Ian Carmichael

Acting

Ian Carmichael

Born — Died

1920-06-18 — 2010-02-05

Place of birth

Kingston-Upon-Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

65 titles

Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor best known for his roles in the films of the Boulting brothers such as Private's Progress (1956) and I'm All Right Jack (1959). Later he played Dorothy L. Sayers's Gentleman Detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, on television and radio. Carmichael also had a career on stage.

Known for

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

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

NET Playhouse poster
7.3

NET Playhouse is an American dramatic television anthology series produced by National Educational Television. NET subsequently merged with WNDT Newark, New Jersey to form WNET and was superseded by the Public Broadcasting Service. American television anthology series of wide range of genres, from history and drama, to fantasy, and science fiction. Fiction novels, stories, stage plays, fairytales, and historic events are dramatized in each episode.

NET Playhouse

1966

The Play on One poster
6.0

A series of television plays, some original, some based on pre-existing plays or novels.

The Play on One

1988

Bachelor Father poster
6.2

Bachelor Father is an American sitcom starring John Forsythe, Noreen Corcoran, and Sammee Tong. The series first premiered on CBS in September 1957 before moving to NBC for the third season in 1959. The series' fifth and final season aired on ABC from 1961 to 1962. A total of 157 episodes were aired. The series was based on "A New Girl in His Life", which aired on General Electric Theater on May 26, 1957. Bachelor Father is the only primetime series ever to run in consecutive years on the three major televisions networks.

Bachelor Father

1957

No artwork available
NR

Thursday Theatre is a British television anthology programme produced by and aired on the BBC from 1964–1965. The productions ranged in duration from 75 to 95 minutes. Out of the 23 episodes, 13 are believed lost, and one is incomplete.

Thursday Theatre

1964

Film credits

1990s · 5 titles

1980s · 7 titles

No artwork available
NR

A compilation of episodes from The Wind in the Willows, Danger Mouse and Alias the Jester.

Children's Favourites - Volume 1

1988

The Wind in the Willows poster
7.0

One spring, Mole decides that he can ignore the spring cleaning for a little longer, and begins a series of adventures with his new friend Rat. They go for a picnic on the riverbank, on a caravan expedition with Toad, until Toad switches allegiance to his new car and his reckless driving makes Mole and Rat search out Badger for help in curbing Toad's profligate habits. But Toad gets away from them and gets a 20-year sentence from the magistrate for theft, reckless driving, and Gross Impertinence. While Toad works his wiles on the jailer's daughter and escapes jail dressed as a washer woman, Badger tries to guard Toad Hall from the machinations of the Weasels and is badly beaten. And it requires a plan of attack and all four comrades to regain Toad Hall.

The Wind in the Willows

1983

No artwork available
NR

A compilation of episodes from Count Duckula, Dangermouse and Wind in the Willows.

Lollipop Children's Favourites - Volume 1

1989

Down at the Hydro poster
NR

Diedre and The Colonel separately attend a health spa and find themselves falling in love.

Down at the Hydro

1983

No artwork available
NR

A compilation of episodes from Count Duckula, Dangermouse and Wind in the Willows.

Lollipop Children's Favourites - Volume 2

1989

The Wind in the Willows: Winter Tales poster
NR

Brought to the screen by award winning animation team Cosgrove Hall, 'The Wind In The Willows' brings to life the charming adventures of our four intrepid animal friends in a truly magical experience for all the family. In 'Winter Tales' join our lovable friends in three exciting seasonal stories - 'The Yuletide Entertainment', 'Winter Sports', and 'The Rescue' - that will both entertain and delight viewers of all ages.

The Wind in the Willows: Winter Tales

1986

No artwork available
NR

A compilation of episodes from Count Duckula, Dangermouse and The Wind in the Willows.

More Children's Summer Stories

1989

1970s · 5 titles

From Beyond the Grave poster
6.6

Four customers purchase, or take, items from Temptations Limited, an antiques shop whose motto is “Offers You Cannot Resist.” A nasty fate awaits all of them; particularly those who cheat the shop's Proprietor.

From Beyond the Grave

1974

The Lady Vanishes poster
6.0

On the eve of World War II, zany heiress Amanda Kelly travels by train to Switzerland. While passing through Germany, she meets a sweet elderly lady, who suddenly vanishes. Distraught, she questions her fellow passengers who claim that the woman was never there. Unsure if it's all in her mind or if there's a more sinister plot afoot, Amanda teams up with photographer Robert Condon to discover the truth.

The Lady Vanishes

1979

The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins poster
5.0

A septet of satirical vignettes based on the Seven Deadly Sins.

