Christopher Ravenscroft

Christopher Ravenscroft is an English actor born in 1946 in Hampstead, London. He is best known to television audiences for his recurring role as Detective Inspector Mike Burden in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, the ITV adaptation of Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford novels, a role he held from 1987 to 2000. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School after studying law at London University, where his involvement in theatre led him to pursue acting over a legal career. During his time at the Liverpool Playhouse in the early 1970s, he met Caroline Smith, who was then associate director there and later became his wife. Ravenscroft resides in Chiswick, West London.

Much of Ravenscroft's stage career has been built through his association with the Royal Shakespeare Company. During the RSC season of 1980 to 1982, he played Lepidus in Julius Caesar, Antonio in Twelfth Night, and appeared in Baal. That same period brought him to Broadway in 1981 in the RSC production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, in which he played the roles of Mobbs, Snobb, Lenville, and Frank Cheeryble. The production ran into 1982 and was also recorded on DVD. He returned to the RSC for the 1984 to 1985 season, taking on Rosencrantz in Hamlet, Montjoy in Henry V, Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, Richmond in Richard III, and Pain in Howard Barker's Crimes in Hot Countries. In 1993 he played Banquo in the RSC's production of Macbeth, directed by Adrian Noble.

Beyond the RSC, Ravenscroft has appeared in a wide range of stage productions across the United Kingdom. In 1987 he played Orsino in a production of Twelfth Night directed by Kenneth Branagh at the Riverside Studios, a production that was also televised. He took the lead role of Arthur Kipps in The Woman in Black at the Apollo Theatre London from 2001 to 2002, and played Frank in Willy Russell's Educating Rita at Derby Playhouse and other theatres in 2003. In 2005 he played Prospero in The Tempest at the Liverpool Playhouse. His performance as Arthur Winslow in The Winslow Boy in 2012, staged at various theatres, earned him a Manchester Theatre Award. Among his many other stage credits are John in Oleanna at the Wolsey Theatre Ipswich in 1995, Mr. Stanhope in Susan Glaspell's Alison's House at the Orange Tree Theatre Richmond in 2009, and Herbert Asquith in Ben Brown's The Promise at the Orange Tree Theatre in 2013. Additional Orange Tree Theatre productions include The Conspirators by Vaclav Havel in 2011, The Stepmother by Githa Sowerby in 2013, The Man Who Pays the Piper by G.B. Stern in 2013, and The Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones in 2018. He played Kurt in Strindberg's Dances of Death at the Gate Theatre London in 2013, Alex in T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party at The Print Room London in 2015, and appeared in High Society at the Old Vic Theatre London in 2015.

Ravenscroft's television work spans several decades. Early credits include John Halifax, Gentleman in 1974, Coronation Street in 1978, and The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1982, in which he played Stapleton. He portrayed Orsino in a 1988 television production of Twelfth Night and appeared in Midsomer Murders in 2002 as Dr. Rupert Bradshaw. He has made multiple appearances in the long-running series Doctors, playing different characters in 2008, 2012, and 2016, and appeared in Emmerdale in 2018 and Casualty in 2019. His film work includes the role of Montjoy in Kenneth Branagh's Henry V in 1989, Frederick Lord in Tom and Thomas in 2002, Tamara's Father in The Football Factory in 2004, and J.J. Thomson in The Man Who Knew Infinity in 2015.