Donald Churchill

Acting

Donald Churchill

Born — Died

1930-11-06 — 1991-10-29

Place of birth

Southall, Middlesex, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

65 titles

Donald Churchill (6 November 1930 – 29 October 1991) was an English actor and playwright. He appeared in many film and television productions over a 35-year period and wrote several TV scripts. His films included Barnacle Bill (1957), The Captain's Table (1959), Victim (1961), The Wild Affair (1964), Zeppelin (1971), The First Great Train Robbery (1978), Charlie Muffin (1979) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) as Doctor Watson.[1] On television he starred in Bulldog Breed (1962), Spooner's Patch (1980-1982), played game show host Ronnie Kemp in Goodnight and God Bless (which Churchill also co-wrote, 1983), Mr Scott Eccles in an adaptation of "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" for The R…

Known for

Film credits

1970s · 7 titles

The First Great Train Robbery poster
6.7

In Victorian England, a master criminal makes elaborate plans to steal a shipment of gold from a moving train.

The First Great Train Robbery

1978

Charlie Muffin poster
6.4

Charlie Muffin, top British Intelligence operative, has just broken up a major Soviet spy network in England. However, a new Director with new ideas takes over and wants Charlie out. But then a high-ranking Soviet spy-master hints that he wants to defect, and both British Intelligence and the CIA want him and will do anything to get him. Charlie may be the only man who can bring the defection off successfully, but is the whole thing an elaborate set-up? And when your so-called allies are stabbing each other and you in the back to get this prize, whom can Charlie trust on either side?

Charlie Muffin

1979

Knightsbridge poster
NR

Francesca's upbringing has been sheltered, but her fiancé isn't slow to realise that his future mother-in-law is in a very lucrative line of business.

Knightsbridge

1972

Curse of the Mummy poster
7.0

An archaeologist unearths the mummy of an Egyptian queen. He doesn't realize that his daughter has a strong resemblance to the dead queen, and soon the mummy awakens. Complications ensue.

Curse of the Mummy

1970

A Bit of a Lift poster
9.0

A man meets a woman at a wedding and manages to sweet talk her, only to end up inadvertently helping out another male.

A Bit of a Lift

1973

Hearts and Flowers poster
6.5

A family gather together for the funeral and cremation of the head of the family.

Hearts and Flowers

1970

No artwork available
NR

Mary Abbott is a schoolteacher whose husband has to go away for the night on business. After returning home from a party she has an unexpected caller.

The Loving Lesson

1971

1960s · 10 titles

Sink the Bismarck! poster
6.9

The story of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck—accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen—during the early days of World War II. The Bismarck and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were the most powerful battleships in the European theater of World War II. The British Navy must find and destroy Bismarck before it can escape into the convoy lanes to inflict severe damage on the cargo shipping which was the lifeblood of the British Isles. With eight 15 inch guns, it was capable of destroying every ship in a convoy while remaining beyond the range of all Royal Navy warships.

Sink the Bismarck!

1960

Victim poster
7.5

A web of blackmail and murder attracts the attention of a barrister with a seemingly idyllic life, threatening to derail his career on the path of success.

Victim

1961

No Love for Johnnie poster
6.7

Johnnie Byrne is a member of the British Parliament. In his 40s, he's feeling frustrated with his life and his personal as well as professional problems tower up over him. His desires to win the next election are endangered by his constant looking for love and he is faced with the choice of giving up a career in politics or giving up the woman he loves.

No Love for Johnnie

1961

Doctor in Love poster
5.5

Doctors Burke and Hare leave the confines of St Swithins for the world of general practice, stopping off on the way as patients at the Foulness Anti-cold Unit. Hare then takes up a position as junior in a well-healed G.P.'s surgery while Burke continues to sow his doctorial wild oats.

Doctor in Love

1960

No artwork available
NR

Tycoon husband Harry Fender, who has built up the supermarket business from the time he was a delivery boy in his teens - is now over forty and obsessed with developing the exotic plants in his hothouse.

The Hothouse

1964

The Wild Affair poster
5.3

Young office assistant Majorie will marry soon, however, she's plagued by doubts if her fiance is the right one. On her last day at work, her male colleagues don't miss a chance to comfort her...and flirt.

