Michael Cochrane is a British actor who specialises in playing upper-class characters, sometimes with a suaveness that hides their villainy.
He has had many television and radio roles including Oliver Sterling in the Radio 4 soap opera The Archers, The Pallisers (1974), Wings, The Citadel (1983), Goodbye Mr. Chips (1984), Sir Henry Simmerson in the Sharpe series and No Job for a Lady.
He has twice appeared in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, first as Charles Cranleigh in the serial Black Orchid (1982) and later as Redvers Fenn-Cooper in the Ghost Light (1989). He was later associated with Doctor Who when he appeared in the 2006 Big Finish Productions audio drama No Man's Land. He also featured in the ITV science fiction series The Uninvited.
He may not be a true household name but Michael Cochrane's face is a familiar one to British Television viewers. Cochrane's resume is an impressive one. He has starred in almost every long-running main stream British television show since the 1970s. Versatile and balanced understated and elegant this actor has always been somewhat typecast as upper class business men or members of the British gentry. He has a menacing on-screen presence in villainous roles. Cochrane remains a busy and sought-after actor both on stage and screen and indeed radio.
