
Acting
Michael Simkins
Born
1957-02-04 (69)
Place of birth
Greenford, Middlesex, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
43 titles
Michael Simkins is a British film, television and stage actor based in London, England. He is also an author and a regular contributor for The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Times.
Known for
7.5The 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
8.2The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.
The Crown
2016
7.7Father Brown is based on G. K. Chesterton's detective stories about a Catholic priest who doubles as an amateur detective in order to try and solve mysteries.
Father Brown
2013
7.6Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.
A Touch of Frost
1992
7.1Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Heartbeat
1992
6.8The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984
Film credits
2010s · 3 titles
7.1Five years after meeting her three fathers, Sophie Sheridan prepares to open her mother’s hotel. In 1979, young Donna Sheridan meets the men who each could be Sophie’s biological father.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
2018
6.3A look at the life of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a focus on the price she paid for power.
The Iron Lady
2011
7.5In 1944, two prisoners miraculously escaped from Auschwitz. They told the world of the horror of the Holocaust and raised one of the greatest moral questions of the 20th century.
1944: Should We Bomb Auschwitz?
2019
1990s · 7 titles
6.6Oscar Wilde is a married playwright who has occasionally indulged his weakness for male suitors. After much toil, Wilde debuts 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in London, and a chat at the theatre with Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas leads to a full-fledged romance. However, this affair leads to a legal dispute with Lord Alfred's oppressive father, the Marquess of Queensberry, and, given the local anti-gay laws, Wilde is jailed. Wilde's vast intellect helps him survive until he regains his freedom.
Wilde
1997
6.6For nearly a decade, Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations have delighted the English people. But in 1884, as a London heat wave cuts into the theater trade, their latest work, "Princess Ida", receives lukewarm press. In an effort to reconcile their creative differences and drawing inspiration from Japanese culture, they went on to create the hit opera "The Mikado", one of the duo's greatest successes.
Topsy-Turvy
1999
6.6For nearly a decade, Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations have delighted the English people. But in 1884, as a London heat wave cuts into the theater trade, their latest work, "Princess Ida", receives lukewarm press. In an effort to reconcile their creative differences and drawing inspiration from Japanese culture, they went on to create the hit opera "The Mikado", one of the duo's greatest successes.
Topsy-Turvy
1999
4.4A strangler known as the Kenbourne Killer has been murdering streetwalkers for 25 years. The police set out to track him down.
A Demon in My View
1991
7.1Set in modern upper-crust Manhattan, an exploration of love and commitment as seen through the eyes of a charming perpetual bachelor questioning his single state and his enthusiastically married, slightly envious friends.
Company
1996
5.0Adaptation of the Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) novel. After Adam inherits a country house from his great uncle, he and his friend Rufus decide to spend the summer there instead of abroad. An odd assortment of 'house guests' turns up through different means and it's an uneasy mix at best. A decade afterwards, the bodies of a young woman and an infant are discovered in the woods behind the house. As the police investigate, they naturally look to Adam as former owner of the house, and what happened all those years before starts to catch up with him.
A Fatal Inversion
1992
NRShoot to Kill is a four-hour drama documentary reconstruction of the events that led to the 1984–86 Stalker Inquiry into the shooting of six terrorist suspects in Northern Ireland in 1982 by a specialist unit of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), allegedly without warning (the so-called shoot-to-kill policy); the organised fabrication of false accounts of the events; and the difficulties created for the inquiry team in their investigation.
Shoot to Kill
1990
Series credits
7.5The 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
8.2The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.
The Crown
2016
7.7Father Brown is based on G. K. Chesterton's detective stories about a Catholic priest who doubles as an amateur detective in order to try and solve mysteries.
Father Brown
2013
7.6Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.
A Touch of Frost
1992
7.1Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Heartbeat
1992
6.8The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984
6.5Peak 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
7.3New Tricks is a British comedy-drama that follows the work of the fictional Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad of the Metropolitan Police Service. Originally led by Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman, it is made up of retired police officers who have been recruited to reinvestigate unsolved crimes.
New Tricks
2004
7.6Inspector Robert Lewis and Sergeant James Hathaway solve the tough cases that the learned inhabitants of Oxford throw at them.
Lewis
2007
7.3In 1953 at the hamlet of Grantchester, Sidney Chambers—a charismatic, charming clergyman—turns investigative vicar when one of his parishioners dies in suspicious circumstances.
Grantchester
2014
7.9As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.
Foyle's War
2002
7.4When Eliza Scarlet's father dies, he leaves her penniless, but she resolves to continue his detective agency. To operate in a male-dominated world, though, she needs a partner... step forward a detective known as the Duke. Eliza and The Duke strike up a mismatched, fiery relationship as they team up to solve crime in the murkiest depths of 1880’s London.
