Clive Swift

Acting

Clive Swift

Born — Died

1936-02-09 — 2019-02-01

Place of birth

Liverpool, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

91 titles

Clive Swift was a British actor known to millions as Hyacinth Bucket's hen-pecked husband Richard in BBC One's 90s sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. Swift, who spent 10 years at the RSC before breaking into television, also acted in such series as Peak Practice, Born and Bred and The Old Guys.

Known for

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

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.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

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

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

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

Peak Practice poster
6.5

Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time. It originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton as Dr Beth Glover and Simon Shepherd as Dr Will Preston, though the roster of doctors would change many times over the course of the series. Cardale was based on the Staffordshire village of Longnor for the final series, but was previously based in the Derbyshire village of Crich, although certain scenes were filmed at other nearby Derbyshire towns and villages, most notably Matlock, Belper and Ashover.

Peak Practice

1993

Film credits

1990s · 4 titles

1980s · 16 titles

Excalibur poster
7.0

Arthur fulfills his fate by bringing together the Knights of the Round Table at Camelot and unifying the country. However, this flawed monarch faces greater tests ahead in pursuit of love, the Holy Grail, and his nation's survival.

Excalibur

1981

A Passage to India poster
6.8

Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.

A Passage to India

1984

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde poster
6.2

Adaptation of the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

1980

Pack of Lies poster
6.8

A British couple are shocked out of their suburban malaise when British intelligence agent Stewart shows up at their door and wants to use their house for a stakeout. Stewart reveals that their neighbors are undercover Russian KGB spies, part of a Soviet espionage network.

Pack of Lies

1987

Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks poster
8.7

At the Tranquil Repose mortuary, the Doctor and Peri uncover a sinister plot to create a new breed of Daleks under the supervision of the mysterious Great Healer.

Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks

1985

Cause Célèbre poster
5.6

When the ailing husband of an adulterous wife is discovered bludgeoned to death and suspicions fall on the older woman's young lover, the newly widowed woman claims that it was she who was solely responsible for the death despite evidence that points to the contrary in this dramatic account of true-life 1935 trial that shocked all of England. Though notable evidence and strong suspicion suggests that the murder may have been of crime of passion perpetrated by the jealous lover only half her age, Alma Rattenbury (Helen Mirren) confesses to the murder of her husband and is soon brought to trial. Despite the fact that Alma is already being deemed guilty by the general public for her adulterous indiscretion alone, her lawyer, star attorney T.J. O'Connor (David Suchet), remains convinced that his client will eventually be cleared of all charges.

Cause Célèbre

1987

Young Toscanini poster
6.7

A fanciful biopic of legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini as a very young man.

Young Toscanini

1988

Memed My Hawk poster
6.0

In 1920s Turkey, a young peasant is smitten with a beautiful young girl, who has been promised in marriage to the fat, dullard cousin of the province's powerful and corrupt governor. When an assassination attempt is made against the official, the young man flees his village and joins up with a group of outlaws fighting against the wealthy and powerful landowners who control the lives of the locals and make life miserable for them. The outlaws' successes prompt the governor to call in the Turkish army to capture or kill them.

Memed My Hawk

1984

Martin Luther, Heretic poster
7.0

Martin Luther inspires a breakaway from the Roman Catholic church and is the founder of Protestantism.

Martin Luther, Heretic

1983

Pericles, Prince of Tyre poster
7.5

When Prince Pericles, visiting Antioch, discovers the dreaded answer to King Antiochus's riddle, he flees for his life straight into famine, shipwreck, love, fatherhood, and another shipwreck. He loses his wife and daughter, and doesn't find them again until the story moves us through resurrection, attempted murder, pirates, prostitution, and divine revelation.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

1984

Praying Mantis poster
6.2

A middle-aged professor's young bride and his assistant plan to commit a double murder disguised as a "Crime Passionel", but discover too late that one of their intended victims has become a fellow conspirator.

Praying Mantis

1985

What Mad Pursuit poster
10.0

If you were a famous English novelist doing a whistle stop tour of the United States to promote your books, wouldn't you welcome with open arms the chance of a quiet weekend away from it all in a remote corner of Long Island? Of course you would. Well, let what happened to Evan Lorrimer be an awful warning....

What Mad Pursuit

1985

Journey's End poster
8.0

A British Company in the WWI trenches await an inevitable German attack in this 1988 adaptation of R.C. Sherriff's play.