The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins

1971

Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Murder Must Advertise poster
1.0

Just before copywriter Victor Dean fell to his death, he wrote to his supervisors at Pym's Publicity Ltd., hinting at improprieties within the agency. Concerned, the company's top brass hires Lord Peter Wimsey (Ian Carmichael) to work undercover and investigate. Was Victor's death an accident or murder? Also starring Peter Bowles and Bridget Armstrong, this BBC miniseries is based on the novel by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Murder Must Advertise

1973

Alma Mater poster
8.0

Jimmy Nicholson returns from working in the Middle East to visit his son at boarding school. He went to the same public school himself and is disturbed to find that things have changed and the traditions by which he has always lived and been guided now seem to be obsolete.

Alma Mater

1971

1960s · 8 titles

Heavens Above! poster
6.6

A clerical error leads to the appointment of a left-leaning small-town priest to a rich village, where he immediately horrifies his snobby parishioners by appointing a dustman and a black man as vicar's wardens and throwing open the vicarage to the sprawling, disreputable Smith family, who have just been evicted from their caravan site. He converts the dowager aristocrat to works of absurd charity but he soon has the town and much of the country in uproar.

Heavens Above!

1963

Smashing Time poster
6.3

Two young women arrive in London to make it big in show business, and become corrupted by money and fame in the process.

Smashing Time

1967

School for Scoundrels poster
6.9

Hapless Henry Palfrey is patronised by his self-important chief clerk at work, ignored by restaurant waiters, conned by shady second-hand car salesmen, and, worst of all, endlessly wrong-footed by unspeakably rotten cad Raymond Delauney who has set his cap at April, new love of Palfrey's life. In desperation Henry enrolls at the College of Lifemanship to learn how to best such bounders and win the girl.

School for Scoundrels

1960

Light Up the Sky! poster
6.0

Chaos ensues when a bunch of misfits man a British searchlight battery during World War II.

Light Up the Sky!

1960

Double Bunk poster
6.1

When newly weds Jack and Peggy face eviction, they are tricked into buying a run down houseboat. After rebuilding the engine, they take their friends Sid and Sandra, on a local trip down the river to Folkestone, but somehow they end up in France, and with no fuel and supplies, they resort to desperate actions to get back home.

Double Bunk

1961

No artwork available
NR

TV adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play. Jack pretends to be his foolish younger brother, Ernest in order to be a model of moral rectitude to his young ward, Cecily. And he intends to propose to Gwendolyn--that is until he discovers that she loves him because his name is Ernest.

The Importance of Being Earnest

1964

The Amorous Prawn poster
6.5

While her husband, the General is abroad, Lady Fitzadam decides to convert their army residence into a fishing resort for rich American tourists in order to raise money for their dream retirement cottage.

The Amorous Prawn

1962

Hide and Seek poster
7.0

A professor of astronomy helping on a missile development program. An old friend of his is a Russian chess champion. The Russian is working with shady businessman Marek and they plan to kidnap the professor and make it look as though he has defected to the Soviet Union.

Hide and Seek

1964

1950s · 15 titles

Betrayed poster
5.8

When the Dutch resistance brings in Carla Van Oven to spy on the Nazis, Col. Pieter Deventer initially suspects she could be a double agent. Van Oven eventually convinces Deventer of her character, and when she is sent into occupied territory, she joins up with a rebel leader known as "The Scarf". As the resistance endures severe losses and their missions fail, Deventer starts to wonder whose side Van Oven is fighting on.

Betrayed

1954

Storm Over the Nile poster
6.3

In 1885, while his regiment is sent to the Sudan to battle the rebellious Dervish tribes, British Lieutenant Harry Faversham resigns his officer's commission in order to remain with his fiancée Mary Burroughs in England. His friends and fellow officers John Durrance, Peter Burroughs and Tom Willoughby brand him a coward and present him with the white feathers of cowardice. His fiancée, Mary, adds a fourth feather and breaks off their engagement. However, former Lieutenant Faversham decides to regain his honor by fighting in the Sudan incognito.

Storm Over the Nile

1955

I'm All Right Jack poster
6.6

Naive Stanley Windrush looks for a career in a family business. Much to his dismay, he finds work at a munitions factory where he has to start from the bottom, while both the management and the labor union use him as a tool in their fight for power.

I'm All Right Jack

1959

The Colditz Story poster
6.8

The Germans believed that no man could escape from Colditz Castle, set as it was in the heart of the Reich, 400 miles from any neutral frontier. This film, based on Pat Reid's epic novel, tells the story of how the British, French, Dutch and Polish prisoners of war who were incarcerated in Colditz set out to prove their captors wrong.

