Richard David Briers, CBE (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor. His fifty-year career encompassed television, stage, film and radio. Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines (1961–66), but it was a decade later, when he narrated Roobarb and Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk (1974–76) and when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life (1975–78), that he became a household name. Later, he starred as Martin in Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89), and he had a leading role as Hector in Monarch of the Glen (2000–05). From the late 1980s, with Kenneth Branagh as director, he performed Shakespearean roles in Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), and As You Like It (2006).

Filmography

• 2025The Good Life: Inside Out
• 2022The Good Life: Secret & Scandals — (archive footage)
• 2017Roobarb and Custard: The Complete Collection — Narrator, Roobarb, Custard / lot of characters. (uncredited)
• 2016British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves — Acting Role (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2013Mouse and Mole at Christmas Time — Mouse (voice)
• 2012Cockneys vs Zombies — Hamish
• 2012Run For Your Wife — Newspaper Seller
• 2011Horror on the High Rise
• 2010All About The Good Life
• 2010National Theatre Live: London Assurance — Mr. Adolphus Spanker
• 2009Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band: The Official BBC Children in Need Medley — Roobarb/Custard (voice)
• A Bucket O' French and Saunders
• Kingdom — Jim Wright
• 2006As You Like It — Adam
• My Appalling School Report
• Torchwood — Parker
• 2005Dad — Larry James
• Extras — Richard Briers
• 2005Our Hidden Lives — Herbert Brush
• Roobarb and Custard Too — Narrator
• Agatha Christie's Marple — Wilson
• New Tricks — James Farlow
• 2003Bob the Builder: The Knights of Can-A-Lot — Robert (voice)
• Comedy Connections
• 2003Peter Pan — Sam "Smee" Smiegel
• 2002Unconditional Love — Barry Moore
• 2001Victoria & Albert — Joseph Paxton
• 2000Love's Labour's Lost — Sir Nathaniel
• Monarch of the Glen — Hector MacDonald
• The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
• Watership Down — Captain Broom (voice)
• A Respectable Trade — Sir Charles Fairley
• Geoff Hamilton: a Man and His Garden — Narrator
• 1998The Student Prince — Dr. Corbitt
• Midsomer Murders — Stephen Wentworth
• 1997Spice World — Bishop
• 1996Hamlet — Polonius
• 1996The Adventures of Toad — Rat
• Down to Earth — Tony Fairfax
• 1995Heavy Weather — The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
• 1995In the Bleak Midwinter — Henry
• 1995The Adventures of Mole — Rat
• 1994Frances the Firefly — Narrator (voice)
• 1994Mary Shelley's Frankenstein — Grandfather
• 1994Mole's Christmas — Rat
• 1994Skallagrigg — Old Arthur/George
• If You See God, Tell Him — Godfrey Spry
• 1993Much Ado About Nothing — Signor Leonato
• 1992Peter's Friends — Lord Morton
• 1992Swan Song — Nikita
• Mr. Bean — Mr. Sprout
• 1989A Chorus of Disapproval — Ted Washbrook
• 1989Henry V — Lieutenant Bardolph
• 1988Children's Favourites - Volume 1 — Alias (voice)
• 1988Twelfth Night, or What You Will — Malvolio
• 1987Doctor Who: Paradise Towers — The Chief Caretaker
• Lovejoy — Raymond Doncaster
• 1985A Month in the Country — Arkady
• Alias the Jester — Alias
• All in Good Faith — Reverend Philip Lambe
• Screen Two — Old Arthur/George
• Ever Decreasing Circles
• 1983Arms and the Man — Bluntschli
• Natural World
• 1983The Aerodrome — The Rector
• Goodbye Mr Kent — Travis Kent
• 1982It's Your Move — The Husband
• 1981P.Q. 17 — Jack Broome
• Tales of the Unexpected — Albert Dobson
• 1979Village Wooing — A
• 1978Watership Down — Fiver (voice)
• 1977Our Flesh and Blood — Mr. Smythe
• The Galton & Simpson Playhouse — Henry Fairlane
• 1977The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show — Theatre Patron
• The Norman Conquests — Reg
• The Other One — Ralph Tanner
• The Sunday Drama — Dennis
• Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk
• One-Upmanship — Stephen Potter
• 1975Great — Isambard Kingdom Brunel
• Noddy — Narrator
• The Good Life — Tom Good
• Roobarb
• 1974The Four Musketeers — Louis XIII (voice) (uncredited)
• Between the Wars — Oswald Carstairs
• 1973The Three Musketeers — Louis XIII (voice)
• 1972Rentadick — Miles Gannet
• Birds on the Wing — Charles Jackson
• Tall Stories
• 1970All the Way Up — Nigel Hadfield
• Ben Travers Farces — Charlie Tutt
• From a Bird's Eye View — George Lemon
• Play for Today — Mr. Smythe, Commander Jack Broome
• Ooh La La!
• 1967Fathom — Flight Lt. Timothy Webb
• ITV Playhouse — A
• NBC Experiment in Television — (voice)
• BBC Play of the Month — Sandy Tyrell
• 1964A Home of Your Own — The Husband
• 1964All in Good Time — The Young Husband
• 1964The Bargee — Tomkins
• Theatre 625 — David Prentice
• Thursday Theatre — David Prentice
• Doctor Who — Chief Caretaker
• 1963Doctor in Distress — Medical Student (uncredited)
• Brothers In Law
• 1962The Girl on the Boat — Eustace Hignett
• 1961A Matter of WHO — Jamieson
• Faces of Jim — John Frobisher, Lighthouse Assistant, Ricky Groin
• Marriage Lines — George Starling
• 1961Murder She Said — 'Mrs Binster'
• 1960Bottoms Up! — Colbourne
• 1958Girls at Sea — 'Popeye' Lewis
• Armchair Theatre — Stanley Frelaine
• Dixon of Dock Green — Ken Tracey
• Bird Bath — Narrator
• Little Red Tractor Stories — Narrator (voice)

Appearances as themselves (9)

• That's What I Call Television — Self
• 2005The Funny Blokes of British Comedy — Self
• Friday Night with Jonathan Ross — Self
• Parkinson — Self
• Brass Eye — Self
• 1994French and Saunders' Christmas Carol — Self
• Wogan — Self
• 1976A Small Miracle — Himself - Commentator
• Tony Awards — Self - Nominee