Stephen Churchett

Stephen George Churchett (10 April 1947 – 11 January 2022) was an English actor and writer.

Stephen Churchett
Born	Stephen George Churchett (1947-04-10)10 April 1947 Bromley, Kent, England
Died	11 January 2022 (aged 74)
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Actor, writer
Years active	1969–2022
Television	EastEnders The Brittas Empire The House of Eliott

Life and career

One of his most notable roles was as solicitor Marcus Christie in EastEnders, on and off from 1990 to 2004.^[1] He reprised the role in 2014 and again in 2015.

He has also appeared in various television programmes, including The Brief, Together, Minder, Campion, Up Pompeii!, Enemy at the Door, Specials, The Professionals, C.A.T.S. Eyes, Lucan, Casualty, Moon and Son, Bugs, The House of Elliot, Peak Practice, Silent Witness, Dangerfield, Pie in the Sky, The Bill, Preston Front, Boon, Monroe, Dalziel and Pascoe and Porkpie. He also appeared in the Doctor Who episode titled Attack of the Cybermen in 1985.

He voiced Wing Commander Belfridge in the 'Allo 'Allo! episode titled "The Sausages in the Trousers". He appeared in various episodes of The Brittas Empire, as Councillor Jack Druggett.

He has written episodes of The Bill, Kavanagh QC, Inspector Morse, Dalziel and Pascoe, Monsignor Renard and Hornblower, as well as writing the screenplay for Lewis, and appeared in four Agatha Christie's Marple television adaptations as the Coroner (The Murder at the Vicarage, The Moving Finger, Murder Is Easy, Endless Night). In 1984, he appeared in Miss Marple as Major Reeve in The Body in the Library.^[1][2] HIs interest in writing about detection was evident from a 1978 letter he wrote to Special Branch enquiring about the conspiracy case against Alice Wheeldon and her family, and their reply.^[3] Anecdotally, he visited Derby with a view to writing a play.

Churchett died on 11 January 2022, at the age of 74.^[4][5][6]

Partial filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Bleak Moments	Remedial Trainee
1975	Play for Today	History teacher	Episode: "After The Solo"
1976	Romeo & Juliet	Soldier of the Guard	Thames Television full-text production directed by Joan Kemp-Welch
1977	A Bridge Too Far	Soldier
1977	A Christmas Carol	John
1980	Enemy at the Door	Feldwebel	Episode: "The Raid"
1980	Play for Today	Dr. Lacey	Episode: "Minor Complications"
1984	Play for Today	Mr. Jessop	Episode: "Young Shoulders"
1985	Screen Two	Directorate Official	Episode: "In The Secret State"
1985	Number One	TV Announcer	Television film
1985	Florence Nightingale	Dr. Clark
1986	Murrow	BBC Technician
1987	Still Crazy like a Fox	Sergeant
1987	Bellman and True	Commercial Traveller
1989	Boon	Billy Hooper	Episode: "Of Meissen Men"
1990–2004, 2014, 2023	EastEnders	Marcus Christie	73 episodes
1991	The Object of Beauty	Mr. Mundy
1991	Minder	Head Waiter	Episode: "A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in Shepherd's Bush"
1992 – 1994	The House of Eliott	Joseph Wint
1996	Secrets & Lies	Men in Suits
1997	Photographing Fairies	Mr. Dawson
1998	Peak Practice	Mr. Anthony Millington	Episode: "Another Day of Life"
1998	McCallum	Humphrey Poole	Episodes: "Dead Man's Fingers" and "Running on Empty"
1998	Silent Witness	Charles	Episode: "Brothers in Arms"
1998	Dangerfield	Academic	Episode: "Harvest Time"
1999	Hunting Venus	Antiques Dealer
1999	The Mystery of Men	Headmaster Haines	Television film
2000	Dalziel and Pascoe	DI Larkin	Episode: "Foreign Bodies"
2002	Before You Go	TV Priest
2005	The Brief	Dr. Raeburn	Episode: "Lack of Affect"
2013	The Great Ghost Rescue	The Head Master
2013	Lucan	Albert Hensby	TV mini-series
2013	Lewis	Professor Richard Seager	Episode: "Intelligent Design"
2015	Churchill: Winning the War, Losing the Peace	Lord Moran	Television film

