Geoffrey McGivern

Geoffrey McGivern

Geoffrey M. McGivern is a British actor in film, television, radio and stage, as well as a comedian. He is best known for originating the role of Ford Prefect in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He played Ford Prefect in the radio series (1978–80) and subsequent LP releases of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams whom he knew from Cambridge University, and reprised the role for the four new series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 2004 and 2018. A more recent radio broadcast was in The Ape That Got Lucky and he has appeared in TV shows such as Noel's House Party, Press Gang, Chef!, Big Train, Blackadder the Third ("Dish and Dishonesty") as Ivor Biggun, Chelmsford 123, Jonathan Creek, 15 Storeys High, Armstrong and Miller, Toast of London and series three of Peep Show. McGivern appeared in the first series of the comedy show Big Train in 1998, and later that year for the 1998 radio SciFi drama Paradise Lost in Cyberspace (Colin Swash, BBC) McGivern teamed up with old Hitchhiker's colleague Stephen Moore and Lorelei King (member of cast in the 2005 Hitchhiker's radio show sequel). He later played the Supreme Ruler in BBC2's sci-fi comedy Hyperdrive (2006–2007). In 2007, he appeared in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Peacefully in their Sleeps and in 2008 he appeared as Professor John Mycroft in the BBC2 science sitcom Lab Rats and in the 2008 BBC series Little Dorrit where he played Mr Rugg. He also appeared in episode 5 of series 3 of the TV series A Bit of Fry and Laurie. In 2015, he guest-starred in EastEnders as Dickie Ticker, the crude comic brought in by Mick Carter for Kush Kazemi's stag night. In 2016, he appeared in four episodes of the Disney Channel musical drama The Lodge, as Patrick. McGivern played the narrator Charlie Swinburne in the BBC Radio's 2013 six part dramatisation of G. K. Chesterton's The Club of Queer Trades. In 2017, he appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom Back, written by Simon Blackwell, alongside David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Later that year, he began portraying the recurring role of Frank in the Netflix series Free Rein. Since 2019, he has appeared as recurring character Barclay Beg-Chetwynde in the BBC comedy Ghosts. In 2022, he appeared as the main character Russ, in Radio 4 comedy No-Platformed. The show's episode guide contains a humorous note about McGivern's extensive credit list, by starting a list of his credits and then adding "oh, hundreds of things". In 2024, he appeared as recurring character Lord Rookwood in the Apple TV+ series The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.

Known For: Acting

Born: Battersea, London, England, UK, 1952-01-01

Died: null

Film

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1986	Mr. Pye	Harry Portiner	0
2	1989	Wilt	Mr. Yeo	62
3	1992	In Dreams	Journalist/Emperor	70
4	1993	The Young Americans	Brian Carver	58
5	1997	Gobble	Geoffrey Lester	0
6	1999	Onegin	Andrey Petrovitch	62
7	2003	Blackball	Brian Cronk	52
8	2007	Magicians	Magic Shop Manager	59
9	2008	Hancock & Joan	Billy Marsh	49
10	2011	Holy Flying Circus	Dog Walker /Petitioner /Man Whose Wife Malcolm Muggeridge Said Made a Lovely Breakfast	64
11	2015	Roald Dahl's Esio Trot	Shop Keeper	67
12	2016	Here Boy	Des	30
13	2017	The Ghoul	Morland	60
14	2018	Tower-D	Alexander	0
15		Cambridge University 1974 Footlights Revue	Various	0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1983	Blackadder	Ivor Biggun	80
2	1986	Noel's Christmas Presents		0
3	1988	Chelmsford 123	Blind Man	70
4	1988	Chelmsford 123	Wolfbane	70
5	1989	Birds of a Feather	Mr Blair	61
6	1990	Ben Elton: The Man from Auntie		0
7	1990	Drop the Dead Donkey	Geoff	70
8	1990	Drop the Dead Donkey	TV Announcer	70
9	1990	Drop the Dead Donkey	Voice Over (voice)	70
10	1990	Drop the Dead Donkey	Repeat introductions (voice) (uncredited)	70
11	1990	Rita Rudner		0
12	1991	Murder Most Horrid	Mason	66
13	1992	Heartbeat	Denzil Arcourt	71
14	1992	Heartbeat	Harry	71
15	1993	Eye of the Storm	Customs Officers	80
16	1993	Chef	Bank Manager	77
17	1996	Annie's Bar	Stiggy Bedford-Bounds	0
18	1997	Jonathan Creek	Barry Opper	75
19	1998	Stressed Eric		60
20	1998	Big Train	Policeman	71
21	2002	Look Around You	Schoolmaster	81
22	2002	15 Storeys High	Neville	81
23	2002	15 Storeys High	Sergeant Hamilton	81
24	2003	Peep Show	Gerard	80
25	2004	Doctors and Nurses	Walt	40
26	2006	Hyperdrive	Supreme Ruler	65
27	2007	Benidorm	Beverley Westwood	75
28	2008	Lab Rats	Professor John Mycroft	0
29	2008	Little Dorrit	Rugg	78
30	2010	This Is Jinsy	Trince	65
31	2011	Episodes	Bob	72
32	2012	A Touch of Cloth	Andy Preacherman	72
33	2012	A Young Doctor's Notebook	Pharmacist	71
34	2013	Blandings	Sir Roderick Glossop	71
35	2013	Plebs	Simeon	72
36	2014	Outlander	Dr. Simms	82
37	2014	Grantchester	Archdeacon	73
38	2015	Together	Douglas the Neighbour	52
39	2016	Upstart Crow	Sir Thomas	71
40	2017	Decline and Fall	Mr. Wilson	56
41	2017	Quacks	The Pub Landlord	73
42	2017	Back	Uncle Geoff	73
43	2019	This Time with Alan Partridge	Old Lady	78
44	2019	Ghosts	Barclay	79
45	2019	Ghosts	Barclay Beg-Chetwynde	79
46	2020	Quiz	Lieutenant Colonel Village	69
47	2020	Semi-Detached	Barry	64
48	2021	The Larkins	Station Master Fox	64
49	2022	Sister Boniface Mysteries	Malise Bonham Crane	64
50	2024	The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin	Lord Rookwood	65

No.

Year

Title

Role

Vote Average

1983