The Wild Affair

1965

Spaceflight IC-1 poster
4.5

In the year 2015, a spaceship, the IC-1, travels through outer space looking for a suitable planet to settle on. The commander, Captain Ralston, is stern and brutal in which one cadet, Steven, plots a revolt to turn the leadership of the command over to him.

Spaceflight IC-1

1965

The Omega Mystery poster
NR

Butler and Robinson have to track down a saboteur at an atomic research station before it is too late.

The Omega Mystery

1961

No artwork available
8.0

Dennis is told by his wife to remove two old tyres from the garden of their new home. He tries various ways to dispose of them.

The Spare Tyres

1967

No artwork available
NR

A ship powered by a nuclear reactor, is heading for the port of New York and is unable to slow down.

The Ship That Couldn't Stop

1961

1950s · 4 titles

Series credits

Play for Today poster
6.6

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

1970

The Saint poster
7.4

Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.

The Saint

1962

The Wednesday Play poster
5.2

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

The Wednesday Play

1964

Sherlock Holmes poster
8.2

Sherlock Holmes uses his abilities to take on cases by private clients and those that the Scotland Yard are unable to solve, along with his friend Dr. Watson.

Sherlock Holmes

1984

Thirty-Minute Theatre poster
4.2

An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.

Thirty-Minute Theatre

1965

Thirty-Minute Theatre poster
4.2

An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.

Thirty-Minute Theatre

1965

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

No artwork available
NR

BBC anthology drama series that ran over four seasons and replaced the previous BBC Sunday Night Theatre series.

Sunday-Night Play

1960

No artwork available
NR

BBC anthology drama series that ran over four seasons and replaced the previous BBC Sunday Night Theatre series.

Sunday-Night Play

1960

Van der Valk poster
6.2

Van der Valk is a British television series that was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network. It starred Barry Foster in the title role as Dutch detective Commissaris "Piet" van der Valk. Based on the characters and atmosphere of the novels of Nicolas Freeling, the first series was shown in 1972.

Van der Valk

1972

Mystery and Imagination poster
5.8

Mystery and Imagination is a British television anthology of classic horror and supernatural dramas. Five series were broadcast from 1966 to 1970 on ITV and produced by ABC and Thames Television.

Mystery and Imagination

1966

Gideon's Way poster
7.0

Gideon's Way is a British television crime series made by ITC Entertainment in 1964/65, based on the novels by John Creasey. The series was made at Elstree in twin production with The Saint TV series. It starred Liverpudlian John Gregson in the title role as Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, with Alexander Davion as his assistant, Detective Chief Inspector David Keen, Reginald Jessup as Det. Superintendent LeMaitre, Ian Rossiter as Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Bell and Basil Dignam as Commissioner Scott-Marle. The show did not acknowledge any help from Scotland Yard, any other police force or advisor. Daphne Anderson starred as his wife, Kate with Giles Watling as young son, Malcolm, Richard James as older son, Matthew who seemed to have a lot of new girlfriends and Andrea Allan as daughter, Pru. Unusually for police stories, Gideon was shown as a family man at home though urgent phone calls from his bosses tend to disrupt family plans too often. However, he did admit in "State Visit" that his wife had walked out on him for a while years ago when he put the job first and her second. They live in an expensive detached house in Chelsea.

Gideon's Way

1965

No artwork available
8.0

An anthology of single plays offering up adaptations of either of prominent stage plays or novels.

Festival

1963

Citizen Smith poster
6.8

Classic BBC comedy starring Robert Lindsay as revolutionary leader Wolfie Smith of the Tooting Popular Front. Hoping to emulate his icons, Wolfie forms the Tooting Popular Front with a small group of his friends. However, he soon finds himself struggling to get his ambitious plans off the ground due to his laid back attitude and lack of organisation.

Citizen Smith

1977

Detective poster
9.0

A BBC anthology series featuring adaptations of detective stories over 45 episodes in three seasons that ran from 1964 to 1969. As with many BBC programmes made before the early 1970s, many of its episodes no longer exist. Of the eighteen episodes from the first season only twelve are currently known to exist; likewise six of the sixteen editions from the second run are considered lost, and just one of the final ten survives in the archives.

