About the Cast
Virginia McKenna (Mary) won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1956 film, ‘A Town Like Alice’ and two years later was nominated for Best Actress again for her role as Violette Szabo in ‘Carve Her Name with Pride’. However, she is best remembered for her 1966 role as Joy Adamson in the true-life film ‘Born Free’ for which she received a nomination for a Golden Globe. She won the 1979 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a British musical for her performance opposite Yul Brynner in ‘The King and I’. She established the “Born Free Foundation” in 1991 with her late husband Bill Travers, and was awarded an OBE in 2004.
Keith Michell (Joe) has appeared extensively in cinema and television, notably as the King in the 1970 BBC series ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’, for which he won a TV BAFTA for Best Actor and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. He also starred in the subsequent film version, ‘Henry VIII and His Six Wives’ in 1972 and played Heathcliff in BBC Television’s 1962 adaptation of ‘Wuthering Heights’. He has starred in several musicals, including the first London production of ‘Man of La Mancha’. He is also the illustrator of “Captain Beaky”, a collection of Jeremy Lloyd’s poems for children.
Diana Quick (Angela) was nominated for a TV BAFTA for Best Actress for her leading role in the 1981 series ‘Brideshead Revisited’. She starred in Ridley Scott’s 1977 directorial debut ‘The Duellists’, as well as ‘The Big Sleep’ and ‘Saving Grace’. She has worked with most of the UK’s major theatrical institutions including the Royal Court, National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Soho Theatre and the Bristol Old Vic. Her many productions have included ‘Hamlet’, ‘The Changeling’, ‘Troilus and Cressida’, ‘Look Back in Anger’ and ‘King Lear’.
Geoffrey Whitehead’s (Bill) many television appearances include ‘Z-Cars’ in the 1960s and 70s, the lead role in the 1980s ‘Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson’, ‘The House of Eliott’ in the 1990s, and ‘Little Britain’ in the 2000s. Most recently he has featured in ‘Little Dorrit’ and ‘Reggie Perrin’. He is also regularly heard in BBC radio dramas.
Patricia Brake (Millie) first came to attention playing Ingrid Fletcher, Ronnie Barker’s screen daughter in the award-winning BBC sitcom ‘Porridge’. She also appeared in the same role in the spin-off series ‘Going Straight’. She has appeared in many TV sitcoms and dramas, including ‘2point4 Children’, ‘The Glums’, ‘Singles’, ‘Eldorado’, ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Doctors’.
Geoffrey Bayldon (Alfie) rose to fame with the role of ‘Catweazle’ in the early 1970s. Other television roles include the Crowman in ‘Worzel Gummidge’, ‘Blott on the Landscape’, ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Tales of the Unexpected’. He has made several film appearances in the 1960s and 1970s, including ‘King Rat’, ‘To Sir With Love’, and ‘Casino Royale’.
Roger Ringrose (Tom)
Vanessa Kirby (Jane)
Neil Toon (Gary)
Diana Payan (Norma)
Tony Phillips (Gordon)
and introducing Len Goodman as the Village Dance Teacher…