Journey's End

1988

An Ordered Life poster
NR

Colin Jeavons is the German composer Anton Webern who survives Naziism only to be shot by an American GI in the closing days of WW2. Daniel Gerroll plays his son Stephen who, against his father's wishes, joined the Wehrmacht and was killed in a railway accident in 1943.

An Ordered Life

1980

The Potsdam Quartet poster
NR

' They're mortal enemies, we just hate each other. So surely if they can agree about the destiny of mankind, we can save our quartet from the knacker's yard.' July 1945: The Potsdam Conference. 16 km south of war-devastated Berlin, Stalin, Truman, Churchill and Attlee are met to determine the shape of the new Europe. Having exchanged their white tie and tails for air force blue, an internationally famous string quartet waits to entertain the men of destiny. i When you're dividing up the world you need a little background music ... '

The Potsdam Quartet

1981

All Together Now poster
NR

The weekly brass band rehearsal is an enjoyable, light-hearted occasion. Then Mathew, the conductor, introduces James, a newcomer to the village, who is an enthusiastic bandsman from the north, where they do these things properly.

All Together Now

1986

1970s · 21 titles

Frenzy poster
7.1

London is terrorized by a vicious sex killer known as The Necktie Murderer. Following the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, down-on-his-luck Richard Blaney is suspected by the police of being the killer. He goes on the run, determined to prove his innocence.

Frenzy

1972

Death Line poster
5.8

When a government official disappears in the London tunnels, after several reports of missing people in the same location, Scotland Yard start to take the matter seriously, along with a couple who stumble into a victim by accident.

Death Line

1972

A Warning to the Curious poster
7.0

Paxton, an amateur archeologist, travels to the town of Seaburgh and inadvertently stumbles across one of the lost crowns of Anglia, which, according to legend, protect the county from invasion. On digging the crown up, Paxton is stalked by its supernatural guardian.

A Warning to the Curious

1972

The National Health poster
7.0

Peter Nichols adapted his own hit play to the screen, based on his experiences in hospitals. A riotous black comedy that's as timely today as ever, it contrasts the appalling conditions in a overcrowded London hospital with a soap opera playing on the televisions there. In an ingenious touch, the same actors appear in the "real" story as well as the "TV" one, thus blurring the distinctions even further. Jack Gould directs such outstanding British actors as Lynn Redgrave, Colin Blakely, Eleanor Bron, Jim Dale, Donald Sinden, Mervyn Johns, and, in only his second film, Bob Hoskins. The renowned Carl Davis composed the score.

The National Health

1973

Man at the Top poster
5.2

Northerner Joe Lampton becomes involved with Lord Ackerman, the powerful chairman of a pharmaceutical concern, his beautiful wife Alex, and daughter Robin. But trouble starts when Joe is made Managing Director of one of Ackerman’s companies and makes a shocking discovery: his predecessor committed suicide...

Man at the Top

1973

Home-Movies poster
NR

A 1979 production from BBC2 Playhouse by Denis Cannan

Home-Movies

1979

Henry IV Part 1 poster
7.2

Henry Bolingbroke has now been crowned King of England, but faces a rebellion headed by the embittered Earl of Northumberland and his son (nicknamed 'Hotspur'). Henry's son Hal, the Prince of Wales, has thrown over life at court in favour of heavy drinking and petty theft in the company of a debauched elderly knight, Sir John Falstaff. Hal must extricate himself from some legal problems, regain his father's good opinions and help suppress the uprising.

Henry IV Part 1

1979

The Exorcism poster
10.0

Four friends gather for Christmas dinner at an old cottage. Suddenly, there's a power failure and the phone goes dead. Then their wine turns to blood and the turkey makes them violently ill. Then things really get strange!

The Exorcism

1972

The Stalls of Barchester poster
6.3

Scholar Dr. Black's seemingly mundane assignment of sorting through the assets of the Barchester Cathedral library takes an eerie turn when he comes across the papers of the late Archdeacon, who plotted to gain his position through murder. However, he soon comes to discover something truly horrific about the wooden choir stalls in the church, which are tied to a famous local tree and a sinister local legend.

The Stalls of Barchester

1971

Goodbye poster
9.0

"All I said was the gramophone's too loud." Tony and Zoe Lyle's silly row starts like any other, but Tony finds that Zoe means it this time. She's walking out and he's got a week to save a marriage that he hasn't looked at in 18 years, and with it all the trappings of a good life in Maida Vale.