Detective

1964

The Sandbaggers poster
8.2

The Sandbaggers is a British television drama series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and American intelligence specialists.

The Sandbaggers

1978

The Return of Sherlock Holmes poster
7.9

In the second series of the widely celebrated ITV detective programme, Dr John Watson finds a mystery in an empty house, while Holmes and he later solve the mysteries of an abbey grange, the Musgrave ritual, a second stain, a man with a twisted lip, the priory school, and a half-dozen plaster busts of Bonaparte.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

1986

No artwork available
NR

Anthology of stories set in a timeshare flat.

Sharing Time

1984

Spooner's Patch poster
8.0

Follows the daily antics of Woodley police station, where officers are more interested in taking bribes and doing little work than catching criminals. Inspector Spooner lives alone in a flat above the station and often had to deal with the messes created by his junior staff.

Spooner's Patch

1979

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

No artwork available
10.0

Two British police officers uproot themselves and move to Spain. They watch ex-pat British mobsters.

El C.I.D.

1990

Stanley and the Women poster
6.5

Stanley Duke's life is thrown into chaos when his son is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his home becomes a battleground for his past and present wives and other women.

Stanley and the Women

1991

No artwork available
NR

A series of plays concerning the theme of love.

Heartland

1979

No artwork available
NR

The Aweful Mr Goodall is a six-episode 1974 British television drama produced by Richard Bates and starring Robert Urquhart as Jack Goodall, a retired MI5 agent who investigates various mysteries, often involving smuggling and international intrigue, with help from travel agent Alexandra Winfield.

The Aweful Mr Goodall

1974

No artwork available
NR

Comedy following Albert Curfew, a man for whom unemployability appears to be no object whatsoever. Stars Donald Churchill, Norman Bird and Dilys Laye.

It's Not Me - It's Them!

1965

No artwork available
NR

Ronnie Kemp, stand-up comedian turned television quizmaster, is adored by his audience but is a very different character offstage.

Good Night And God Bless

1983

Behind the camera

Zeppelin poster
6.2

The outbreak of World War I places Scots officer Geoffrey Richter-Douglas in an uncomfortable position. Although his allegiance is to Britain, his mother was from an aristocratic Bavarian family, and he spent his summers in Germany as a child. When Geoffrey is approached by a German spy who offers him a chance to defect, he reports the incident to his superiors, but instead of arresting the spy they suggest that he accept her offer--and become an Allied agent. In Germany, among old friends, Geoffrey discovers that loyalty is more complicated than he expected, especially when he finds himself aboard the maiden voyage of a powerful new prototype Zeppelin, headed for Scotland on a secret mission that could decide the outcome of the war.

Zeppelin

1971

No artwork available
NR

Tycoon husband Harry Fender, who has built up the supermarket business from the time he was a delivery boy in his teens - is now over forty and obsessed with developing the exotic plants in his hothouse.

The Hothouse

1964

A Bit of a Lift poster
9.0

A man meets a woman at a wedding and manages to sweet talk her, only to end up inadvertently helping out another male.

A Bit of a Lift

1973

The Left Overs poster
NR

A blossoming friendship between a businessman and one of his flatmate's ex-girlfriends is challenged when she answers a phone call and inadvertently reveals to his boss that he has been fraudulently claiming expenses.

The Left Overs

1972

A Room in Town poster
10.0

A woman discovers that her husband has rented a flat in London for his mistress, and sets out to catch him in the act

A Room in Town

1970

The Cherry on the Top poster
NR

A comic play set against the background of the Air Force.

The Cherry on the Top

1964

No artwork available
10.0

British TV-Movie

An Honourable Retirement

1979

No artwork available
NR

Mary Abbott is a schoolteacher whose husband has to go away for the night on business. After returning home from a party she has an unexpected caller.

The Loving Lesson

1971

No artwork available
NR

Jean Hobley has a problem, trying to hold down a job that allows her to pick up her child from school.

Sharp at Four

1964

No artwork available
NR

Ernie decides to pack up and go to sea, however he had not taken into account the repercussions that would be felt by those around him.

A Fluid Arrangement

1972