Radio Drama Company
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Radio Drama Company
The Radio Drama Company is a company of actors formed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War. It is sometimes referred to as RDC, or the Rep, a survival from its original name, the Drama Repertory Company. The cast of the company changes every six months, and auditions are held for the Carleton Hobbs Bursary, primarily for students graduating from drama courses, to recruit between four and six new members every year. There is also a Norman Beaton Fellowship to bring in actors from non-traditional backgrounds. History The company has its origins in a short-lived BBC Repertory Drama Company formed in January 1930, but paid off after a few months. For some years BBC Radio and BBC Television simply hired all the actors they needed by the day. However, with the approach of the Second World War, the key executive, Val Gielgud, head of productions at BBC Radio, proposed that an in-house company of actors would be a useful thing to ...
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Val Gielgud
Val Henry Gielgud (28 April 1900 – 30 November 1981) was an English actor, writer, director and Television presenter, broadcaster. He was a pioneer of radio drama for the BBC, and also directed the first ever drama to be produced in the newer medium of television. Val Gielgud was born in London, into a theatrical family, being the brother of John Gielgud, Sir John Gielgud (who acted in several of his productions) and a great-nephew of the Victorian actress Ellen Terry. BBC radio Following education at Oxford University, Gielgud began his career as a secretary to a Member of Parliament, before moving into writing when he took a job as the sub-editor of a comic book / magazine. It was this job that led him to work for the BBC's own listings magazine, the ''Radio Times'', as the assistant to the editor Eric Maschwitz. This was Gielgud's first connection to the Corporation, and although he was not yet involved in any radio production, he often used his position at the magazine t ...
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Clive Merrison
Clive Merrison (born 15 September 1945) is a British actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College. He is best known for his long running BBC Radio portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, having played the part in all 64 episodes of the 1989–1998 series of Sherlock Holmes dramatisations, and all 16 episodes of ''The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' (2002–2010). Television He has made numerous television appearances. He appeared as Boris Savinkov the White Russian commander in the series '' Reilly: Ace of Spies'' (1983) starring Sam Neill as Reilly. He has twice appeared in supporting roles in ''Doctor Who'', in ''The Tomb of the Cybermen'' (1967) and ''Paradise Towers'' (1987). He has also appeared in ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ''Kit Curran'', ''The Labours of Erica'', '' Bergerac'', ''Mann's Best Friends'', ''Double First'', ''Drop the Dead Donkey'', '' Time Riders'', ''Pie in the Sky'', ''The Tomorrow People'', ''Mortimer's Law'', ''The Bill' ...
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Annabel Mullion
Annabel Mullion (born 1969) is an actress. She was educated at St Mary's School, Ascot and studied English and Drama at the University of East Anglia. She then completed the 3 year acting course at Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 1994. She won the Carleton Hobbs Bursary Award in that year as well. Her films include ''Carrington (film), Carrington'' (1995, dir Christopher Hampton), ''Mission: Impossible (film), Mission: Impossible'' (1996, dir Brian De Palma), ''Me Without You (film), Me Without You'' (2001, dir Sandra Goldbacher), ''A Christmas Carol (1999 film), A Christmas Carol'' (dir David Jones (director), David Jones), ''Scooterman'', and ''Mother's Milk (film), Mother's Milk'' (2012, dir Gerald Fox) for which she received Best Supporting Actress at Monaco Film Festival 2013 for her role as Mary Melrose. In 2006 she played Lady Tara Butler in ''Midsomer Murders'' “Vixen’s Run”. She also appeared in ''Emma_(2009_TV_serial), Emma'' a TV Mini-Series in ...
