Richard Briers

Acting

Richard Briers

Born 1934-01-14 · Raynes Park, Surrey, England, UK

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).

Acting credits

Much Ado About Nothing poster
7.0

In this Shakespearean farce, Hero and her groom-to-be, Claudio, team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro, the week before their wedding to hatch a matchmaking scheme. Their targets are sharp-witted duo Benedick and Beatrice -- a tough task indeed, considering their corresponding distaste for love and each other. Meanwhile, meddling Don John plots to ruin the wedding.

Much Ado About Nothing

1993

Peter Pan poster
7.1

In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars and to the lush jungles of Neverland.

Peter Pan

2003

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein poster
6.4

Victor Frankenstein is a promising young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother during childbirth, becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. His experiments lead to the creation of a monster, which Frankenstein has put together with the remains of corpses. It's not long before Frankenstein regrets his actions.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

1994

Watership Down poster
7.2

When the warren belonging to a community of rabbits is threatened, a brave group led by Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry and Hazel leave their homeland in a search of a safe new haven.

Watership Down

1978

A Chorus of Disapproval poster
5.4

Guy Jones (Irons) moves to a small British town and joins the local amateur dramatics society as a way to meet people. However he soon finds the drama offstage far outweighs those onstage.

A Chorus of Disapproval

1989

The Three Musketeers poster
6.7

In 17th century France, young D'Artagnan wants to join the King's Musketeers, but instead befriends three legendary musketeers—Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—and together, they become embroiled in the political intrigue surrounding King Louis XIII and his adversaries, particularly the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.

The Three Musketeers

1973

Spice World poster
4.9

World famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans.

Spice World

1997

Hamlet poster
7.3

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.

Hamlet

1996

British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves poster
5.7

Documentary celebrating the British sitcom and taking a look at the social and political context from which our favourite sitcoms grew. We enjoy a trip through the comedy archive in the company of the people who made some of the very best British sitcoms. From The Likely Lads to I'm Alan Partridge, we find out the inspiration behind some of the most-loved characters and how they reflect the times they were living in.

British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves

2016

The Four Musketeers poster
6.5

The Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.

The Four Musketeers

1974

Henry V poster
7.1

In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.

Henry V

1989

Dad poster
9.5

Lucy Gannon (Soldier, Soldier, Bramwell, Trip Trap) has written Dad, the poignant story of Larry James (Richard Briers), a cheery and independent 86-year-old who has been caring single-handedly for his beloved wife Jeannie James (Jean Heywood) who has Alzheimer's disease. When Larry falls and breaks an ankle his life with Jeannie abruptly changes forever. Jeannie is moved into residential care and Larry goes to stay with his son Oliver (Kevin Whately), his daughter-in-law Sandy (Sinead Cusack) and their teenage daughter Millie (Hannah Daniel). But love and consideration wear thin as father and son have to learn to live together all over again.

Dad

2005

Murder She Said poster
7.3

Miss Marple believes she's seen a murder in a passing-by train, yet when the police find no evidence she decides to investigate it on her own.

Murder She Said

1961

The Student Prince poster
5.3

The Queen's youngest son is off to university, mainly because "I'm hopeless at anything else". Barry, his new bodyguard, has no time for the royal family and left school at fifteen. He certainly didn't volunteer for this job, and is damned if he's going to enjoy it. Yet he can't help liking the hopelessly unworldly young prince, at least, until they both set their eyes on the new American student!

The Student Prince

1998

Doctor Who: Paradise Towers poster
6.5

The Doctor and Mel visit Paradise Towers, a residential complex that promises a peaceful life to its residents. However, the establishment is far from what its name suggests: A conflict persists among the Kangs, humanesque multicolour beings who gather in opposing gangs based on which colour of the rainbow they bear; killer cleaning robots prowl the halls, and a secret in the complex's basement poses the greatest threat of all.

Doctor Who: Paradise Towers

1987

As You Like It poster
5.8

Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind and Orlando's celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden - set in 19th-century Japan.

As You Like It

2006

Love's Labour's Lost poster
5.6

A scholarly king and his three companions swear off the society of women for three years, only to have a diplomatic visit from a French princess and her three ladies-in-waiting thwart their intentions.

Love's Labour's Lost

2000

Cockneys vs Zombies poster
5.7

A group of Cockneys arm themselves to rescue their elderly relative and his retirement home friends who are trapped and fighting off a zombie attack during a zombie apocalypse in the East End of London.

Cockneys vs Zombies

2012

Unconditional Love poster
6.0

After her husband leaves her, a woman travels to London for the funeral of the pop star, Victor Fox, she's adored all her life. There, she meets the lover of the dead pop star, and convinces him to come back to Chicago with her to figure out who killed the singer.

Unconditional Love

2002

The Bargee poster
7.0

After a lock-keeper entrusts his daughter to a canal Casanova, he is shocked to learn that she is pregnant. He then refuses to open his locks - causing barges to pile up in every direction until the guilty party confesses.

The Bargee

1964

Peter's Friends poster
6.6

After inheriting a large country estate from his late father, Peter invites his friends from college: married couple Roger and Mary, the lonely Maggie, fashionable Sarah, and writer Andrew, who brings his American TV star wife, Carol. Sarah's new boyfriend, Brian, also attends. It has been 10 years since college, and they find their lives are very different.

Peter's Friends

1992

Heavy Weather poster
8.0

At Blandings Castle, the Earl of Emsworth only cares about his prize pig 'The Empress' and is wilfully ignorant of the fact that his brother is planning to publish a book which might ruin the family name forever. Moreover, the Earl's nephew might cause the family some major damage by getting married to a terribly unsuitable chorus girl. An adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse's novel of the same name.

Heavy Weather

1995

Doctor in Distress poster
6.3

"Doctor in Distress" is the fifth of the seven films in the "Doctor" series, and focuses on Sir Lancelot Spratt, Simon Sparrow's old teacher and sometimes nemesis. When the eternal bachelor Sir Lancelot injures his back and falls in love with his physiotherapist Iris Marchant, he becomes very distressed and turns to Simon for help. Simon, who now is a senior doctor at fictional Hampden Cross Hospital and hopelessly in love with aspiring actress Delia, sends him to a nature cure clinic in a vain attempt to help him lose weight, but Sir Lancelot can't get Iris off his mind and has her followed, first by a private investigator and eventually by himself. When he finally proposes, she rejects him and marries an old army major, which distresses Sir Lancelot even more.

Doctor in Distress

1963

No artwork available
NR

Adaptation of the play by George Bernard Shaw. (Synopsis) Richard Briers tries to woo Judi Dench in this play by George Bernard Shaw.

Village Wooing

1979