Michael Sheard - guest star legend!

Television
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Audio Club has hit The Stones of Venice which sees Michael Sheard’s final appearance in the Whoniverse, as Duke Orsino.

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But before this audio appearance, Michael had the distinction of being a guest actor who spanned the entire classic series from Hartnell to McCoy - clocking up six guest appearances.

Best known for his appearance in Pyramids of Mars as Laurence Scarman, his first appearance was as Rhos in The Ark. Skipping the Troughton era he then returned as Dr Summers in The Mind of Evil. After Pyramids he returned in Season 15 in the role of Lowe in The Invisible Enemy before welcoming Peter Davison to the role of the Doctor as Mergrave in Castrovalva.

His final appearance in the TV show was as the Dalek-controlled Headmaster of Coal Hill School in Remembrance of the Daleks.

And, of course, to UK TV viewers of a certain age he will forever be Danny Kendall’s nemesis and scourge of secondary school pupils everywhere in the classic children’s drama Grange Hill where he played deputy head Mr Bronson.

Famously, he has also played Adolf Hitler more than once including in The Tomorrow People and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!

He was also a lovely man in real life with many a story to tell at conventions.

What is your favourite Michael Sheard character?

Obviously Laurence Scarman is wonderful in Pyramids, but for me it is Mergrave in Castrovalva that I love the most (and I’m still hurting that the story has been knocked out of the Elimination Game).

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That scene where he signs Indy’s book not realizing its significance in the Last Crusade was the stuff of legends.

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Pyramids all the way for me, I absolutely adore that episode, and Scarman is an incredibly compelling character

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He was also Admiral Ozzel (the one Vader relieves of command) in Empire Strikes Back.

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Such a wonderful performance.

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I’m very fond of Michael. I do chiefly remember him from Grange Hill - where he used to terrify me! But I also loved his many guest appearances in Doctor Who. He was a versatile actor and such a distinctive voice as well.

He was also a regular on the convention circuit around the time when I was going to such events and he was always delightful.

I don’t know if anyone here remembers a convention/event called Cult TV that was run regularly during the 90s and early 2000s. Michael was a guest at several of their events. The organisers also ran a short story writing competition each year and part of the prize one year was to have the winning story read out by a guest at the event.

Well, I entered the competition that year and won. It was Michael who read my story out on stage and he did a superb job. He’d clearly put a lot of thought into how he’d perform the reading and he also took the time to have a chat with me afterwards about what I’d written. I still have a signed copy of my original story and it’s a treasured possession.

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That sounds so cool!!

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