Philip Acford Franks | |
---|---|
Born | London, England | 2 February 1956
Nationality | English |
Occupation(s) | Actor, director |
Philip Franks (born 2 February 1956) is an English actor and director, known to the public chiefly for his roles in English television series, such as The Darling Buds of May and Heartbeat .
Franks was born on 2 February 1956 in London and is the only child of Patricia and Robert Franks. His father was a squadron leader pilot in the Royal Air Force. [1] Franks maintains that he first fell in love with theatre at age six, when his parents took him along to see a production of The Tempest . The following year, his parents were going to a production of Hamlet , and Franks insisted on going with them; at age seven, he was hooked for life. [2] He was educated at Oxford University.
Franks is best known for his role as the tax inspector Cedric "Charley" Charlton in the English comedy drama The Darling Buds of May , and also as Sgt. Raymond Craddock in Heartbeat . [3] He has also been a guest star in Absolutely Fabulous , Pie in the Sky , Midsomer Murders , Foyle's War , Bleak House , Martin Chuzzlewit , The Buddha of Suburbia , The Green Man and To Serve Them All My Days . [4] For the role of his character in Martin Chuzzlewit (Tom Pinch), Franks shaved off all of the hair on his head leaving wispy strands at the sides. When he was recognized in the street by fans they asked if he had done it for religious reasons. [5]
He also made regular appearances alongside Susie Dent in Dictionary Corner on the game show Countdown (having applied to be a contestant on the show before becoming better known) until 2006. From December 2012 Franks played The Narrator in the 40th anniversary UK touring production of Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show. [6]
Franks is also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In addition, he has directed many plays including "Kafka's Dick" and "The Kiss of the Spiderwoman" (Nottingham Playhouse); "The Cocktail Party" (Edinburgh Festival); "Rebecca" (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh); "Hamlet" (Greenwich and tour); "Macbeth" (Sheffield Crucible) and "The Duchess of Malfi" (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Greenwich and West End); "Private Lives" and "The Heiress" (Royal National Theatre); "The White Devil" (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith); "Nicholas Nickleby" (Chichester Festival Theatre); and "The Tempest" (Liverpool Playhouse). [4]
He has also directed many BBC Radio dramas including "A Patriot For Me" by John Osborne starring Richard Goulding, Peter Egan, Amanda Root, Michael Pennington. BBC Radio 3. [7]
Franks also directed "A Cold Supper Behind Harrods" [8] by David Morley which starred David Jason, Anton Lesser, Stephanie Cole, and Sophie Roberts. When three former Special Operations Executive agents are reunited in 1997 their meeting forces them to look at their own conduct during World War Two. The story was inspired by real events. Anton Lesser played code maker Leo Marks and Stephanie Cole played Vera Atkins. [9] [10]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1980 | To Serve Them All My Days | Blades | Episode: "Part Four" |
1982 | Love Is Old, Love Is New | Steven | 3 episodes |
1985 | Bleak House | Richard Carstone | 6 episodes |
1989 | Shadow of the Noose | Montague Lush | Episode: "Turn Again" |
Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story | Maertz | Television film | |
1990 | The Green Man | The Visitor | Episode: "Episode #1.3" |
1991−1993 | The Darling Buds of May | Cedric "Charley" Charlton | 18 episodes |
1993 | It's Your Choice: Selection Skills for Managers | Interviewee #2 | Video |
The Buddha of Suburbia | Unknown | 2 episodes | |
1994 | Absolutely Fabulous | Poet | Episode: "Birth" |
Martin Chuzzlewit | Tom Pinch | 6 episodes | |
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales | Cassio (voice) | Episode: "Othello" | |
1995 | Wales Playhouse | Calvin | Episode: "Moniker" |
Pie in the Sky | Giles Dutton | Episode: "Lemon Twist" | |
1996 | Testament: The Bible in Animation | Daniel (voice) | Episode: "Daniel" |
1998 | The Life of Confucius | Confucius | TV series |
1998−2002 | Heartbeat | Sgt. Raymond Craddock | 80 episodes |
2003 | Midsomer Murders | Quentin Roka | Episode: "A Talent for Life" |
Strange | Reverend Capstick | Episode: "Dubik" | |
2003−2004 | My Dad's the Prime Minister | Mr. Potter / Mr. Wight | 2 episodes |
2005 | Casualty | Bob Docker | Episode: "Sticks and Stones" |
2006 | Foyle's War | Captain George Halliday | Episode: "Bad Blood" |
2014 | Job's Dinner | Bill | Short film |
2017 | Phantom Thread | Peter Martin | |
2020 | Apollo 13: The Dark Side of the Moon | Present Day Lovell |
The Darling Buds of May is a British comedy drama television series, produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network, first broadcast between 7 April 1991 and 4 April 1993. The first six episodes of Series 1 and the first two of Series 2 are adaptations of the 1958 novel of the same name, and three of its four sequels, by H. E. Bates. The remaining episodes are original storylines based on the same format.