Goodbye

1975

The Sailor's Return poster
6.2

Based on the 1925 novel The Sailor's Return by David Garnett. A sailor returns to his hometown to open a pub bringing with him his new black wife. Very quickly they find themselves ostracised by the community.

The Sailor's Return

1978

Romeo and Juliet poster
6.5

Romeo falls in love with the beautiful young Juliet, but their warring families spell tragedy for the lovers.

Romeo and Juliet

1976

The Kitchen poster
NR

Alvin Rakoff's adaptation of Arnold Wesker's The Kitchen for Play of the Week. The Kitchen, first preformed in 1957, was Wesker's first work and his most performed play. The Kitchen has been produced in sixty cities including Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Paris - where it was the first widely recognized production by Théâtre du Soleil in 1967, Moscow, Montreal and Zurich.

The Kitchen

1977

Roll On Four O'Clock poster
6.0

Compelling drama from screenwriter Colin Welland set in a city comprehensive school of low expectations and ambitions. Pupil Latimer does not conform to the macho culture and is labeled a homosexual, leading to bullying by both the pupils and some of the teachers.

Roll On Four O'Clock

1970

Beloved poster
NR

When Henry James Prince is dismissed from his post as a curate, he decides to found his own religion, called the Abode of Love.

Beloved

1976

The Breakthrough poster
7.0

An adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 1966 short story of the same title, broadcast as part of the BBC's "BBC2 Playhouse".

The Breakthrough

1975

South Riding poster
NR

An adaptation of Winifred Holtby's classic novel

South Riding

1974

Beasts: The Dummy poster
4.2

A washed-up actor has a nervous breakdown and believes that he really is the movie monster that he has been hired to play. Created as an episode of Nigel Kneale’s “Beasts” horror anthology miniseries.

Beasts: The Dummy

1976

Foreign Affairs poster
NR

Moscow is the setting for a reunion between Susan and Viktor - a reunion which leads to unforeseen complications.

Foreign Affairs

1978

Buffet poster
9.0

A quick drink in the buffet before going home. Freddie's nerves are taking a hammering lately; the economy is in dire trouble and who can blame a businessman for the occasional drink? His wife and mistress for a start.

Buffet

1976

Mad Jack poster
9.0

Play dealing with the life of British Army lieutenant Siegfried Sassoon, and his protests against the inhumanity of the First World War

Mad Jack

1970

1960s · 4 titles

Series credits

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

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.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

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

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

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

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

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

Peak Practice poster
6.5

Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time. It originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton as Dr Beth Glover and Simon Shepherd as Dr Will Preston, though the roster of doctors would change many times over the course of the series. Cardale was based on the Staffordshire village of Longnor for the final series, but was previously based in the Derbyshire village of Crich, although certain scenes were filmed at other nearby Derbyshire towns and villages, most notably Matlock, Belper and Ashover.

Peak Practice

1993

Tales of the Unexpected poster
6.8

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Tales of the Unexpected

1979

Hustle poster
7.7

A motley group of London con artists pull of a series of daring and intricate stings.

Hustle

2004

No artwork available
4.5

The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 and currently airs on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" theme with many of the shows' segments focusing on fashion, health, nature, cookery and animals.

The Alan Titchmarsh Show

2007

Theatre 625 poster
7.2

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

Theatre 625

1964

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

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Inspector Morse poster
7.9

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.

Inspector Morse

1987

Keeping Up Appearances poster
7.7

A snobbish housewife is determined to climb the social ladder, in spite of her family's working class connections and the constant chagrin of her long suffering husband.

Keeping Up Appearances

1990

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

The Ray Bradbury Theater poster
6.9

A Canadian-produced fantastic anthology series scripted by famed science-fiction author Ray Bradbury. Many of the teleplays were based upon Bradbury's novels and short stories.

The Ray Bradbury Theater

1985

BBC2 Play of the Week poster
7.0

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

BBC2 Play of the Week

1977

BBC2 Play of the Week poster
7.0

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

BBC2 Play of the Week

1977

ScreenPlay poster
6.0

Screenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.