Screenplays

Screenplays written by Stephen Churchett
Date first broadcast	Title	Director	Cast	Synopsis Awards	Station Series
6 August 1991	The Bill: Getting Involved	Richard Holthouse	Graham Cole, Jeff Stewart and Trudie Goodwin	Stamp talks to a man about paint stripper on his car – the second time in a month. Hollis and Ackland are later called to an industrial estate where a man is damaging the car.	ITV
8 March 1999	Kavanagh QC: Previous Convictions	Tristram Powell	John Thaw	An RAF Jet Provost trainer crashes into a crowded moto-cross event killing 22 people. One of these is a friend of Kavanagh's son. The RAF Corporal responsible for maintenance commits suicide, pinning the blame on his lover, Charlotte Sinclair (Amanda Ryan). She is tried for theft and conspiracy to murder. Sabotage or human error? Kavanagh has to defend her and uncover documents initially denied to the Court.	ITV
29 March 1999	Kavanagh QC: End Game	Tristram Powell	John Thaw	In November 1985, a robbery at Turnbrook Services goes wrong and a pregnant teacher and young boy are killed. The following year, three men are sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of between 15 and 23 years in jail. Kavanagh was a Junior for the flawed defence. The firer of the final shot commits suicide in 1992 leaving a note admitting one of the men was innocent. Hunger strikes and petitions to Home Secretaries follow. Finally, 12 years after the initial murder, Kavanagh and Miss Miller act for one of the men, Cracken, at his appeal.	ITV
15 November 2000	Inspector Morse: The Remorseful Day	Jack Gold	John Thaw and Kevin Whately	Yvonne Harrison is murdered in her bed and found by her husband Frank, her body having been left in a sexually compromising position. Morse, after no progress, is taken off the case after two months, and it remains unsolved. A year later an anonymous letter sent to the police suggests Harry Repp, who is to be released from prison, may be the perpetrator. Morse's failing health has Lewis assuming a more active role.	ITV
25 April 2001	Kavanagh QC: The End of Law	Jack Gold	John Thaw	Kavanagh is sitting as a Recorder at Southwark Crown Court. Lord Cranston (Nicholas Le Prevost) pops in for a conversation during a trial for shoplifting. Would he like to become a Judge? He asks Foxcott and his daughter for advice. Elsewhere, Aldermarten is prosecuting Harry Hatton (Robert Pickavance) for the murder of Katya Zimanyi (Rachel Woolrich), a Hungarian escort in the Mortimer Hotel. The defendant is served by Miss Swithen (Samantha Bond), a Solicitor Advocate. After losing the trial she asks Kavanagh for help with the appeal, but passes out after a diabetic attack. But Lord Cranston asks him not to get too involved – so of course he takes on the appeal. Soon a miscarriage of justice starts to look like a state cover-up involving the intelligence community. Kavanagh is given the alternatives of the appeal or being sworn in as a Judge.	ITV
7 October 2002	Dalziel and Pascoe: Mens Sana	Juliet May	Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan	73-year-old Mrs. Vannstone is found dead in a seaweed bath at a local spa. With Dalziel on a month's sick leave following his heart attack, it's left to Pascoe to deal with the case. Things look pretty straight forward, until the nurse who found the body supposedly commits suicide. Deciding it is time to return to work, Dalziel books himself a week at the spa in an attempt to find out the real goings on. And when another grisly murder occurs, he realises that certain people claim to be somebody they aren't – and the truth begins to unravel in more than one horrific way for Pascoe, as his latest floozy turns out to the prime suspect. And when all of the events are connected to the death of a man at the spa two years ago, Dalziel is forced to step in and take charge of the situation. Is Pascoe naïve enough to let the prime suspect get away just to have a little bit of fun, or will his head rule his heart?	BBC1
29 January 2006	Lewis: Reputation	Bill Anderson	Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox	First episode, from a story by Russell Lewis. DI Lewis returns to Oxford after two years' secondment to the British Virgin Islands to recover from his wife's death, and is reluctantly assigned by his new boss, DCS Innocent, to the murder of an Oxford mathematics student who is shot while participating in a sleep study.	ITV
22 March 2009	Lewis: Allegory of Love	Bill Anderson	Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox	From a story by David Pirie. Lewis and Hathaway discover that the bizarre murder of a Czech barmaid with an antique Persian mirror parallels a similar killing found in a newly published fantasy novel, by the young Oxford author Dorian Crane. The life of another young woman is threatened, leading Lewis to suspect that the murdered girl is a victim of mistaken identity.	ITV
9 May 2010	Lewis: Dark Matter	Bille Eltringham	Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox	Lewis and Hathaway investigate the killing in suspicious circumstances of Professor Andrew Crompton, amateur astronomer and Master of Gresham College. Crompton is found dead at the university observatory after making a strange confession to a priest. His widow suspected that he had been having an affair, but Lewis and Hathaway discover that the dead man had a curious obsession.	ITV
10 April 2011	Lewis: Wild Justice	Hettie Macdonald	Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox	A bishop visiting St Gerard's College is found dead after drinking poisoned wine; Lewis and Hathaway suspect that she has been killed because of her progressive views. When another two killings occur, both mirroring macabre murders from a Jacobean revenge tragedy, it appears the murderer is targeting candidates for the post of vice-regent of the college. However, after learning that one of the suspects harbors a dark secret, Lewis and Hathaway realise the motive is much more twisted and that the murderer is avenging perceived slights from over twenty years before.	ITV
24 April 2011	Lewis: The Gift of Promise	Metin Hüseyin	Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox	(co-author with Dusty Hughes) Lewis and Hathaway investigate the murder of a businesswoman who had apparently been blackmailing the father of her protégé. The memoirs of a former head of MI5 provide Lewis with a vital clue, one which furthers the investigation that has ties with old romantic passions and the Irish Republican Army (IRA).	ITV
4 February 2013	Lewis: Intelligent Design	Tim Fywell	Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox	(Story, screenplay by Helen Jenkins) After seven years of ducking the question, Lewis and Hobson are embarking on a relationship, though the detective has a new puzzle to solve. An elderly don, Richard Seager, is struck by a car on the night of his release from prison; before dying, however, he mysteriously scratches the number '500' into the paintwork. Lewis must contend with Seager's wife, convinced that the sister of her husband's victim is the guilty party.	ITV