Ronald Pickup

Actor

June 7, 1940 (80 years)

† February 25, 2021

Chester, England, UK

Biography

Pickup was born in Chester, England, the son of Daisy (née Williams) and Eric Pickup, who was a lecturer.[1] Pickup was educated at The King's School, Chester, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, and became an Associate Member of RADA. His television work began with an episode during the second series of Doctor Who in 1964, for which he was paid £30. Pickup worked with Laurence Olivier at the Royal National Theatre, most notably in Three Sisters and Long Day's Journey…

Filmography

7.5

Midsomer Murders

Rupert Smythe-Webster

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.

6.2

Casualty

Martin / Reginald Freeborn

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

8.2

The Crown

Archbishop of Canterbury

The 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.

6.6

Play for Today

Richard Massingham

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.

7.4

Vera

Mr. Kipford

A sharp detective with a messy life, DCI Vera Stanhope patrols her “patch” of northeast England, pursuing the truth in cases of murder, kidnapping, and blackmail. Vera is obsessive about her work and faces the world with caustic wit, guile and courage.

7.9

Doctor Who

Physician

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.

7.6

Silent Witness

A team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.

8.1

Downton Abbey

Sir Michael Reresby

A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.

7.1

Matlock

Sir Alec Moore

Thrifty, folksy and cantankerous, Matlock charges a premium for his services but is worth every penny: This renowned attorney, always clothed in his trademark light-gray suit and driving his signature Ford Crown Victoria, has an uncanny knack for finding overlooked clues and exposing murderers in dramatic courtroom scenes.

8.2

Sherlock Holmes

Barrymore

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.

7.3

New Tricks

Sir Wilfred Felspar

New 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.

7.2

Waking the Dead

Charles Sutton

A detective team apply new techniques to old crimes as they solve cold cases.

7.7

Hustle

Harry Holmes

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

5.3

BBC Play of the Month

Mercutio

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

7.1

Screen Two

Brian Silcott

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

7.9

Foyle's War

Sir Giles Messinger

As 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.

6.7

Bergerac

Sir Antony Villiers

Jim Bergerac is a detective sergeant in The Foreigners Office who likes to do things his own way. While dealing with his own personal demons Bergerac has a knack of finding trouble, and sometimes causing it.

7.6

Lewis

Fr Moreno Mancini

Inspector Robert Lewis and Sergeant James Hathaway solve the tough cases that the learned inhabitants of Oxford throw at them.

7.9

Inspector Morse

Ian Matthews

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.

7.0

ITV Playhouse

Graham

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.