# Christopher Ryan

Christopher Papazoglou (born 25 January 1950), known professionally as Christopher Ryan, is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Mike The Cool Person in the BBC comedy series The Young Ones, Dave Hedgehog in the BBC comedy series Bottom, Tony Driscoll in the BBC comedy series Only Fools and Horses, and as Edina Monsoon's ex-husband Marshall Turtle in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. He has also appeared as the McKendrick twins in One Foot in the Grave, and in Doctor Who played the Mentor Kiv in Trial of a Time Lord in 1986 and Sontaran General Staal in 2008 and 2010.

## Early life

Ryan was born Christopher Papazoglou on 25 January 1950 in Bayswater, London to an English mother and a Greek father. He trained at East 15 Acting School from 1968 to 1971, then began his professional acting career with Glasgow Citizens' Theatre.

## Career
### The Young Ones

Ryan was the only Young Ones cast member who was not already well known in British comedy circles, the other principal parts being taken by The Comic Strip members Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer, and Alexei Sayle. He was a last-minute replacement for Peter Richardson, for whom the "straight man" role of "Mike The Cool Person" was originally intended.
In 1986, Ryan reunited with the rest of the cast for the comedic charity single and music video for Cliff Richard's hit song "Living Doll", with Richard himself, for Comic Relief.

### Later career

In 1987, he starred in the short-lived BBC sitcom A Small Problem. He played Lucky in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot at the Queen's Theatre in the West End in 1991, alongside Mayall and Edmondson. He later played Dave Hedgehog in Bottom, and Marshall Turtle, one of Edina's unloved ex-husbands, on Absolutely Fabulous. He has also appeared in two major sitcoms: he played one of the Driscoll brothers in an episode of Only Fools And Horses and spin-off The Green Green Grass, a pair of identical twin builders in the One Foot in the Grave episode "Hole in the Sky", and a plumber in the episode "The Valley of Fear". He appeared in Back to School Mr. Bean, My Family and Saxondale. He joined up again with Jennifer Saunders for two episodes of The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle.
In 1986, he appeared in the science fiction series Doctor Who as the alien creature Lord Kiv in the serial The Trial of a Time Lord, and as one of the rose-painting playing cards in the 1999 TV version of Alice in Wonderland. In 2008, he again guest-starred in Doctor Who in the episodes "The Sontaran Stratagem" and "The Poison Sky", as the Sontaran leader "General Staal", and in the 2010 episode "The Pandorica Opens", playing another Sontaran character, "Commander Stark". In 2012 he appeared in the role of Marshall in Episode 3 "Olympics" of the Absolutely Fabulous 20th-anniversary specials.
Although so far his film appearances have been few, he has played small roles in Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) playing Vout the elf, and in the film Dirty Weekend (1993), directed by Michael Winner playing a character credited as Small One.
Ryan starred as Baron Hardup in the pantomime of Cinderella at the Theatre Royal, Norwich from 17 December 2013 to 19 January 2014.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1985 | Santa Claus: The Movie | Vout | |
| 1993 | Dirty Weekend | Small One | |
| 1997 | Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Not! | Marshall | Direct-to-video |
| 2009 | Dead Man Running | Bookie at the Dogs | Uncredited |
| 2012 | City Slacker | Frank | |
| 2016 | Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | Marshall | |
| 2019 | Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor | Kiv | Direct-to-video |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1978 | Target | Jock | Episode: "A Good and Faithful Woman" |
| 1979 | Angels | Harry | Episodes 5.13 & 5.15 |
| 1979 | Premiere | Clive | Episode: "Deasey" |
| 1980 | Fox | East | Episode: "Stick or Twist" |
| 1981 | BBC2 Playhouse | Tony | Episode: "Days at the Beach" |
| 1981 | Play for Today | Hound Dog | Episode: "A Turn for the Worse" |
| 1981 | The Olympian Way | Mickey Farr | Episode: "Slim Chance" |
| 1982–1984 | The Young Ones | Mike The Cool Person | |
| 1984 | The Tempest, Act IV | Ferdinand | TV movie |
| 1985 | Inside Out | Tommy | Episodes 1.1, 1.2 & 1.3 |
| 1985 | Summer Season | Twerp | Episode: "Rachel and the Roarettes" |
| 1985 | The Lenny Henry Show | N/A | Episode 2.2 |
| 1985 | Happy Families | Mell | Episode: "Cassie" |
| 1986 | Doctor Who | Kiv | Episode: "Mindwarp" |
| 1987 | A Small Problem | Howard | |
| 1989 | Only Fools and Horses | Tony Driscoll | Episode: "Little Problems" |
| 1989 | The Russ Abbot Show | N/A | Episode 4.12 |
| 1990, 1995 | One Foot in the Grave | Plumber McKendrick Twins | Episodes: "The Valley of Fear" "Hole in the Sky" |
| 1991–1995 | Bottom | Dave Hedgehog | Episodes: "Accident" "Parade" "Holy" "Terror" "Dough" |
| 1992 | The New Statesman | Ioannis Douvalopoulos | Episode: "Speaking in Tongues" |
| 1992–2012 | Absolutely Fabulous | Marshall | Credited as Chris Ryan |
| 1993 | Maigret | Basie | Episode: "Maigret and the Maid" |
| 1993 | Newman and Baddiel in Pieces | N/A | Episode: "Guilty" |
| 1994 | Requiem Apache | Club Barman | TV movie Credited as Chris Ryan |
| 1994 | Mr. Bean | Karate Student | Episode: "Back to School Mr. Bean" Credited as Chris Ryan |
| 1995 | Health and Efficiency | Peter Hudson | Episode: "The Old Dope Peddler" |
| 1997 | Melissa | Les Maurice | TV mini-series |
| 1998 | Mike and Angelo | Brad Schnauzer | Episode: "Out of the Wardrobe" |
| 1999 | Alice in Wonderland | Royal Gardener 3 | TV movie Credited as Chris Ryan |
| 2001, 2003 | My Family | Mr. Hilliard Rod Baxter | Episodes: "Parisian Beauty" "Canary Cage" |
| 2002 | Fun at the Funeral Parlour | Rocky | Episode: "Dog Dago Afternoon" |
| 2005–2006, 2009 | The Green Green Grass | Tony Driscoll | Episodes: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock" "Brothers and Sisters" "Home Brew" |
| 2006 | SpongeBob SquarePants | Professor Percy | Episode: "Chimps Ahoy" Uncredited |
| 2007 | Saxondale | Ticket Inspector | Episode 2.5 |
| 2007 | The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle | Miriam | Episodes 1.2 & 1.6 |
| 2008, 2010 | Doctor Who | General Staal Commander Stark | Episodes: "The Sontaran Stratagem" "The Poison Sky" "The Pandorica Opens" |
| 2013 | It's Kevin | The Great Spagboletti | Episode #1.4 |