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Mark Bonnar
Richard Mark Bonnar (born 19 November 1968) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Max in ''Guilt'', Duncan Hunter in ''Shetland'', Bruno Jenkins in ''Casualty'', Detective Finney in ''Psychoville'', DCC Mike Dryden in ''Line of Duty'', Colin Osborne in ''Unforgotten'', Townsend in ''Battlefield 1 and '' Field in '' Summer of Rockets''. Career On television, Bonnar has appeared as Peter Mayhew in BBC One's '' New Blood'' and Chris in the Channel 4 comedy ''Catastrophe'', a role which he reprised in the following series. He also portrays the Rev. Adam Collingbourne in ITV's '' Home Fires'', John Halliday in ''Undercover'', as well as regular Duncan Hunter in ''Shetland'' for BBC One. Other television credits include '' Vera'', ''Grantchester'', ''Case Histories'', '' The Paradise'', ''Doctor Who'', ''Psychoville'', ''Taggart'', '' Phoneshop'' and ''Paradox''. In 2005, he portrayed regular Bruno Jenkins in the BBC One series ''Casualty''. In 2018, he portrayed Dr Neil ...
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Emma Fielding
Emma Georgina Annalies Fielding (born 07 October 1964 in Catterick, North Riding of Yorkshire) is an English actress. Biography The daughter of a British Army officer, Colonel Johnny Fielding, and Sheila Fielding, she was raised Catholic and some of her childhood in Malaysia and Nigeria, and a period in Malvern. While studying at the Berkhamsted Collegiate boarding school, she won a place at Robinson College, Cambridge to study law, after spending a gap year which included five months in a kibbutz in the occupied West Bank, Palestine, picking watermelons, and as an usherette at the Oxford Apollo; before embarking on the study of acting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. After graduation she worked for the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, coming to the attention of critics in 1993's National Theatre production of Tom Stoppard's ''Arcadia,'' in which she created the role of Thomasina, and then most notably in John Ford's ''The Broken Hea ...
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Stephen Tompkinson
Stephen Phillip Tompkinson (born 15 October 1965) is an English actor, known for his television roles as Marcus in '' Chancer '' (1990), Damien Day in ''Drop the Dead Donkey'' (1990–1998), Father Peter Clifford in ''Ballykissangel'' (1996–98), Trevor Purvis in ''Grafters'' (1998–1999), Danny Trevanion in '' Wild at Heart'' (2006–2013) and Alan Banks in ''DCI Banks'' (2010–2016). He won the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actor. He also starred in the films ''Brassed Off'' (1996) and '' Hotel Splendide'' (2000). Early life Tompkinson was born in Stockton-on-Tees. When he was about age 4, his family moved to Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire and then to Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, where he grew up and attended St Bede's Roman Catholic High School in Lytham and St Mary's Sixth Form in Blackpool. Tompkinson's first lead was as a red admiral butterfly in ''The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner''. He went on to train at the Central School of Speech an ...
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Adjoa Andoh
Adjoa Andoh Hon. FRSL (born 14 January 1963) is a British actress. On stage, she has played lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre. On television, she appeared in two series of ''Doctor Who'' as Francine Jones, 90 episodes of the BBC's long-running medical drama ''Casualty,'' and BBC's ''EastEnders.'' Andoh made her Hollywood debut in autumn 2009, starring as Nelson Mandela's Chief of Staff Brenda Mazibuko alongside Morgan Freeman as Mandela in Clint Eastwood's drama film ''Invictus''. Since 2020, she portrays Lady Danbury in the Netflix Regency romance series ''Bridgerton''. In July 2022, Andoh became an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Early life and education Andoh was born in Clifton, Bristol.Graham, Natalie (23 March 2003)"Fame & Fortune: How TV nurse cured her money woes" ''The Sunday Times''. Her mother, a teacher, was English, and her father was a journalist and musician ...
