The first thing to say about Michael Kitchen is what a voice! If God gives out voices then he was extraordinarily generous to Kitchen. To me it's like a golden treacle with grit in it! His TV work is the cornerstone to his work for me though he is a respected theatre actor. But to gauge just how good an actor he is just watch him as Martin in the BBC's 1976 (finally shown in 1987 because of the controversial rape scenr) TV play, Brimstone & Treacle and then watch Sting in the same role for the 1982 film. Sting's performance exists solely to show that he is not Kitchen, could never be Kitchen and only makes us want Kitchen back in the role again.

Kitchen has popped up in film mainly in support roles but he is at his best when he is the centre of attention. Foyle's War (2002-08) is the perfect vehicle for him for women of a certain age love him and women of an uncertain age would like to be of a certain age so they could love him too. Seriously, his performance is impeccable and when the scripts are that good Kitchen relishes the challenge of delivering his blend of suitable gravitas.

Though he has never hits the heights one would have thought he would have when he emerged in the 1970s (and one gets the feeling that there is a talent that burns inside desperate to be unleashed in its entirety) nonetheless he has found a niche for his talent, a safe-harbour, which is watchable. Within that niche he never has to stretch himself. He just has to talk with that voice and the country will listen!

No wonder in the kingdom of the voicerover Kitchen is, er, king!

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Michael Kitchen has been on British TV since the early 1970s without really achieving the fame of other TV mainstayers like David Jason and Dennis Waterman. He started on the stage with a role as Ptolemy in Caesar and Cleopatra at the Belgrade, Coventry in 1966.



TV roles have included roles in the accclaimed BBC's Play for Today including the aforementioned Martin in Dennis Potter's Brimstone & Treacle. My personal favourite was as Peter in Stephen Poliakoff's Caught on a Train (1980) which is gripping from start to finish and he just about holds his own with the redoubtable Peggy Ashcroft.

Two other performances stand out for me: both from the BBC Shakespeare productions. These are as Edmund in King Lear (1982) and as The Antipholi in The Comedy of Errors (1983). Kitchen has the stature and voive to play Shakespeare perfectly.

Throughout his career he has guest-starred in popular British TV shows including: Minder, Chancer, Stay Lucky, Lovejoy, Inspector Morse, Boon, Pie in the Sky, A Touch of Frost and Dalziel and Pascoe.

Supporing film roles have included: Out of Africa and the Bond movies, GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough.

But it is his appearance in the title role of DCS Christopher Foyle in the ITV mystery drama Foyle's War that his propelled him to the top of the 2nd division of British TV actors, looking up at the premier league filled with your John Thaws, David Jasons, George Coles, and John Nettles, but looking way down on your Ross Kemps and Shane Ritchies.

And Martin Kemp is strictly non-league compared to Kitchen.

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Trivia:

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Smaller than you would expect at 5ft7

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Two sons with Rowena Miller

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