Michael Knowles (actor)

Knowles attended Bemrose Grammar School for Boys, Derby (now Bemrose School), where he stayed on into the 6th form and played the lead role in the school's production of Shakespeare's Henry V.[2] Knowles considered reading medicine before deciding to become an actor.

Knowles started his acting career with the Watford Palace Theatre company where he met Jimmy Perry who would later go on to cast him in his most memorable role. It was at Watford where he also met many of his future co-stars including Colin Bean, John Clegg, Donald Hewlett, Jeffrey Holland, Frank Williams and even his future wife Linda James.

Knowles made his first television appearance in 1969 with the sitcom Dad's Army in the episode The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker. All recordings of the episode have since been lost but he went on to appear in four further episodes and the 1971 Feature film. Knowles later said of his time with Dad's Army that it ‘was my introduction to TV. It was quite awe-inspiring working with actors like John Laurie and John Le Mesurier, people I’d only seen in films before, and here I was actually working with them. I was very nervous but enjoyed my time very much.’[3] Knowles is best known for his role as Captain Jonathan Ashwood in the 1970s sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–81). It Ain’t Half Hot Mum was the first time that he starred alongside Donald Hewlett who he worked with on many other series including You Rang, M'Lord?(1988–93) in which he played The Honourable Teddy Meldrum, and Come Back Mrs Noah (1977–78) in which he played the mathematician Fanshaw. Shortly after making his first appearance in It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Knowles had a recurring role in The Rough with the Smooth in 1975 as Vicar. The series also starred Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin and Richard Hurndall.

Knowles continued his double-act alongside Donald Hewlett again in the 1984 eight part BBC Radio sitcom Anything Legal as George the laid-off city gent. His only other notable radio role was in It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a series which he both co-created and co-wrote with Harold Snoad. In the series he playing Ernest Woolcott.

In 1989 Knowles appeared in his only American film Vampire's Kiss starring Nicolas Cage but his most notable film role came later that year when he did the voice of the Head of the Air Force in the animated movie The BFG starring David Jason based on the novel by Roald Dahl for Cosgrove Hall.

Knowles co-wrote the radio adaptation of Dad's Army with his writing partner Harold Snoad, in total they adapted 66 episodes for radio. In 2017, David Benson and Jack Lane adapted 9 of the radio scripts for the theatre in a show called The Dad's Army Radio Hour (later called Dad's Army Radio Show) which they performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They went on to tour the country with the show until 2020 when the tour was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. With Snoad, he wrote It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a radio spin-off to Dad's Army. Together they also adapted It Sticks Out Half a Mile for television, with a pilot called Walking the Planks for the BBC in 1985 starring Bernard Cribbins. When nothing eventuated from that, they wrote a seven-part series for Yorkshire Television called High & Dry in 1987. He is also credited as writing four episodes of Are You Being Served, appearing in two episodes.

Knowles married actress Linda James in 1964, who he met while working at the Watford Palace Theatre. Linda James has also worked on many situation comedies with her most notable role being in The Gnomes of Dulwich which was written by Jimmy Perry, she also appeared in several episodes of Dad's Army and The Liver Birds. They have twin daughters.[4]

• Michael Knowles at IMDb