John Bird
Birthday: Born in 1936-11-22 in Nottingham, England, UK
Deathday: 2022-12-24
TV Credits
Murder Most Horrid
Character: Duncan Jupp
A comedy that started in 1991 as a pilot, Murder Most Horrid stars Dawn French as various characters, as she embarks on a different mystery every episode. In one way or another she is involved with murder - either committing the crime herself or even getting bumped off herself!...
Absolute Power
Character: Martin McCabe
Stephen Fry and John Bird star as spin doctors Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe as they bring the popular and satirical Radio 4 comedy Absolute Power to BBC Two. Stephen as Prentiss and John as McCabe are an unscrupulous pair who run the blue chip PR agency Prentiss McCabe. Dealing with commercial as well as personal PR, their remit covers everything from political communications to celebrity media relations. Their manipulation skills are tested to the full as they frequently find that their w...
Jonathan Creek
Character: D.I. Nathan Gallo
Working from his home in a converted windmill, Jonathan Creek is a magician with a natural ability for solving puzzles. He soon puts this ability to the use of solving impossible crimes and mysterious murders....
A Very Peculiar Practice
Character:
A young and idealistic Doctor Stephen Daker arrives at Lowlands University to work at the Health Centre, but has to cope with an eccentric set of colleagues....
Inspector Morse
Character: George Linacre
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses....
The Secret Policeman's Ball
Character: Self
A series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started in 1976 featuring popular British comedians but later included leading musicians and actors. The Secret Policeman's Ball shows are credited by many prominent entertainers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years....
Bremner, Bird and Fortune
Character:
Bremner, Bird and Fortune is an award-winning satirical British television programme produced by Vera Productions for Channel Four, uniting the longstanding satirical team of John Bird and John Fortune with the satirical impressionist Rory Bremner, and to date has 16 series....
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾
Character:
A British television series based on the book of the same name written by Sue Townsend....
Anna Lee
Character: Adrian Wesley
Anna Lee is a British television series produced by Brian Eastman and Carnival Films for London Weekend Television. Following a 1993 pilot, five two-hour programmes were produced in 1994, loosely based on the detective novels of Liza Cody. These were broadcast in the U.S. on the A&E cable network. The title role was played by Imogen Stubbs. Music was by Anne Dudley with theme song "Sister, Sister" and some additional songs by Luciana Caporaso. Considerable alterations were made from the original...
Yes, Prime Minister
Character:
James Hacker MP the Government's bumbling minister for Administrative Affairs is propelled along the corridors of power to the very pinnacle of politics - No. 10. Could this have possibly have been managed by his trusted Permanent Private Secretary, the formidably political Sir Humphrey Appleby who must move to the “Top Job” in Downing Street to support him, together with his much put upon PPS Bernard Wolley. What could possibly go wrong?...
Joint Account
Character:
British sitcom about a role reversed married couple....
Educating Marmalade
Character: Mr Atkins
Marmalade Atkins is the naughtiest girl in the world. In fact, she's so wicked that her parents and social worker decide that the only thing to do with her is to blast her into space. But, knowing Marmalade, it's not going to be that easy!...
Celebrity Mastermind
Character:
Celebrity Mastermind is a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. The show is a spin-off of the long-running quiz show Mastermind, with the exception that all the contestants are celebrities. As with the main show, John Humphrys is the host and question-master. Magnus Magnusson was quizmaster on the 2003/04 episodes featuring Jonathan Meades as winner....
The Galton & Simpson Playhouse
Character:
Seven Hilariously comic situations from the fertile imaginations of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson....
The BBC Television Shakespeare
Character:
The BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and produced by BBC Television. It was transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985 and spanned seven series. Development of the series began in 1975 when Messina saw that Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. On returning to London, he envisioned an entire series devoted exclusivel...
Famous, Rich and Homeless
Character:
Four famous volunteers agree to swap their lavish lifestyles, fame and fortune for a world of sleeping rough, soup runs and hostels....
A Bit of Fry & Laurie
Character:
A British comedy television series with turns of phrase and elaborate wordplay, written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie....
Performance
Character: John Reid
An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances....
Oxbridge Blues
Character: Clive
An anthology series of seven linked plays about the lives of people connected with the universities of Oxford and Cambridge....
Jonathan Creek
Character: Horace Greeley
Working from his home in a converted windmill, Jonathan Creek is a magician with a natural ability for solving puzzles. He soon puts this ability to the use of solving impossible crimes and mysterious murders....
Sooty & Co.
