Michael Lumsden

Description

Michael was born in 1955 in the smallest county in Britain - Rutland - in Uppingham where his father was a Housemaster at Uppingham School. When his father retired, the family moved to Yorkshire for a while and then to London where Michael has lived ever since.

He returned to Uppingham as a pupil, played cricket for the school 1st XI for three years and also first team Rugby and Hockey, and ended his school career as Captain of Sport. But it was there he also discovered his love of the theatre, acting in and directing many plays.

He went on to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where his passion for theatre blossomed. There were many opportunities to get involved in student drama and Michael took every chance to tread the boards, sacrificing valuable time with his German and French textbooks! He did leave Cambridge with a degree in Modern Languages, and a place at Webber Douglas to train as an actor. Initially enrolling on the one year postgraduate course he was later awarded a Scholarship which allowed him to join the full two year course.

Leaving Webber Douglas in 1979, Michael was lucky to get his Equity card immediately, spending a year travelling around the country playing Shakespeare in schools. With him in the company was the actor William Gaminara who, some 20 years later, would play Richard Locke, Alistair's rival for Shula's hand in The Archers; now, of course, better known for his starring role in Silent Witness.

Throughout the 1980s Michael worked continually, touring and working in reps up and down the country. This included a long spell at The Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent working with Peter Cheeseman on his legendary Documentary Theatre pieces. While working in repertoire he once played Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons, Toby Belch in 12th Night, and the back end of the horse in the Christmas Pantomime, all in successive weeks!

In 1991 Michael finally put his language degree to use. He took a year's break from the theatre and worked as a sports commentator - describing live British horse and greyhound races in French to Belgian listeners! In 1993 he landed the part of George Cole's son-in-law, Brian, in two series of Bob Larbey's My Good Friend for ITV. Michael has made regular TV appearances throughout his career, including a spell as the Head Teacher of Brookside Comprehensive and a couple of Children's Series: Bernard's Watch for ITV and the BAFTA winning Pig Heart Boy for the BBC. Most recently he has been seen in the two BBC medical series Holby City and Casualty.

Michael started to work in Radio Drama in the mid 1990s, playing lead roles in many of the old Monday night 90 minute plays. Many of these were recorded at the BBC studios in Birmingham at Pebble Mill where The Archers was then recorded. In late 1997 he was invited to audition for the part of local vet Alistair Lloyd and has enormously enjoyed being a part of the Ambridge family ever since. Michael's voice may also be known to TV viewers as he often provides the narration for TV documentaries. Recently he has voiced series such as Channel 4's Lost Worlds, If... and Golden Years for the BBC and many others for the Discovery and National Geographic Channels.

Although he has worked more in TV, radio and voice-overs in recent years, Michael still loves the theatre and takes every opportunity to return to the stage when he can. He recently appeared as Max in a National Tour of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing with Neal Pearson and John Gordon Sinclair.

Michael lives in South West London with his partner of 25 years, actress Sarah Neville. They have two children - Emily and Gabriel. He is still a passionate sports fan, but only manages the odd game of golf these days - though he's proud to have kept his handicap at 12!. He was delighted to be invited to guest on View from the Boundary, for Test Match Special a few years ago and only wishes his father had been alive to hear it. That one appearance would have meant more to him than a lifetime of acting work!