ScreenPlay

1986

The Expert poster
9.0

The Expert is a British television series produced by the BBC between 1968 and 1976. The series starred Marius Goring as Dr. John Hardy, a pathologist working for the Home Office and was essentially a police procedural drama, with Hardy bringing his forensic knowledge to solve various cases. The Expert was created and produced by Gerard Glaister. The series was also one of the first BBC dramas to be made in colour, and throughout its four series had numerous high quality guest appearances by actors such as John Carson, Peter Copley, Rachel Kempson, Peter Vaughan, Clive Swift, Geoffrey Palmer, Peter Barkworth, Jean Marsh, Ray Brooks, George Sewell, Anthony Valentine, Bernard Lee, Lee Montague, Geoffrey Bayldon, Mike Pratt, Edward Fox, André Morell, Brian Blessed, Nigel Stock, Philip Madoc and Warren Clarke.

The Expert

1968

Cuckoo poster
6.7

Cuckoo is every parent's worst nightmare - a slacker full of outlandish, New Age ideas. Ken is the over-protective father of a girl who's impulsively married an American hippie on her gap year.

Cuckoo

2012

Boon poster
5.8

Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV. It revolved around the life of a modern-day Lone Ranger and ex-firefighter, Ken Boon.

Boon

1986

Born and Bred poster
9.0

In the 1950s at the fictional Lancashire village of Ormston, a father and son, both doctors, navigate the challenges of running a cottage hospital under the newly established National Health Service.

Born and Bred

2002

A Ghost Story for Christmas poster
7.4

A strand of annual British short television adaptations of classic ghost stories, referencing the oral tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas. First broadcast on BBC One from 1971 to 1978, and revived in 2005 on BBC Four.

A Ghost Story for Christmas

1971

Little Crackers poster
6.8

Little Crackers is a series of Christmas short films featuring stars of British and Irish comedy.

Little Crackers

2010

Storyboard poster
8.0

Highly regarded anthology from the 1980s presenting a diverse range of high-quality single dramas that would serve as pilots for possible future series.

Storyboard

1983

Theatre Night poster
NR

A series of dramas featuring staged theatre plays.

Theatre Night

1985

A Very Peculiar Practice poster
8.2

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.

A Very Peculiar Practice

1986

The Frighteners poster
8.5

A horror anthology series, with each episode featuring a different eerie tale.

The Frighteners

1972

Cribb poster
8.0

Victorian England, the late 1800s: Detective Sergeant Daniel Cribb of the newly formed Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is determined to remove crime from the streets of London using the latest detection methods.

Cribb

1980

Hallmark Hall of Fame poster
8.8

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

Villains poster
7.5

Follows the linked fates of nine bank robbers, led by George. It begins with the nine men meeting in prison during their appeal and traces each individual after the group escape from custody.

Villains

1972

Clayhanger poster
6.0

Clayhanger is a British television drama based on Arnold Bennett's novel series of the same name, published between 1910 and 1918, dramatised by Douglas Livingstone for ITV. Produced by Associated Television, the 26-episode programme is a coming-of-age story set in 19th century England. Edwin Clayhanger aspires to be an architect but is expected to join his father's printing business. His personal growth, eventual acceptance of the family business, and his romantic entanglement with Hilda Lessways are explored. Clayhanger was ITV's longest-ever drama at the time. While some found the pacing slow, it was nonetheless praised for its faithful adaptation, excellent acting, and atmospheric sets.

Clayhanger

1976

Dead of Night poster
8.0

Dead of Night is a British television anthology of supernatural fiction, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in 1972. It ran for a single series; of its seven 50-minute episodes, only three—'The Exorcism', 'Return Flight', and 'A Woman Sobbing'—are known to survive in the Archives. Another programme made by the same production team under Innes Lloyd, 'The Stone Tape', intended to be the eighth episode, does survive in the Archives but was not broadcast under the Dead of Night banner.

Dead of Night

1972

Shadows poster
6.8

Shadows is a British Supernatural television anthology series produced by Thames Television for ITV between 1975 and 1978. Extending over three seasons, it featured ghost and horror dramas for children. Guest actors included John Nettleton, Gareth Thomas, Jenny Agutter, Pauline Quirke, Brian Glover, June Brown, Rachel Herbert, Jacqueline Pearce and Gwyneth Strong. The series was also notable for reviving the character of Mr. Stabs. Notable writers for the series included J. B. Priestley, Fay Weldon and PJ Hammond.

Shadows

1975