The Colditz Story

1955

Private's Progress poster
6.6

Stanley Windrush has to interrupt his university education when he is called up towards the end of the war. He quickly proves himself not to be officer material, but befriends wily Private Percival Cox who knows exactly how all the scams work in the confused world of the British Army. And Stanley's brigadier War Office uncle seems to be up to something more than a bit shady too - and they are both soon working for him, behind the enemy lines.

Private's Progress

1956

Lucky Jim poster
5.4

Jim Dixon feels anything but lucky. At the university he has to do the bidding of absent-minded and boring Professor Welch to have any hope of keeping his job. Worse, he has managed to get entangled with unexciting but neurotic Margaret Peel, a friend of the Professor's. All-in-all, the pub is the only friendly place to be. His misery is completed at a dreadful weekend gathering of the Welch clan by the arrival of son Bertrand. Not so much that Betrand is loud-mouthed and boorish - which he is - but that he has as companion Christine Callaghan, the sort of marvellous and unattainable woman Jim can only dream about.

Lucky Jim

1957

Simon and Laura poster
5.9

A couple of bickering, married performers agree to star in a "Mr. and Mrs." TV show.

Simon and Laura

1955

Time, Gentlemen, Please! poster
8.0

Because of its high productivity and "almost" 100 per cent employment, the town of Hayhoe, England is expecting a visit from the Prime Minister. The "almost" is because of Dan Dance (Eddie Byrne), an old rogue who would rather drink and philosophize than work. The Village Council are determined to have a perfect record so they connive to have the old man put into the alms-house which has been unoccupied for many years, where he must abide by rules laid down 400 years ago. A new Vicar arrives and discovers that, because of the circumstances created by the Council, Dan Dance is entitled to 6,000 pounds a year at the expense of the village.

Time, Gentlemen, Please!

1952

Brothers in Law poster
7.0

Roger Thursby is an overly keen, newly-qualified barrister who rubs his fellow barristers up the wrong way. When he is thrown in at the deep-end, with a particularly hot-tempered judge and tricky case, Thursby learns how to prove himself not only to the judge and fellow barristers but also to the public gallery.

Brothers in Law

1957

Left Right and Centre poster
6.1

At the Earndale by-election natural history expert and TV personality Bob Wilcot for the Conservatives finds himself up against Billingsgate girl Stella Stoker for the socialists. Amateur politician against committed activist. But could it become boy-who-fancies-girl against girl-who-fancies-boy? The party agents are soon colluding against such a disaster.

Left Right and Centre

1959

Meet Mr. Lucifer poster
5.2

A TV set given as a retirement present is sold on to different households causing misery each time.

Meet Mr. Lucifer

1953

Happy Is the Bride poster
7.0

In a quiet summer corner of Wiltshire that is forever England, David and Janet decide to tie the knot. Unfortunately this is the cue for everyone else to take over proceedings, to the dismay of the couple and the increasing despair of Janet's father.

Happy Is the Bride

1958

Miss Robin Hood poster
8.1

In this delightful fantasy adventure, a mild-mannered writer of adventure stories for girls finds himself presented with an intriguing proposition from an elderly fan. She suggests that they conspire to steal a secret whiskey formula from ruthless distillers, who themselves stole it from her family in years gone by. With the recipe back in hand however, it's not long before they attract attention from the Inspectors of Scotland Yard.

Miss Robin Hood

1952

Ghost Ship poster
5.3

Warned that it is haunted, a skeptical young couple buy a rundown yacht and fix it up to be their home-on-the-sea, only to slowly realize that it really is haunted.

Ghost Ship

1952

The Big Money poster
7.0

Petty thief Willie Frith steals a suitcase full of bank notes, only to find out that they have been given all the same serial number. But this is only the start of his troubles, now he has to find a way of changing the notes, so he can impress the barmaid of his local pub.

The Big Money

1958

1940s · 3 titles

Series credits

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

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

NET Playhouse poster
7.3

NET Playhouse is an American dramatic television anthology series produced by National Educational Television. NET subsequently merged with WNDT Newark, New Jersey to form WNET and was superseded by the Public Broadcasting Service. American television anthology series of wide range of genres, from history and drama, to fantasy, and science fiction. Fiction novels, stories, stage plays, fairytales, and historic events are dramatized in each episode.

NET Playhouse

1966

The Play on One poster
6.0

A series of television plays, some original, some based on pre-existing plays or novels.

The Play on One

1988

Bachelor Father poster
6.2

Bachelor Father is an American sitcom starring John Forsythe, Noreen Corcoran, and Sammee Tong. The series first premiered on CBS in September 1957 before moving to NBC for the third season in 1959. The series' fifth and final season aired on ABC from 1961 to 1962. A total of 157 episodes were aired. The series was based on "A New Girl in His Life", which aired on General Electric Theater on May 26, 1957. Bachelor Father is the only primetime series ever to run in consecutive years on the three major televisions networks.