Character: Self
Second incarnation of the childrens puppet show, picking up almost directly where "The Sooty show" left off Sooty, Sweep, Soo and little cousin Scampi continue their adventures with Matthew....
Lytton's Diary
Character: Jacko
Peter Bowles gives a memorable performance as Fleet Street's most successful gossip columnist, Neville Lytton. Co-created by Bowles, this highly popular drama started life as a single play in the Storyboard anthology before continuing through two critically acclaimed series. Featuring appearances by Gwen Taylor, Ralph Bates, Pamela Salem, Jean Kent, Elspet Gray and Lee Patterson, this set comprises both series alongside the original Storyboard play. Suave, shrewd and with an instinct for a good...
Dick Turpin
Character:
Richard O'Sullivan stars as Dick Turpin in this action-filled adventure series chronicling the exploits of England's most celebrated highwayman....
A Very Peculiar Practice
Character: Ernest Hemingway
A young and idealistic Doctor Stephen Daker arrives at Lowlands University to work at the Health Centre, but has to cope with an eccentric set of colleagues....
In the Red
Character: Controller, Radio 4
A series of killings of bank managers has London in a turmoil, all the way up to Parliament. And the killer regularly calls about his handiwork, but only to a street-wise, and usually rather tipsy, radio reporter, about to be sacked for his habitual irreverence toward his station and the BBC. And while everything seems to point to a lead singer of a rock group famous for the "In The Red" music which has been connected to the killings, in typical British mystery fashion, there are also other sub-...
Have I Got News for You
Character: Self
Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs....
Armchair Thriller
Character: Cyril
Armchair Thriller is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in two series in 1978 and 1980. Owing something to some of the off-shoots of the earlier Armchair Theatre, the new series used scripts adapted from published novels and stories. Although not properly a horror series it included several supernatural elements. Armchair Thriller was produced by Thames Television, but it included serials made by Southern Television. The format was of a twice weekly 25 minute episodes, usually scre...
Play for Today
Character: Captain Wigmore
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration....
Playhouse
Character: H.G. Wells
BBC2 Playhouse is a one hour UK anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas created by Sara Pia Anderson and produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Among its many notable guest stars were Helen Mirren, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Liam Neeson, Paul Scofield, Deborah Kerr, Ben Kingsley, Donald Pleasence, Brenda Blethyn, and Peggy Ashcroft. It premiered in the UK on March 13, 1974 and ran through May 20, 1983....
One Foot In the Grave
Character: Lewis Atterbury
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series The series features the exploits of Victor Meldrew and his long-suffering wife, Margaret. The programmes invariably deal with Meldrew's battle against the problems he creates for himself. Living in a typical household in an unnamed English suburb, Victor takes involuntary early retirement. His various efforts to keep himself busy, while encountering various misfortunes and misunderstandings are the themes of the sitcom. The series was larg...
Armchair Thriller
Character: Cyril (uncredited)
Armchair Thriller is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in two series in 1978 and 1980. Owing something to some of the off-shoots of the earlier Armchair Theatre, the new series used scripts adapted from published novels and stories. Although not properly a horror series it included several supernatural elements. Armchair Thriller was produced by Thames Television, but it included serials made by Southern Television. The format was of a twice weekly 25 minute episodes, usually scre...
Play for Today
Character: Lord North
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration....
Play for Today
Character: Desmond Hughes
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration....
Play for Today
Character: Raymond
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration....
Omnibus
Character: Self
Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the Am...
Midsomer Murders
Character: St John Beachwood
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty. ...
Cluedo
Character: Professor Plum
Cluedo was a UK television game show based on the board game of the same name. Each week, a reenactment of the murder at the stately home Arlington Grange of a visiting guest was played and, through a combination of interrogating the suspects and deduction, celebrity guests had to discover who committed the murder, which of six weapons and in which room it was committed, whilst viewers were invited to play along at home....
The Dangerous Brothers
Character:
The Dangerous Brothers was a stage and TV act by anarchic comedy duo Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, performing respectively as "Richard Dangerous" and "Sir Adrian Dangerous". Originally appearing on stage in London at the comedy club 'The Comic Strip', the characters were well developed before appearing on TV. First appearing on television on a one off 1980 BBC TV show 'Boom Boom Out Go The Lights', they were also featured in a TV short 'documentary' film 'The Comic Strip', directed by Julien Tem...
Filthy Rich & Catflap
Character: Dingo Wucker
Richie causes trouble in his pursuit of TV fame with Eddie, his alcoholic minder, and Filthy, his sponging agent....