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Suzanna Hamilton
Suzanna Hamilton (born 8 February 1960) is an English actress. She played the role of Julia (1984), Julia in the Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984 film), 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's classic novel, ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. Her other film roles include ''Tess (1979 film), Tess'' (1979), ''Brimstone and Treacle'' (1982), ''Wetherby (film), Wetherby'' (1985), and ''Out of Africa (film), Out of Africa'' (1985). On television, she starred in the ITV Network, ITV drama ''Wish Me Luck'' (1988), the BBC medical drama ''Casualty (TV series), Casualty'' (1993–94), and the STV drama ''McCallum (TV series), McCallum'' (1995–97). Early career Hamilton was born in London and was a protégée of filmmaker Claude Whatham, who discovered her in a children's experimental theatre in North London in the early 1970s. The first feature in which she appeared was ''Swallows and Amazons (1974 film), Swallows and Amazons'' (1974), which was directed by Whatham and based on the popular Swallow ...
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Ben Onwukwe
Benjamin Neil Paddock Onwukwe (born 21 August 1957 in Brixton, London, England) is a British film, radio, television, theatre and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for appearing as Firefighter Stuart 'Recall' MacKenzie from 1991 to 2002 in '' London's Burning'', a dramatic television series first aired on the British television network ITV. Career In addition to his most famous role in ''London's Burning'', Onwukwe has frequently appeared on television in, among others, '' Waiting for God'',''Casualty'', ''Holby City'', ''The Bill'', ''Inspector Morse'', ''Coronation Street'', '' Between the Lines'', ''Delta Wave''. His most recent television appearance was in 2018 in the Netflix series ''Safe''. Onwukwe has also worked in various schools across the country, appeared in theatrical productions, recorded several radio plays and narrated audio books including Laura Shepherd-Robinson's Blood and Sugar. He was also a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company."Radio and audio ...
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Alex Jennings
Alex Jennings (born 10 May 1957) is an English actor of the stage and screen, who worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. For his work on the London stage, Jennings received three Olivier Awards, winning for '' Too Clever by Half'' (1988), ''Peer Gynt'' (1996), and ''My Fair Lady'' (2003). He is the only performer to have won Olivier awards in the drama, musical, and comedy categories. He is known for his film work, in particular for his performance as Prince Charles in Stephen Frears' film ''The Queen'' (2006) opposite Helen Mirren. His other film appearances includes ''The Wings of the Dove'' (1997), '' Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason'' (2004), ''Babel'' (2006), '' Belle'' (2013), and ''The Lady in the Van'' (2015) starring Maggie Smith. Jennings won acclaim for his performances in television including for his portrayal of Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, in the Netflix series ''The Crown'' acting opposite Claire Foy. He also starred i ...
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Joanna Monro
Joanna Monro (born 1956) is a British actress and former television presenter who, in the 1980s, appeared on the BBC show ''That's Life!'' with Esther Rantzen. In 1974 she appeared in the ''Doctor Who'' story ''Planet of the Spiders'', followed by a lengthy spell as 'Anna Newcross' in the BBC soap opera ''Angels (TV series), Angels''. For three years in the mid-1980s she was a regular in the BBC children's sketch show ''Fast Forward'', and was a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company."Radio and audio book companies", in Lloyd Trott, ed., ''Actors and Performers Yearbook 2016'', pp. 353-354 In the 1990s, she played the conniving Mrs Lyons in the musical ''Blood Brothers (musical), Blood Brothers'' in the West End, and was on the 1995 London cast recording as well as The International Cast Album. She also appeared in the episode 'The Photographer' (1999) in the first BBC series of ''People Like Us'' (which aired 1999–2001). She performed as "Rosie" in ''Mamma Mia! (musical), Mamm ...
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Janet Maw
Janet Maw (born 16 May 1954) is an English actress. She was a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company."Radio and audio book companies", in Lloyd Trott, ed., ''Actors and Performers Yearbook 2016'', pp. 353-354 Career Television * ''The Mayor of Casterbridge'', 1978, BBC TV mini-series 7 episodes *Richard II, (TV film, 1978) * ''The Barchester Chronicles'', 1982, BBC TV mini-series 7 episodesPhoto of Maw
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