Richard Hope (actor)

Early life

Born 1953 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, Richard Hope attended Oakham School from 1967–71. He went to Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham (now known as Nottingham Trent University), graduating with a BA (Hons) degree in Law in 1976.

He trained at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain from 1972-76 appearing in several new plays by established writers: The Children’s Crusade and By Common Consent by Paul Thompson, both directed by Ron Daniels and Sight of Glory and Here Comes The Sun by Barrie Keeffe, directed by Michael Croft. By Common Consent was the first commissioned NYT show adapted for tv, BBC One Play for Today (1975). In 1976 he joined the NYT’s professional Dolphin Theatre Company.

Career

In 1978 Laurence Olivier gave him his first main professional TV part in Laurence Olivier Presents Saturday, Sunday, Monday by Eduardo de Filippo. In 1981 he worked with Laurence Olivier again in Brideshead Revisited in which he played Lieutenant Hooper.

He played Ford Prefect in the first stage production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with Ken Campbell’s The Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool. He also appeared in their 22-hour epic The Warp and The Third Policeman. Campbell introduced him to Jérôme Savary and so Hope made his first West End appearance with Le Grand Magic Circus in 1001 Nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1980.

He was Bertozzo in Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1979) UK Tour with Alfred Molina for The Belt and Braces Theatre Company directed by Gavin Richards ending at the Half Moon Theatre in London. Richards played Molina’s part when it transferred six months later to the Wyndham's Theatre West End.

In 1981 Peter Gill cast him in Don Juan and Much Ado About Nothing which started his long association with The National Theatre. In 1984 he joined the Richard Eyre / David Hare Company playing Bill Smiley in the premiere of Pravda with Anthony Hopkins and then switching to the role of Eaton Sylvester in two extended revivals in the Olivier Theatre. This also included ensemble productions of The Government Inspector with Rik Mayall and Jim Broadbent and Tim McInnerny’s Hamlet, in which he played Horatio. He met Simon McBurney at the National Theatre Studio, where Hope helped devise and develop The Visit and Street of Crocodiles for Theatre de Complicite. 1988 saw The Visit 'off West End' production as part of the 'Théâtre de Complicité at the Almeida' season, before the theatre closed for refurbishment; the production was revised in collaboration with the National Theatre in the Lyttleton stage in 1991. The production was invited to Spoleto Festival USA .

In 1987 he played Salto in Handmade Films thriller Bellman and True, written and directed by Richard Loncraine, and Hull City A.F.C. fan Malcolm in Mark Herman’s comedy See You At Wembley, Frankie Walsh which won the Student Academy Award. In Piece of Cake (TV series) directed by Ian Toynton he was ‘Skull’ Skelton and he played Mortimer Tundish in both series of Debbie Horsfield's comedy drama The Riff Raff Element, with Celia Imrie and Nicholas Farrell.

In 1996, he appeared as Pierre Bezukhov in the Shared Experience production of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace at the National Theatre, adapted by Helen Edmundson and directed by Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale. In 1998 he starred in another Tolstoy adaptation by Helen Edmundson, playing Levin in the Shared Experience production of Anna Karenina. Hope was Associate Director of this production which toured internationally, including runs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Lyric Theatre. Clive Barnes of the New York Post described it as ‘One of the true highlights of a lifetime of theatre-going’.

In 2000, under coach Geoff Thompson (author of Real Punching), Hope learnt to wrestle for Jim Cartwright’s Hard Fruit at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by James Macdonald. During a performance of Hard Fruit, Hope broke his wrist when he hit a punch post that was missing its padding; he continued the run of the show with an “authentic” bandaged hand. With Mark Rylance he was one of the six actors in Mike Alfreds’ Cymbeline at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in 2001. In 2002, the Royal National Theatre staged Simon Bent's adaptation of John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany with Aidan McArdle as the title character and Hope as John Wheelwright.

Hope has been in several police dramas: Superintendent Harold Spence in Agatha Christie's Poirot, Barry Purvis for two series of Murder Investigation Team (TV series) and semi-regular Rod Jesssop, the local headmaster, in The Bill.

Hope's first musical part was as Max Kellerman in Dirty Dancing at the Aldwych Theatre in 2010, staying for eighteen months. He played Horst Ehmke in Paul Miller’s revival in Sheffield of Michael Frayn's play Democracy, which transferred to London's Old Vic Theatre in 2012. This was the third Frayn play he had performed in.

Hope returned to the Almeida Theatre as Gabriel York in Andrew Bovell’s When the Rain Stops Falling in 2009 and in 2012 as Albany in King Lear with Jonathan Pryce. In 2014, he played Queen Elizabeth I in the UK premiere of Sarah Ruhl's stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando at the Royal Exchange with Suranne Jones and directed by Max Webster. In 2015 he played Hector in Kate Saxon’s production of Alan Bennett's The History Boys in Sell A Door Theatre Company UK Tour. In 2015-6, he continued his long-standing collaboration with Helen Edmundson, playing Sidney Godolphin in the original Royal Shakespeare Company production of her original play Queen Anne, starring Natascha McElhone. In 2017 Queen Anne transferred to the Haymarket Theatre with Romola Garai, .

He plays recurring characters Malokeh and Bleytal (Silurians) in Doctor Who, and has recorded several related audios with Big Finish. He is a member of the National Youth Theatre Association and an Associate Member of Complicite.

In 2018 he returns for his fourth season of Poldark as Harris Pascoe, Ross Poldark's banker and friend, with screenplay by Debbie Horsfield. He previously worked with her on The Riff Raff Element.