Home to Roost
Character: FG Fielding
Home to Roost is a British television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television in the 1980s. Written by Eric Chappell, it starred John Thaw as Henry Willows and Reece Dinsdale as his 18-year-old son Matthew. The premise is that Henry Willows is forty-something, who has been divorced from his wife for seven years and is perfectly happy living alone in London. That is, until his youngest child, Matthew arrives to live with him, after being thrown out by his mother. The plots generally revolved aro...
A Little Princess
Character: Mr. Carmichael
Sara Crewe is the pampered daughter of an army colonel in a Victorian London girls' school. But when her father dies, penniless, Sara becomes a skivvy in Miss Michin's school, befriended only by the scullery maid, Becky, her friends Ermengarde and Lottie, a little monkey, a lascar, and the mysterious man next door. Based upon the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett....
Shadow of the Noose
Character: Mr. Justice Hawkins
Drama centering on the cases of the celebrated London barrister of the Victorian era, Edward Marshall Hall....
Movie Credits
Jabberwocky
Character: 1st Herald
A medieval tale with Pythonesque humour: After the death of his father the young Dennis Cooper goes to town where he has to pass several adventures. The town and the whole kingdom is threatened by a terrible monster called 'Jabberwocky'. Will Dennis make his fortune? Is anyone brave enough to defeat the monster?...
Bejewelled
Character: Eustace
An American's family jewels are stolen during her trip to London and she reluctantly teams up with a private investigator-in-training to try and recover them....
The Alf Garnett Saga
Character: Willis
Alf and his family have been moved from their East End home into a high-rise council estate. Alf is not only having trouble coping with his new 'home', but also with the long commute to work, the long walk to the corner pub, his long-suffering wife, rebellious daughter and her philandering, constantly unemployed husband....
The Secret Policeman’s Biggest Ball
Character: Self
After the criticisms of the 1987 show’s disproportionate focus on music - and the financial disaster of its music-only Festival Of Youth weekend concert in 1988, Amnesty returned to the original formula that had been so successful in the 1976-1981 era with a primary focus on comedy. Pat Duffy was dropped from organising any further benefit events for Amnesty and for the 1989 show, Amnesty hired producer Judith Holder....
Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
Character: Self
A documentary about the life of British satirist and founder of 'Private Eye' Peter Cook. “marvelous, engrossing tribute” Allison Pearson, The Observer “painstakingly constructed.. sharp yet sensitive” Victor Lewis-Smith...
Winter Solstice
Character: Barry
When Elfrida Philips abandons London for a country village, she settles in quickly. She is very poor, but has a tiny cottage, her four-legged friend Horace, and friendships of good neighbors. Tragedy upsets her newfound tranquillity, and she takes refuge in a rambling house with a new gentleman friend in Corrydale. But the group proves to be greater than the sum of its ill-fitting parts, and as the solstice passes, and as Christmas approaches, the healing power of love, begins to work its magic....
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
Character: 1st Official
In 1945, the new Polish government asked for the heart of Chopin previously buried in Paris. A woman called Paulina Czernika approached the government claiming to have some love letters from the composer to her great-grandmother, the Countess Delfina Potocka....
Take a Girl Like You
Character: Dick Thompson
Young Jenny heads to the South of England to start a new career as a school teacher. Even before she has had a chance to settle in she meets Patrick, one of the local "lads". Within a short time she has her hands full when a number of the local boys take a liking to her. But who will be the lucky one who wins her affections?...
Circles Of Deceit
Character: George
Philip, a painter who specialises as a copyist, has always been dominated by strong women with secrets....
The Breaking of Bumbo
Character: Jock
The hilarious adventures of young Bumbo Bailey, who enlists in the Brigade of Guards and is based in the prestigious Wellington Barracks in London in the Swinging Sixties. He regards his social life as important as his military....
30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia!
Character: Herbert Greenslade
A 29-year old aspiring composer—still single and without any romantic prospects—vows to both marry and write a hit musical before he turns 30. Director Joseph McGrath's 1968 British comedy stars Dudley Moore, Suzy Kendall, Eddie Foy Jr. and Patricia Routledge....
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
Character: Self - Various Roles
Following the success of the 1979 show and the financial benefits accruing to Amnesty from the spin-off movie, TV special and record albums – Cleese, Lewis and Walker planned the next show to be a more spectacular event. Cleese focused on broadening the comedic talent to be presented at the show. In addition to the Amnesty show stalwarts drawn from the Oxbridge/Monty Python/Beyond The Fringe orbit, he invited newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson’s colleagues from the BBC TV show Not the Nine O'Clock...
