Thomas Richards (born 22 March 1948) is an Australian former actor on television soap operas. He is best known for roles including in ''

Matlock Police ''Matlock Police'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the 0-10 Network (now known as the 10 Network) between 1971 and 1976. The series focused on the police station and crime in the Victorian town o ...

'' as Steven York from 1972 and 1976 and in the 1980s soap opera '' ''Sons and Daughters'' as David Palmer from 1982 until 1987, opposite co-star

Leila Hayes Leila Hayes is an Australians, Australian actress, actors agent, radio presenter, playwright, theatre producer, producer, singer and drama teacher, she featured in the hit 1980s soap opera ''Sons and Daughters (Australian TV series), Sons and ...

Career

Richards began his acting career at

Twelfth Night Theatre 250px, Twelfth Night Theatre The Twelfth Night Theatre is an established Australian entertainment venue located in Bowen Hills, in Brisbane, Queensland. Many notable actors, both international and Australian, have performed there. The Twelfth N ...

in Brisbane. One of his roles was in ''The Rose and the Ring'' in 1971. He later moved to Melbourne where he began work in television. Richards played guest roles in

Crawford Production Crawford Productions is an Australian media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfords ...

series ''Homicide'', ''Division 4'' and ''Ryan'', before gaining the permanent role of in

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

police drama ''

'' in the 1970s as Detective Steve York. After that series was cancelled he had a regular role in soap opera '' The Box'' during its final year in 1977, before joining ''Sons and Daughters''. He played Lawrie Benson in Network Ten soap opera '' Richmond Hill'' for most of its 12-month run in 1988. Richards also had guest roles in many popular TV series including ''

Chopper Squad ''Chopper Squad'' is an Australian television series produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the 0-10 Network (as it was then known).Albert Moran, ''Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series'', AFTRS 1993 p 115 The series recounted the work o ...

'', ''

The Young Doctors ''The Young Doctors'' is an Australian early-evening soap opera originally broadcast on the Nine Network and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation, it aired from Monday, 8 November 1976 until Wednesday, 30 March 1983. The series is primar ...

'', ''

The Sullivans ''The Sullivans'' is an Australian period drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network from 15 November 1976 until 10 March 1983. The series tells the story of a fictional average middle-clas ...

'' (in episode 194 in 1977), ''

The Flying Doctors ''The Flying Doctors'' is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. T ...

'', and ''

A Country Practice ''A Country Practice'' is an Australian television soap opera which broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 5 November 1993, airing at 7:30 pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,058 episodes were p ...

'', ''

Pacific Drive ''Pacific Drive'' is an Australian television series made by Village Roadshow in association with New World International for the Nine Network which screened for 390 episodes from 29 January 1996 to December 1997, when it concluded it was show ...

'', '' Water Rats'' and '' All Saints''. He appeared in ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...

''s first season in 1988 as Graham Ridge, and played a more prominent role as Murdock "Mud" Roberts in 1995. In 2009 he appeared as Mitch in the

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...

's acclaimed production of ''A Streetcar Named Desire''.

Filmography

References

External links

* 1945 births Living people Australian male soap opera actors Male actors from Brisbane {{Australia-tv-actor-stub