Philip Madoc
Encyclopedia
Philip Madoc is a Welsh
actor who has had many television
and film
roles.
One prominent role was the title character in the BBC Wales
drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George
. However, he first gained widespread recognition in two TV serials, first as the relentless SS
Officer Lutzig in the WW2 serial Manhunt (1969), and then as the vicious Huron warrior Magua
in a serialisation of The Last of the Mohicans
(1971). He reprised the character of Lutzig somewhat in a later episode of the comedy Dad's Army
, "The Deadly Attachment
", where he played a U-boat
Captain held prisoner by the Walmington-on-Sea
platoon of the Home Guard
. Philip Madoc's ability to give life to German villains also surfaced in the Kenneth Branagh/Emma Thompson TV series The Fortunes of War directed by James Cellan-Jones.
He also appeared in an episode of Porridge
("Disturbing The Peace") by comparing his "large sexual appetite" with that of the frog. He also appeared in a controversial episode of The Goodies
("South Africa"
), which satirised apartheid.
Film roles include Operation Crossbow
(1965), The Quiller Memorandum
(1966) and Operation Daybreak
(1975).
In 1966 he appeared in the movie Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
. Later he had several roles in the BBC
science fiction
television series Doctor Who
. He appeared in two Second Doctor
serials — The Krotons
and The War Games
and in the 1970s he appeared in two Fourth Doctor
serials — The Brain of Morbius
and The Power of Kroll
. He has recorded DVD commentaries for The War Games
and The Brain of Morbius
and he was interviewed about his roles in Doctor Who
in "Philip Madoc - A Villain for All Seasons", which appeared as an extra on the DVD for The Power of Kroll
. In 2003, he guest starred in the Doctor Who
audio adventure, Master
.
, once as the partner of Ed Straker's estranged wife and once as the captain of a British warship under attack by the aliens.
He had a brief appearance as Commander Anton Gorski in the pilot episode of Space: 1999
(1975) who was replaced by Commander John Koenig
for the remainder of the series.
He also made a memorable guest appearance in the Survivors
television series.
as DCI Noel Bain. This series was made simultaneously in Welsh and English from 1994 - 2002.
He appeared in an episode of the BBC sitcom The Good Life, playing a senior company executive.
Madoc's voice can be heard reading Bible quotations on a variant of the VoCo alarm clock and has also starred as Ellis Peters' medieval detective Brother Cadfael in the BBC Radio 4 Adaptations of Monk's Hood, The Virgin in the Ice and Dead Man's Ransom based on the novels by Ellis Peters.
In 2007 he appeared as "Y Llywydd" The President in S4C
gangster series Y Pris
, where he acts and speaks in his native Welsh
.
Madoc is also a linguist
who studied languages at the Universities of Wales
and Vienna
and has worked as an interpreter. He is patron to a St Albans based theatre school for children Best Theatre Arts.
Madoc also was the narrator for the Discovery Channel documentary series Egypt Uncovered.
He was married for a time to the actress Ruth Madoc
, but they later divorced.
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
actor who has had many television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
roles.
One prominent role was the title character in the BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George
The Life and Times of David Lloyd George
The Life and Times of David Lloyd George is a BBC Wales drama serial broadcast in 1981 on the BBC1 network which starred Philip Madoc, Elizabeth Miles, Kika Markham and David Markham....
. However, he first gained widespread recognition in two TV serials, first as the relentless SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
Officer Lutzig in the WW2 serial Manhunt (1969), and then as the vicious Huron warrior Magua
Magua
Magua is a fictional Huron Indian chief and the main villain in the novel The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. This historical novel is set at the time of the French and Indian War...
in a serialisation of The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in February 1826. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known...
(1971). He reprised the character of Lutzig somewhat in a later episode of the comedy Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
, "The Deadly Attachment
The Deadly Attachment
"The Deadly Attachment" is the first episode of the sixth series of the British television sitcom Dad's Army which was originally transmitted on Wednesday 31 October 1973...
", where he played a U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
Captain held prisoner by the Walmington-on-Sea
Walmington-on-Sea
Walmington-on-Sea is a fictional seaside resort where the BBC Television sitcom, BBC radio series and film Dad's Army was based.Located on the channel coast of England in the county of Kent, the national "front line" following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk during...
platoon of the Home Guard
British Home Guard
The Home Guard was a defence organisation of the British Army during the Second World War...
. Philip Madoc's ability to give life to German villains also surfaced in the Kenneth Branagh/Emma Thompson TV series The Fortunes of War directed by James Cellan-Jones.
He also appeared in an episode of Porridge
Porridge (TV series)
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...
("Disturbing The Peace") by comparing his "large sexual appetite" with that of the frog. He also appeared in a controversial episode of The Goodies
The Goodies (TV series)
The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...
