Ralph Riach

Ralph McKenzie Riach (26 January 1936^[1] – 20 March 2022)^[2] was a Scottish actor from Elgin, Moray.

Early years

Riach was born in Elgin, Scotland. He was educated at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, and he worked in Perth on a variety of jobs before he began his acting career.^[3]

Career

Riach portrayed John McIver (better known as "TV John") in BBC One Scotland's comedy/drama Hamish Macbeth. His career began at the age of 50, when he appeared in Lost Empires (1986). He appeared in television shows including Chancer, Mosley, Taggart, Monarch of the Glen, Peak Practice, Doctor Finlay, and Tutti Frutti.

Film appearances included The House of Mirth (2000), The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), Braveheart (1995), Copying Beethoven (2006) and Cloud Atlas (2012).^[4] He also portrayed John Laurie in We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story (2015). In 2014, he played a scene in Scottish feature film Time Teens: The Beginning directed by Ryan Alexander Dewar. He appeared in the short film Darkness in The Afternoon in 1999.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Crossing the Line	Laundry Manager
1995	Braveheart	Priest No. 1
1997	In Praise of Older Women	Conde
1998	Dangerous Beauty	Lorenzo Gritti
1998	The Governess	Mr. Hewlett
1999	My Life So Far	Sir David Drummond
1999	The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc	English Judge
2000	The House of Mirth	Lord Hubert Dacy
2002	Anazapta	Physician
2004	One Last Chance	Mr. Murray
2004	The Rocket Post	Old Donald
2006	Copying Beethoven	Wenzel Schlemmer
2007	Death Defying Acts	Mr. Robertson
2008	Is Anybody There?	Clive
2008	Good	Brunau
2012	Cloud Atlas	Ernie
2014	What We Did on Our Holiday	Jimmy Cazzarotto
2015	Time Teens	The Meridian
2018	The Party's Just Beginning	The Caller

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Lost Empires	Edinburgh Empire M.D.	Episode #1.1
1986–2003	Taggart	Various roles	5 episodes
1986	First Among Equals	Frank Boyle	Episode #1.8
1987	Tutti Frutti	Barman	Episode: "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O"
1987	Watching	Mr. Ambrose	2 episodes
1988	City Lights	Glasgow Museum Official	Episode: "I'm Willie, Fly Me"
1990	The Play on One	Fr Maxwell	Episode: "Changing Step"
1990–1991	Chancer	Willy Stebbings	15 episodes
1991	4 Play	John Breck	Episode: "Ball on the States"
1991	Clarissa	Uncle Anthony	3 episodes
1991, 1998	Casualty	Mr. Nichol / Alex	2 episodes
1992	Rides	Mr. Goodwin	Episode: "Which One of You Is the Victim?"
1992	The Bill	Gordon Ellis	Episode: "Priorities"
1993	Screen Two	Dr. Sutherland	Episode: "The Long Roads"
1993–1994	Doctor Finlay	Dr. Gilmore	10 episodes
1995	Kavanagh QC	Malcolm Gibson	Episode: "Heartland"
1995	Wycliffe	Dr. Bonner	Episode: "Lost Contact"
1995–1997	Hamish Macbeth	TV John / Euan McIver	20 episodes
1997	Lloyds Bank Channel 4 Film Challenge	Ted	Episode: "Nurse Ajax"
1997, 2000	Peak Practice	Malcolm McReadie / Mr. Rees	2 episodes
1998	Mosley	Ramsay MacDonald	3 episodes
2000	Murder Rooms: Mysteries of theReal Sherlock Holmes	The Strand Editor	Episode: "The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes"
2000	Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)	Mr. Asmodius	Episode: "A Man of Substance"
2000	Brotherly Love	Reverend McDonald	5 episodes
2000, 2001	Monarch of the Glen	Geordie McCann	2 episodes
2001	The Russian Bride	Larry	Television film
2003	Canterbury Tales	Mr Malcolm Wickens	Episode: "The Miller's Tale"
2004	55 Degrees North	Stanley Hanson	Episode #1.5
2004	Quite Ugly One Morning	Alexander Kinross	Television film
2005	The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle	Cleeve
2006	Low Winter Sun	Mister Gillot
2007	Wedding Belles	John Eddie
2010–2011	Rosamunde Pilcher's Shades of Love	Noel's Lawyer	3 episodes
2011	South Riding	Lord Sedgmire	Episode #1.3
2011	Young James Herriot	Professor Henry Legge	3 episodes
2011–2013	Doctors	Marcus Tidwell / Ron Wise
2012	New Tricks	Colin Ogilvy	Episode: "Glasgow UCOS"
2013	M.I. High	Bodger	Episode: "Grosse Encounters"
2015	Holby City	Frank Thorpe	Episode: "Cover Up"
2015	We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story	John Laurie	Television film
2016	Shetland	Man on Beach	Episode #3.1
2017–2018	Fortitude	Ralfi Sigurdson	9 episodes
2018	Grandpa's Great Escape	Mr. Willkins	Television film
2018	Still Game	Old Ricky	Episode: "Balls Up"