Miss Scarlet
2020
5.9The BBC's answer to Dynasty, Howards' Way was launched in 1985 with an enormous 1 million pound budget. The main characters in the show were 'best boat designer in the world' Tom Howard, his boutique running wife Jan Howard, 'I'll have a drink' Jack Rolfe and a nasty man called Ken Masters. It starred Maurice Colbourne.
Howards' Way
1985
6.3An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances.
Performance
1991
6.3An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances.
Performance
1991
6.9The daily lives of a group of soldiers in 'B' Company, 1st Battalion The King's Fusiliers.
Soldier Soldier
1991
6.8Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove as the barrister Jo Mills, frequently the object of Deed's desire. A pilot episode was broadcast on 9 January 2001, followed by the first full series on 26 November 2001. The sixth and last series concluded on 18 January 2007. The programme then went on an indefinite break after Shaw became involved in another television programme, and he and Seagrove expressed a wish for the format of the series to change before they filmed new episodes. By 2009, the series had officially been cancelled. The six series produced make it the longest-running BBC legal drama. The factual accuracy of the series is often criticised by legal professionals and journalists; many of the decisions taken by Deed are unlikely to happen in a real court. The romanticised vision of the court system created by Newman caused a judge to issue a warning to a jury not to let the series influence their view of trials—referring to an episode where Deed flouts rules when called up for jury duty. Another episode led to complaints about biased and incorrect information about the MMR vaccine, leading the BBC to ban repeats of it in its original form. All six series have been released on DVD in the UK.
Judge John Deed
2001
6.8Devised and written by Lynda La Plante as a follow-on from her successful television series Prime Suspect, this vast police procedural follows police detectives in England as they investigate crimes and the trials that come about as a result.
Trial & Retribution
1997
6.2Van 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
6.6Two sisters who set up a London fashion house for society of the early 1920s.
The House of Eliott
1991
6.9The absurd adventures of two defective detectives, who - despite unbelievable incompetence - somehow manage to solve their cases (or be nearby when the cases are solved) and retain their jobs.
The Detectives
1993
6.3Gabriel Book, proprietor of an antiquarian bookshop, relies on his vast collection to unravel baffling cases. He nurtures a group of lovable yet troubled individuals, providing informal protection and guidance.
Bookish
2025
7.6The unvarnished truth of life as a doctor working in obstetrics and gynaecology.
This Is Going to Hurt
2022
6.9Bugs was a British television drama series which ran for four series from April 1995 to August 1999. The programme, a mixture of action/adventure and science-fiction, involved a team of specialist independent crime-fighting technology experts, who faced a variety of threats based around computers and other modern technology. It was originally broadcast on Saturday evenings on BBC One, and was produced for the BBC by the independent production company Carnival Films.
Bugs
1995
7.0Above Suspicion is a British crime drama programme starring Kelly Reilly as Anna Travis, a rookie detective determined to prove herself in the male-dominated police department by solving a trail of gruesome murders left by an unknown serial killer. Each series is based on a novel by Lynda La Plante: Above Suspicion (2009), The Red Dahlia (2010), Deadly Intent (2011), and Silent Scream (2012).
Above Suspicion
2009
8.0Follow new surgical registrar Dr Caroline Todd through her first day at work and beyond, starting out as she means to go on - dishevelled and under-deodorised! Along the way she meets an assortment of bizarre and demented characters. Be prepared for one of the most surreal journeys you're ever likely to take as you dive into the anarchic world of Green Wing Hospital!
Green Wing
2004
7.2Hannah plays DI Jack Cloth, who is called in to investigate an apparent series of serial killings alongside his new partner, DC Anne Oldman, described as a "plucky, no-nonsense sidekick". Playing with the cliches and conventions of British police dramas, subplots include Cloth dealing with visions of his dead wife and the bisexual DC Oldman coming to grips with her feelings for both her female fiancee and Cloth.
A Touch of Cloth
2012
5.9DCI Ellis, a tenacious cop, is parachuted into failing investigations alongside her partner DS Harper. Each case will bring her to a different police station where she'll have to not only immerse herself in the case, but also win over the local police.
Ellis
2024
Castles is a British soap opera following three generations of a large London family. It ran for 24 episodes on BBC One during the summer of 1995 and was a co-production by the BBC and Granada Television.
Castles
1995
7.2After charming her reclusive grandfather and falling in love with the beautiful mountain he calls home, Heidi is uprooted and sent to Frankfurt where she befriends Klara, a young girl confined to a wheelchair.
Heidi
1993
5.6When Henry, Alice's husband of 20 years, falls down the stairs and dies soon after they move into their dream house that he designed, she discovers that he is one of those men who hide those inconvenient secrets from their wives.
Finding Alice
2021
7.0As a boy, Freddie Musgrave ran contraband on the Tyne, but now, as a successful businessman, he seems to have it all. However, his troubled past comes back to haunt him, threatening his newfound security.
The Secret
2000