("South Africa"
South Africa (Goodies episode)
South Africa is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies— a BAFTA-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.This episode is also known as "Apartheight" and as "A South African Adventure"....
), which satirised apartheid.
Film roles include Operation Crossbow
Operation Crossbow (film)
Operation Crossbow is a British 1965 spy thriller and World War II film, made from a story from Duilio Coletti and Vittoriano Petrilli and filmed at MGM-British Studios...
(1965), The Quiller Memorandum
The Quiller Memorandum
The Quiller Memorandum is a film adaptation of the 1965 spy novel The Berlin Memorandum, by Trevor Dudley-Smith under the name "Adam Hall", screenplay by Harold Pinter, directed by Michael Anderson, featuring George Segal, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger and Alec Guinness. The film was shot on...
(1966) and Operation Daybreak
Operation Daybreak
Operation Daybreak is a 1975 World War II film based on the true story of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague - starring Anthony Andrews, Timothy Bottoms and Martin Shaw. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and shot mostly on location in Prague. It was adapted from the book Seven Men...
(1975).
In 1966 he appeared in the movie Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is the second of two films based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the sequel to Dr. Who and the Daleks , and starred Peter Cushing in his return to the role of the eccentric inventor and time traveller "Dr. Who". It also...
. Later he had several roles in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. He appeared in two Second Doctor
Second Doctor
The Second Doctor is the second incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton....
serials — The Krotons
The Krotons
The Krotons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from December 28, 1968 to January 18, 1969...
and The War Games
The War Games
The War Games is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969. It was the last regular appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and of Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines as companions Zoe...
and in the 1970s he appeared in two Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
serials — The Brain of Morbius
The Brain of Morbius
The Brain of Morbius is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1976...
and The Power of Kroll
The Power of Kroll
*When script editor Anthony Read asked Robert Holmes to write the story, there were two requirements: that it include the largest monster in series history and that Holmes minimise the humour that many scripts from the era were known for. This second requirement was a request from higher up at the...
. He has recorded DVD commentaries for The War Games
The War Games
The War Games is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969. It was the last regular appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and of Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines as companions Zoe...
and The Brain of Morbius
The Brain of Morbius
The Brain of Morbius is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1976...
and he was interviewed about his roles in Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in "Philip Madoc - A Villain for All Seasons", which appeared as an extra on the DVD for The Power of Kroll
The Power of Kroll
*When script editor Anthony Read asked Robert Holmes to write the story, there were two requirements: that it include the largest monster in series history and that Holmes minimise the humour that many scripts from the era were known for. This second requirement was a request from higher up at the...
. In 2003, he guest starred in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
audio adventure, Master
Master (Doctor Who audio)
Master is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It forms a trilogy with Omega and Davros to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the show...
.
Other Sci-Fi
He appeared twice in the drama series UFOUFO (TV series)
UFO is a 1970-1971 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth, created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.UFO first aired in the UK and Canada...
, once as the partner of Ed Straker's estranged wife and once as the captain of a British warship under attack by the aliens.
He had a brief appearance as Commander Anton Gorski in the pilot episode of Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
(1975) who was replaced by Commander John Koenig
John Koenig
John Koenig is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. He was played by Martin Landau. He is American, apparently in his early forties.-Character Biography:...
for the remainder of the series.
He also made a memorable guest appearance in the Survivors
Survivors
Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977...
television series.
Other appearances
Madoc also starred in the 1990s detective series A Mind to KillA Mind to Kill
A Mind to Kill is a police detective series developed from a 1991 pilot. The programme ran from 1994 to 2004 and aired first on S4C .-Synopsis:...
as DCI Noel Bain. This series was made simultaneously in Welsh and English from 1994 - 2002.
He appeared in an episode of the BBC sitcom The Good Life, playing a senior company executive.
Madoc's voice can be heard reading Bible quotations on a variant of the VoCo alarm clock and has also starred as Ellis Peters' medieval detective Brother Cadfael in the BBC Radio 4 Adaptations of Monk's Hood, The Virgin in the Ice and Dead Man's Ransom based on the novels by Ellis Peters.
In 2007 he appeared as "Y Llywydd" The President in S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...
gangster series Y Pris
Y Pris
Y Pris is a popular Welsh language television programme produced by Fiction Factory for Welsh public service television station S4C. Described in its tagline as "The Sopranos by the seaside"...
, where he acts and speaks in his native Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
.
Madoc is also a linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
who studied languages at the Universities of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
and Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
and has worked as an interpreter. He is patron to a St Albans based theatre school for children Best Theatre Arts.
Madoc also was the narrator for the Discovery Channel documentary series Egypt Uncovered.
He was married for a time to the actress Ruth Madoc
Ruth Madoc
Ruth Madoc is a British actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Gladys Pugh in the 1980s BBC television comedy Hi-de-Hi!, and as Daffyd Thomas's mother in the second series of Little Britain.-Early life:...
, but they later divorced.