Mick Ford is a British actor, screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

 and playwright, best known for his portrayal of intellectual convict Archer in the cinema version of Scum

Scum (film)

Scum is a 1979 British crime drama film directed by Alan Clarke, portraying the brutality of life inside a British borstal. The story was originally made for the BBC's Play for Today strand in 1977, however due to the violence depicted in the film, it was withdrawn from broadcast...

. He also played Chico Barnes in the TV series based on the Dick Francis

Dick Francis

Richard Stanley "Dick" Francis CBE was an English jockey and crime writer, many of whose novels centre around horse racing.- Personal life :...

 racing thrillers. Ford was educated at John Ruskin Grammar School, Croydon, and was a member of the National Youth Theatre

National Youth Theatre

The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....

, along with appearing in the premiere of The Secret Rapture

The Secret Rapture (play)

The Secret Rapture is a 1988 British play by David Hare. Its premiere in the Lyttelton auditorium of the Royal National Theatre was directed by Howard Davies. British revivals of the play have included one at the Salisbury Playhouse in 2001 and at the Lyric Theatre, London in 2003...

.

Ford has written and starred in numerous British drama serials, theatrical productions, and has been used for many voiceovers and advertising campaigns. He had regular roles in the BBC drama series Silent Witness

Silent Witness

Silent Witness is a BBC crime thriller series focusing on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in February 1996, the series is still airing to the present day, with a fifteenth series expected to air in January 2012. The series was...

and Fish

Fish (BBC TV series)

Fish was a BBC drama series of 2000, starring Paul McGann as an idealistic lawyer who specialised in industrial tribunals. In court, he often came up against a female lawyer, played by Jemma Redgrave. Fish's wife had mysteriously disappeared, leaving him to look after his young son, and he began...

, and in the comedy Big Bad World

Big Bad World

Big Bad World is the fifth album by Plain White T's. It was released on September 23, 2008 by Hollywood Records. To promote the album, the Plain White T's launched a few webisodes, which together form the series Meet Me in California.-Track listing:...

.

He has also written the critically acclaimed television dramas The Passion

The Passion (TV series)

The Passion was a three-episode 1999 British TV series written by Mick Ford. It was set in, and filmed in, North Devon, and related events set around a local amateur production of a passion play....

and William and Mary. He is the writer of Single Father

Single Father (TV drama)

Single Father is a four-episode 2010 BBC television drama centred on Dave , a photographer, attempting to look after his children as a single father after the death of his partner, Rita , in a road traffic accident. The series also explores the complicated and growing romance between Dave and...

, starring David Tennant

David Tennant

David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...

.

Scum

Ford's most famous role comes in the 1979 film Scum

Scum (film)

Scum is a 1979 British crime drama film directed by Alan Clarke, portraying the brutality of life inside a British borstal. The story was originally made for the BBC's Play for Today strand in 1977, however due to the violence depicted in the film, it was withdrawn from broadcast...

. Set in borstal

Borstal

A borstal was a type of youth prison in the United Kingdom, run by the Prison Service and intended to reform seriously delinquent young people. The word is sometimes used loosely to apply to other kinds of youth institution or reformatory, such as Approved Schools and Detention Centres. The court...

 Ford plays the character Archer, an intelligent trouble maker who just wants to serve his time "In (his) own little way.". This role gained Ford media attention and thrust him into the spotlight somewhat. Ford also had a role that year in the television film 'The Knowledge' in which he stars as an unemployed man who is encouraged by his girlfriend (played by actress Kim Taylforth

Kim Taylforth

Kim Taylforth is an English actress. She is the sister of actress Gillian Taylforth.Her earliest TV appearance was in the scrapyard sitcom, Steptoe and Son, when she was 15 years old. Aged 19, she starred as 'Janet' in the 1979 TV film The Knowledge about a group of aspiring Londoners learning...

) to apply to the Metropolitan Police

Metropolitan police

Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...

 Public Carriage Office to become a black cab driver.
He also appeared in the much-lauded play, The Promise.

Personal life

He is the son in law of the novelist Beryl Bainbridge

Beryl Bainbridge

Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge, DBE was an English author from Liverpool. She was primarily known for her psychological novels, often set amongst the English working classes. Bainbridge won the Whitbread Awards prize for best novel in 1977 and 1996; she was nominated five times for the Booker...

and acted as a pallbearer at her funeral.