, London, England
Died	30 May 2020(2020-05-30) (aged 76) Thatcham, Berkshire, England
Alma mater	Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1968–2015
Spouses	Unknown ​ ​ (m. 1971,divorced)​ [ citation needed ] Helen Worth ​ ​ (m. 1991;div. 2001)​ Jennifer Khalastchi ​ (m. 2003)​
Relatives	Paul Angelis (brother)

Nicolas Michael Angelis (29 April 1944 – 30 May 2020) was an English actor. He was best known for his television roles as Chrissie Todd in Boys from the Blackstuff , Martin Niarchos in G.B.H. and as the longest-running narrator of the British children's series Thomas & Friends from 1991 to 2012, as well as several other products and media related to the franchise.

Early life and career

Nicolas Michael Angelis ^{[1] [2]} was born on 29 April 1944 ^{[1] [2]} in Paddington, London to an English mother, Margaret (née McCulla) (1920–1947), and a Greek father, Evangelos Angelis (1894–1959). ^[1] He was raised in Dingle, Liverpool. ^[1] He trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow, where he played roles in, among other works, Brendan Behan's The Hostage and The Zykovs by Maxim Gorky. He was featured in Boys from the Black Stuff (1982) and G.B.H. .

Angelis appeared in comedies such as The Liver Birds (1975–1978) and Luv (1993–1994) and films such as A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979) and No Surrender (1985). In 1983, he appeared at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker . He was a villain in the revived television series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (2002), alongside former fellow Black Stuff star Alan Igbon. He narrated the British version of Thomas & Friends from 1991 to 2012, replacing Ringo Starr.

He narrated John Peel's autobiography, Margrave of the Marshes, ^[3] which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. In 2006 he starred in Fated, a film set in Liverpool, and in 2007 he appeared in episodes of Midsomer Murders and The Bill . In September 2011 he participated in the BBC Radio 4 programme The Reunion, talking with other cast members about Boys from the Blackstuff. ^[4]

Personal life

Angelis married three times. His first marriage, in 1971, ended in divorce.^{[ citation needed ]} He married the Coronation Street actress Helen Worth in 1991, although they had been a couple since the mid 1970s. ^[5] They divorced in 2001, ^[6] following his much-publicised affair with the woman who would become his third wife, Welsh model Jennifer Khalastchi, ^[5] whom he married in 2003. ^[1] He and Worth remained friends. ^[5]

He was the younger brother of fellow actor Paul Angelis. ^[1]

Death

Angelis died from a heart attack at his home in Thatcham, Berkshire on 30 May 2020, at the age of 76. ^{[2] [7] [8]}