### Audio drama

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2016 | Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters | General Stenk/Flitch | "The Sontaran Ordeal" |
| 2018 | Ravenous | Macy | "How to Make a Killing in Time Travel" |
| 2018 | Jeremiah Bourne in Time | Pete | |
| 2018 | Lady Christina | Grunt/Handley | 2 stories |
| 2019, 2020 | The Paternoster Gang | Stonn | 2 stories |
| 2024 | Doctor Who: Sontarans vs Rutans | Vrell / Trax | 2 episodes |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2011 | Black Mirror III | Additional Voices |

### Music videos

| Year | Title | Role | Artist/Writer |
| 1986 | "Living Doll" | Mike | Cliff Richard |

## Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Location |
| 1977 | The Devil Is an Ass | Pug | Royal National Theatre |
| 1977 | Measure for Measure | Abhorson | Royal National Theatre |
| 1978 | The Cure for Love | Charlie Fox | Churchill Theatre |
| 1979 | Bleak House | Conversation Kenge Trooper George Various | Royal Court Theatre |
| 1980 | A Flea in Her Ear | N/A | Thorndike Theatre |
| 1984 | Of Mice and Men | Curley | Mermaid Theatre |
| 1987 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Puck | Regent's Park Open Air Theatre |
| 1988 | Kiss Me, Kate | Joe Ambrosio | Royal Shakespeare Company |
| 1990 | Valued Friends | Stewart | Hampstead Theatre |
| 1991 | Waiting for Godot | Lucky | Queen's Theatre |
| 1993 | On the Ledge | Martin | Royal National Theatre/Nottingham Playhouse |
| 2003 | His Girl Friday | McCue | Olivier Theatre |
| 2009 | Arsenic and Old Lace | Dr. Einstein | Salisbury Playhouse |
| 2013 | Cinderella | Baron Hardup | Theatre Royal, Norwich |
| 2015 | Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense | Seppings | Theatre Royal, Nottingham |