Pamela Ferris is a Welsh actress. She has starred in numerous British television series, including Connie (1985), The Darling Buds of May (1991–1993), Where the Heart Is (1997–2000), Rosemary & Thyme (2003–2006), and Call the Midwife (2012–2016). For her role as Peggy Snow in Where the Heart Is, Ferris was nominated three times for Most Popular Actress at the National Television Awards. Ferris is best known to younger audiences for her role as Miss Agatha Trunchbull in the film Matilda (1996).
Peter Barnes was an English Olivier Award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His best known work is the play The Ruling Class, which was made into a 1972 film for which Peter O'Toole received an Oscar nomination.
John Woodvine is an English actor who has appeared in more than 70 theatre productions, as well as a similar number of television and film roles.
Joseph McFadden is a Scottish actor, best known for his roles in The Crow Road,Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll, Heartbeat and Holby City. He won the 2017 series of the BBC One series Strictly Come Dancing with professional dance partner Katya Jones.
Reece Dinsdale is an English actor and director. His credits include Threads (1984), A Private Function (1984), Winter Flight (1984), Home to Roost, Haggard (1990), ID (1994), Hamlet (1996), Murder in Mind (2000), Spooks (2003), Life on Mars (2006), Silent Witness (2008), Ahead of the Class, Conviction, The Chase, Love Lies Bleeding, Midnight Man, Coronation Street (2008-2010), Moving On (2011), Waterloo Road (2011), The Knife That Killed Me (2012), and Emmerdale (2020-2021).
David John Threlfall is an English stage, film and television actor and director. He is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series Shameless. He has also directed several episodes of the show. In April 2014, he portrayed comedian Tommy Cooper in a television film entitled Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This. In 2014, he starred alongside Jude Law in the thriller Black Sea. In 2022, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in the Martin McDonagh play Hangmen. In 2024 he played Paul Peveril in the six-part BBC drama Nightsleeper.
Philip Jackson is an English actor. He appeared as Chief Inspector Japp in both the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot and in BBC Radio dramatisations of Poirot stories; as Melvin "Dylan" Bottomley in Porridge; and as Abbot Hugo, one of the recurring adversaries in the 1980s series Robin of Sherwood.
Jeffery Kissoon is an actor with credits in British theatre, television, film and radio. He has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company at venues such as the Royal National Theatre, under directors including Peter Brook, Peter Hall, Robert Lepage, Janet Suzman, Calixto Bieito and Nicholas Hytner. He has acted in genres from Shakespeare and modern theatre to television drama and science fiction, playing a range of both leading and supporting roles, from Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra and Prospero and Caliban in The Tempest, to Malcolm X in The Meeting and Mr Kennedy in the children's TV series Grange Hill.
Benedict Sandiford is a British actor who is best known for his role as son Neil on the British sitcom Barbara and for 'Harry Enfield & Chums' in 1997. He also made guest appearances on Heartbeat, Peak Practice, A Touch of Frost, Touching Evil, At Home with the Braithwaites, Pie in the Sky, Cadfael, This Life, Foyle's War, Midsomer Murders and Coronation Street.
Paul Mackriell Copley is an English actor and voice over artist. From 2011 to 2015 he appeared as Mr. Mason, father of William Mason, in 16 episodes of Downton Abbey, and from 2020 to 2021, he appeared in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street as Arthur Medwin.
Laura Wade is an English playwright.
Shaun Patrick McKenna is an English dramatist, lyricist and screenwriter.
Jason Durr is a British actor of theatre, television and film. Durr made his television debut as Alex Hartman in 1990 in the sci-fi drama Jupiter Moon in 1990 and went on to star as Mike Bradley in the Yorkshire-based police drama series Heartbeat from 1997 until 2003. Between 2016 and 2023, he appeared in the medical drama series Casualty as David Hide.
David William Logan Westhead is an English actor.
Steven Blakeley is a British actor. He is best known for his role as PC Geoff Younger in the British police drama Heartbeat, guest roles in various other television programmes and multiple theatre roles.
Oladipo Agboluaje is a British-Nigerian playwright. He was born in Hackney and educated in Britain and Nigeria, studying theatre arts at the University of Benin. He later wrote a doctoral thesis at the Open University on West and South African drama. Oladipo has taught at several universities including Goldsmiths, University of London, City University, London Met University, and the University of Greenwich. He is the course director of the Black British Theatre and Performance programme at the British American Drama Academy (BADA) in London.
David Morley is a British writer and radio producer.
Stuart Golland was an English actor best known for playing George Ward in the ITV drama series Heartbeat.
Alan Parnaby is a British television and film actor whose career has spanned four decades and who perhaps is best known for playing William Russell in the period drama Flambards (1979).