Bachelor Father

1957

No artwork available
NR

Thursday Theatre is a British television anthology programme produced by and aired on the BBC from 1964–1965. The productions ranged in duration from 75 to 95 minutes. Out of the 23 episodes, 13 are believed lost, and one is incomplete.

Thursday Theatre

1964

The Wind in the Willows poster
7.7

The Wind in the Willows is a TV series that was originally broadcast between 1984 and 1987, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows and following the 1983 film The Wind in the Willows. It was made by animation company Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television and shown on the ITV network. An hour-long feature, A Tale Of Two Toads, was broadcast in 1988, and a fifth season of 13 episodes was shown in 1989 under the title Oh! Mr Toad in some countries, whilst retaining the title The Wind in the Willows in others.

The Wind in the Willows

1984

Wives and Daughters poster
7.3

The life of doctor's daughter Molly Gibson changes gradually after her widowed father chooses to remarry. The union brings into her once-quiet life an ever-proper stepmother and flirtatious stepsister, Cynthia, while a friendship with the local squire brings about an unexpected romance.

Wives and Daughters

1999

Lord Peter Wimsey poster
NR

Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers. A dilettante who solves mysteries for his own amusement, Wimsey is an archetype for the British gentleman detective. These are the TV Mini Series that were produced following the stories in the novels.

Lord Peter Wimsey

1972

No artwork available
7.0

Based on P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories, The World of Wooster, broadcast on BBC One from 1965 to 1967, followed the farcical adventures of young upper-class twit Bertie Wooster and his invaluable manservant Jeeves. It starred Ian Carmichael as Wooster and Dennis Price as Jeeves. Wodehouse initially felt that Carmichael would be fine as Wooster, but later believed that Carmichael overacted; however, Wodehouse was satisfied enough with to later ask Carmichael to portray Bertie or Jeeves in a musical comedy. Carmichael declined, feeling too old to play Bertie again and that public perception prevented him from playing Jeeves. Wodehouse was far more positive about Price's Jeeves, stating that Price was the best Jeeves he had ever seen. Like many other series of the time, much of the episodes were wiped, leaving all but two now lost. In 2018, it was included at #51 in a list of the top 100 most wanted missing television programmes by TV archivist organisation Kaleidoscope.

The World of Wooster

1965

Strathblair poster
7.0

Black Watch Sergeant Alec Ritchie and his new wife Jennifer move to a rundown sheep farm in the Scottish countryside.

Strathblair

1992

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
7.0

Anthology of stories about love, many adapted from short stories or novels.

All for Love

1982

Lord Peter Wimsey: Five Red Herrings poster
7.0

Dorothy L. Sayer's amateur detective, Lord Peter Wimsey investigates and solves murder cases.

Lord Peter Wimsey: Five Red Herrings

1975

No artwork available
NR

An anthology series of TV plays with a monetary theme.

The Root of All Evil?

1968

Lord Peter Wimsey: Clouds of Witness poster
6.4

Death hits close to home when Lord Peter’s future brother-in-law is murdered. Complicating matters is the man who stands accused: Gerald Wimsey, Lord Peter’s brother.

Lord Peter Wimsey: Clouds of Witness

1972

Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club poster
7.4

When General Fentiman is found dead in his chair a the posh Bellona Club, the cause seems straightforward: a heart attack brought on by old age. The Lady Dorland, the General's sister, dies on the same day. Is it a startling coincidence or something more sinister? Called in to investigate, Lord Peter becomes suspicious of the general's grandson, whose peculiar behavior and whereabouts on the night of the deaths seem incriminating. But these suspicions are overshadowed by the discovery that Miss Dorland, Lady Dorland's niece, has an abiding interest in poisons.

Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

1973

No artwork available
6.5

Bachelor Father is a British sitcom starring Ian Carmichael that aired for two series from 1970 to 1971. It was written by Richard Waring.

Bachelor Father

1970

No artwork available
NR

Oh, Mr. Toad was a television spin-off from the 1980s stop motion animation series The Wind in the Willows. The show was animated by Cosgrove Hall and broadcast on CITV. It then became Series 5 of the main series, when it came onto DVD.

Oh, Mr. Toad

1990

Nine Tailors poster
7.2

Stranded in a sleepy village after a car accident, Lord Peter quickly stumbles upon a decades-old case of stolen emeralds, unidentifiable corpses, and coded messages.

Nine Tailors

1975

The Royal poster
7.8

Follows the staff and patients of a Yorkshire cottage hospital in the 60s, embroiled in tangled love lives and bitter power struggles.

The Royal

2003