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Me You and Him	Lucien
	A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square	Pealer Bell	[9]
1980	George and Mildred	Café proprietor
1983	Pride of our Alley	Monty Banks
1985	No Surrender	Mike
1994	Woodcock	Cyril
1996	Giving Tongue	Will Shaker
2000	Thomas and the Magic Railroad	James and Percy	Voice actor workprints
2005	Thomas & Friends: Calling All Engines!	UK Narrator
2006	Fated	Tatty
2009	Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails	UK Narrator
2010	Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue
2011	Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels
2012	Thomas & Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery
	First Time Loser	Father Malachie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	The Scobie Man	Fire Officer
	The Thirty-Minute Theatre	Mike
	Coronation Street	Franny Slater	Episode 1226
1972–1974	Z-Cars	Trev/Bobo	Episodes: "Week Off", "Bits An Bats"
1974	Village Hall	Terry Elliot	Season 1 Episode 1
1975–1996	The Liver Birds	Lucien Boswell	34 episodes
1976	Rock Follies	Stavros
1977	Crown Court	Lewis Van Doren	Episode: "The Family Business: Part 1"
1977–1978	Robin's Nest	Niarchos/Waiter	Season 1 Episode 3, Season 2 Episode 4
1979	Hazell	Scouse Benny	Episode: "Hazell Gets the Bird"
1980	Minder	Nick	Series 1, Episode 10: "The Dessert Song"
1981	The Little World of Don Camillo (TV Series)	1st Salesman
	BBC2 Playhouse	Frankie	Season 7, Episode 15
	World's End	Danny
1982	Wood and Walters	Chuck Sweeney/Visitor	Season 1, Episode 5 and 6
	The Gaffer	'Bad-Back' Barker	Episode: "Unfit as a Fiddle"
	Boys from the Blackstuff	Christopher "Chrissie" Todd
	The Professionals	Len Clarke	Episode: "Lawson's Last Stand"
1983	Reilly, Ace of Spies	Artuzov	Episodes: "The Last Journey", "Shutdown"
	Bergerac	Tony Morel	Episode: "Holiday Snaps"
1985	I Woke Up One Morning	Max
	Summer Season	Jack Shaughnessy	Episode: "Time Trouble"
1987	The Marksman (TV series)	Irwin
1989	Bread	Mr Cossack	Season 5, Episode 2
	The Russ Abbot Show		Season 4, Episode 2-4 (Anthony's Devon Adventure sketch) and 9
1990	Single Voices	Terence	Episode: "The Last Supper"
1991	G.B.H.	Martin Niarchos
1991–2012	Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends	Narrator	UK version
			US version 2 episodes of Season 6, and 4 episodes of Season 7
1992	Wail of the Banshee	Merlin
	Between the Lines	Det Insp Kendrick	Season 1, Episode 6
	Boon	Don Feldman	Episode: "Blackballed"
1993	Lovejoy	Tommy Norris	Episode: "Second Fiddle"
	Luv	Harold Craven	Season 1 Episode 4
1993–2015	Casualty	Gordon McCauley/Jez Ingrams/Ollie Yates/Stanley Momford	Season 7 Episode 24, Season 10 Episode 14, Season 13 Episode 14, Season 29 Episode 21
1993–1995	September Song	Arnie
1994	Against All Odds	Episode: Snatched
1995	Joseph	Rueben
1996	Whatever Happened to The Liver Birds?	Lucien Boswell
1997	Common As Muck	Pete	Season 2, Episode 4 and 5
	A Touch of Frost	Reggie Stansfield	Episode: "Penny for the Guy"
	Melissa	D.I Kilshaw
	Harry Enfield and Chums		Appeared in the episode Harry Enfield and Christmas Chums alongside Thomas & Friends narrator Mark Moraghan
1998	The Jump	Donald Lewis
2000	Holby City	Eddie Burke	Season 2 Episode 10
	Heartbeat	Frank McCready	Series 9 Episode 22 "With This Ring"
	Playing the Field	Chris Hurst	Season 3 Episode 1–6, Season 4 Episode 4
2002	Auf Wiedersehen, Pet	Mickey Startup	[10]
	Always and Everyone	Frankie Hills	Episode: "A New Breed"
2003	Sweet Medicine	Liam	Season 1 Episode 5
2004	Merseybeat	Colin Nivern	Episode: "Distant Vices"
2006	Jack and the Sodor Construction Company	UK Narrator	Spinoff series of Thomas & Friends
2007	Midsomer Murders	Nicky Harding	Episode: "The Axeman Cometh"
	The Bill	Martin Donnelly	Episode: "Good Cop Bad Cop" [11]
2012	Good Cop	Robert Rocksavage	[12]

Video games

Year	Title	Role
1999	Thomas & Friends: The Great Festival Adventure	All characters
2000	Thomas & Friends: Trouble on the Tracks
2001	Thomas & Friends: Railway Adventures	Thomas, Harold, and Sir Topham Hatt
2002	Thomas & Friends: Building the New Line	All characters
2003	Thomas & Friends: Thomas Saves the Day

References

1. Hayward, Anthony (1 June 2020). "Michael Angelis obituary". The Guardian.
2. "Michael Angelis obituary". The Times. 1 June 2020.
3. Profile, audiogo.com; accessed 14 August 2014.
4. "BBC Radio 4 - The Reunion, Boys from the Blackstuff". BBC.
5. Johnston, Jenny (12 March 2001). "Interview: Helen Worth". The Mirror.
6. Crawford, Sue (7 March 2010). "Coronation Street's Gail in Jail: Helen Worth on soap's hottest story". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
7. "Michael Angelis Dies: Voice Of 'Thomas The Tank Engine' Was 76". Deadline Hollywood . 31 May 2020.
8. "Actor Michael Angelis dies aged 76". www.bbc.com. 31 May 2020.
9. "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square". www.bbc.co.uk.
10. "Michael Angelis: Thomas The Tank Engine narrator and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet star dies". news.sky.com.
11. "Boys from the Blackstuff and GBH actor Michael Angelis dies aged 76". sports.yahoo.com. 31 May 2020.
12. "Liverpool-born actor Michael Angelis on why he was delighted to return home to star in new BBC1 drama Good Cop". www.liverpoolecho.co.uk. 2 May 2013.

External links

• Michael Angelis at IMDb