The Best House in London
Character: Home Secretary
In Victorian London, the British Government attempts a solution to the problem of prostitution by establishing the world's most fabulous brothel....
Timon of Athens
Character: Painter
Timon loves to give parties and objects to friends, but when he cannot pay his creditors, his "friends" refuse to help him, and he becomes a misanthropic hermit....
Blue Remembered Hills
Character: Raymond
On an idyllic summer afternoon in the summer of 1943, a group of children play in the West Country hills, fields and forests. With no adults around, they indulge in spontaneous games and horseplay - sometimes echoing the distant war, at other times revealing their own insecurities and petty vindictiveness....
Red, White, and Zero
Character: Man on Train
Composed of three shorts – Ride of the Valkyrie, The White Bus, and Red and Blue – from three of Britain’s most-celebrated directors - Lindsay Anderson, Peter Brook, and Tony Richardson. Comic legend Zero Mostel stars as an opera singer (in full costume) navigating the London transport network as he attempts to reach Covent Garden in 'Ride of the Valkyrie'. Scripted by Shelagh Delaney, 'The White Bus' blends realism, drama, and poetry as a despondent young woman travels home to the North of En...
A Promise of Bed
Character: Taxi Driver
Three part comedy. A fading sex symbol attempts to win the lead in a movie by seducing the son of a film producer. A depressed middle aged loner whose suicide attempt is interrupted by the arrival of a hippy girl.An avid sex film fan and taxi driver, crashes his cab after being distracted by the leggy charms of his latest passenger....
A Walk in the Forest
Character: Desmond Hughes
A writer gets involved with a Soviet dissident....
High Tide
Character: Cyril
Ian McShane stars as Peter Curtis, who has just been released from prison after serving four years for manslaughter. His victim's mysterious last words lead him on a frantic quest for answers in the tidal estuaries of the West of England, where he finds himself on a collision course with other parties who are as eager to solve the mystery as he is, and are seemingly even prepared to kill to find the answer....
Alice in Wonderland
Character: Frog Footman
Alice in Wonderland (1966) is a BBC television play based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was directed by Jonathan Miller, then most widely known for his appearance in the long-running satirical revue Beyond the Fringe....
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
Character: Berger
Concerned about his friend's cocaine use, Dr. Watson tricks Sherlock Holmes into travelling to Vienna, where Holmes enters the care of Sigmund Freud. Freud attempts to solve the mysteries of Holmes' subconscious, while Holmes devotes himself to solving a mystery involving the kidnapping of Lola Deveraux....
Mrs. Capper's Birthday
Character: Maurice
Sweet Hilda Capper spends her birthday fending off the well-meaning intrusions of family and friends....
The Taming of the Shrew
Character: Pedant
Baptista has two daughters: Kate and Bianca. Everyone wants to wed the fair Bianca, but nobody's much interested in problem child, Kate. Baptista declares that he won't give Bianca away in a marriage until he's found a husband for Kate, so all the suitors begin busily hunting out a madman who's willing to do it, and they find Petruchio: a man who's come to wive it wealthily in Padua. And Petruchio marries Kate with a plan to tame her, while everybody else begins scheming to win Bianca's hand....
Blue Money
Character: Harry Diamond
Mobsters and the IRA chase a stagestruck London cabby (Tim Curry) who has found a briefcase full of cash....
King Lear
Character: Duke of Albany
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about hi...
The Falklands Factor
Character: Lord North
Is there nothing new under the sun? 1770. The South Atlantic. A fleet sets sail from Buenos Aires to expel the British forces and reconquer the Falkland Islands. A major international crisis explodes. What follows may sound strangely familiar, but is firmly based on the historical record and the actual speeches and writings of the time....
After the Dance
Character: John Reid
David and Joan's life has been one continuous party, but their marriage is loveless. Suddenly a young girl appears in their world and announces that she's in love with David and wants to change his life for ever. Adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play....
The Children Of Dynmouth
Character: Commander Abigail
The plot follows Timothy Gedge, a socially inept yet intrusive teenage boy as he wanders around the dull seaside town of Dynmouth, spying on the town's residents. At first this behaviour is seen as merely annoying, even comical, until people begin to realise that his purpose may not be as innocent as initially thought....
Fothergill
Character: HG Wells
John Fothergill, aesthete and scholar, becomes the proprietor of the Spread Eagle, in Thame, Oxfordshire, with the intent of turning it into the most celebrated Inn in England, catering to the brightest lights in London's literati....