Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor. His fifty-year career encompassed television, stage, film and radio.
Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines (1961–66), but it was a decade later, when he narrated Roobarb and Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk (1974–76) and when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life (1975–78), that he became a household name. Later, he starred as Martin in Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89), and he had a leading role as Hector in Monarch of the Glen (2000–05). From the late 1980s, with Kenneth Branagh as director, he performed Shakespearean roles in Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), and As You Like It (2006).
Photos
Films (67)
The Good Life: Inside Out
2025
The Good Life: Secret & Scandals
2022 · (archive footage)
Roobarb and Custard: The Complete Collection
2017 · Narrator, Roobarb, Custard / lot of characters. (uncredited)
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
2016 · Acting Role (archive footage) (uncredited)
Mouse and Mole at Christmas Time
2013 · Mouse (voice)
Cockneys vs Zombies
2012 · Hamish
Run For Your Wife
2012 · Newspaper Seller
Horror on the High Rise
2011
All About The Good Life
2010
National Theatre Live: London Assurance
2010 · Mr. Adolphus Spanker
Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band: The Official BBC Children in Need Medley
2009 · Roobarb/Custard (voice)
As You Like It
2006 · Adam
Our Hidden Lives
2005 · Herbert Brush
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005 · Self
Dad
2005 · Larry James
Peter Pan
2003 · Sam "Smee" Smiegel
More Great Comedy Moments
2003 · Martin Bryce (archive footage)
Bob the Builder: The Knights of Can-A-Lot
2003 · Robert (voice)
Unconditional Love
2002 · Barry Moore
Great Comedy Moments
2001 · Tom Good (archive footage)
Victoria & Albert
2001 · Joseph Paxton
Peines d'amour perdues
2000 · Sir Nathaniel
The Student Prince
1998 · Dr. Corbitt
Spice World
1997 · Bishop
Hamlet
1996 · Polonius
The Adventures of Toad
1996 · Rat
Heavy Weather
1995 · The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
The Adventures of Mole
1995 · Rat
In the Bleak Midwinter
1995 · Henry
French and Saunders' Christmas Carol
1994 · Self
Mole's Christmas
1994 · Rat
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1994 · Grandfather
Skallagrigg
1994 · Old Arthur/George
Frances the Firefly
1994 · Narrator (voice)
Much Ado About Nothing
1993 · Signor Leonato
Peter's Friends
1992 · Lord Morton
Swan Song
1992 · Nikita
Henry V
1989 · Lieutenant Bardolph
A Chorus of Disapproval
1989 · Ted Washbrook
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
1988 · Malvolio
Children's Favourites - Volume 1
1988 · Alias (voice)
Doctor Who: Paradise Towers
1987 · The Chief Caretaker
A Month in the Country
1985 · Arkady
The Aerodrome
1983 · The Rector
Arms and the Man
1983 · Bluntschli
It's Your Move
1982 · The Husband
P.Q. 17
1981 · Jack Broome
Village Wooing
1979 · A
Watership Down
1978 · Fiver (voice)
The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show
1977 · Theatre Patron
Our Flesh and Blood
1977 · Mr. Smythe
A Small Miracle
1976 · Himself - Commentator
Great
1975 · Isambard Kingdom Brunel
The Four Musketeers
1974 · Louis XIII (voice) (uncredited)
The Three Musketeers
1973 · Louis XIII (voice)
Rentadick
1972 · Miles Gannet
All the Way Up
1970 · Nigel Hadfield
Fathom
1967 · Flight Lt. Timothy Webb
A Home of Your Own
1964 · The Husband
The Bargee
1964 · Tomkins
All in Good Time
1964 · The Young Husband
Doctor in Distress
1963 · Medical Student (uncredited)
The Girl on the Boat
1962 · Eustace Hignett
A Matter of WHO
1961 · Jamieson
Murder She Said
1961 · 'Mrs Binster'
Bottoms Up!
1960 · Colbourne
Girls at Sea
1958 · 'Popeye' Lewis
Séries (62)
A Bucket O' French and Saunders
2007
That's What I Call Television
2007 · Self
Kingdom
2007 · Jim Wright
Torchwood
2006 · Parker
My Appalling School Report
2006
Roobarb and Custard Too
2005 · Narrator
Extras
2005 · Richard Briers
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004 · Wilson
New Tricks
2004 · James Farlow
Comedy Connections
2003
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
2001 · Self
Monarch of the Glen
2000 · Hector MacDonald
The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
2000
Watership Down
1999 · Captain Broom (voice)
Geoff Hamilton: a Man and His Garden
1998 · Narrator
A Respectable Trade
1998 · Sir Charles Fairley
Parkinson
1998 · Self
Midsomer Murders
1997 · Stephen Wentworth
Brass Eye
1997 · Self
Down to Earth
1995 · Tony Fairfax
If You See God, Tell Him
1993 · Godfrey Spry
Mr. Bean
1990 · Mr. Sprout
Comic Relief
1988
Lovejoy
1986 · Raymond Doncaster
All in Good Faith
1985 · Reverend Philip Lambe
Alias the Jester
1985 · Alias
Screen Two
1985 · Old Arthur/George
Ever Decreasing Circles
1984
Natural World
1983
Wogan
1982 · Self
Goodbye Mr Kent
1982 · Travis Kent
Tales of the Unexpected
1979 · Albert Dobson
The Other One
1977 · Ralph Tanner
The Norman Conquests
1977 · Reg
The Sunday Drama
1977 · Dennis
The Galton & Simpson Playhouse
1977 · Henry Fairlane
Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk
1976
One-Upmanship
1976 · Stephen Potter
The Good Life
1975 · Tom Good
Noddy
1975 · Narrator
Roobarb
1974
Between the Wars
1973 · Oswald Carstairs
Tall Stories
1971
Birds on the Wing
1971 · Charles Jackson
Play for Today
1970 · Mr. Smythe, Commander Jack Broome
Ben Travers Farces
1970 · Charlie Tutt
From a Bird's Eye View
1970 · George Lemon
Ooh La La!
1968
ITV Playhouse
1967 · A
NBC Experiment in Television
1967 · (voice)
BBC Play of the Month
1965 · Sandy Tyrell
Thursday Theatre
1964 · David Prentice
Theatre 625
1964 · David Prentice
Doctor Who
1963 · Chief Caretaker
Brothers In Law
1962
Faces of Jim
1961 · John Frobisher, Lighthouse Assistant, Ricky Groin
Marriage Lines
1961 · George Starling
Armchair Theatre
1956 · Stanley Frelaine
Tony Awards
1956 · Self - Nominee
Dixon of Dock Green
1955 · Ken Tracey
Bird Bath
· Narrator
Little Red Tractor Stories
· Narrator (voice)