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Mike Pratt

Mike Pratt

Acting

Biography

Mike Pratt was a British actor, musician, songwriter and screenwriter. He commenced his career in showbusiness during the skiffle boom of the 1950s, playing and writing music alongside friends Tommy Steele and Lionel Bart. Bart and Pratt received the 1957 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for Steele's hit Little White Bull, and Pratt won his second Ivor Novello for a Handful of Songs, which he co-wrote with Steele. Despite several big screen and theatre credits including a stint with the RSC, Pratt was (and remains) best known for his role as Jeff Randall in the late 1960s ITC detective series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) alongside Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. Mike Pratt died from lung cancer in July 1976, aged 45. His son is Guy Pratt, a session bass guitarist best known for his live performances with Pink Floyd (since 1987) and offshoot solo projects with David Gilmour and Nick Mason.

Known For

The Man in Room 17
6.3

The Man in Room 17 is a British television series which ran for two seasons in the mid-1960s, produced by the Northern ITV franchise, Granada Television. Key to the series' success was the involvement of writer/producer Robin Chapman. The show was set in Room 17 of the Department of Social Research, where former wartime agent-turned-criminologist Edwin Oldenshaw solved difficult police cases through theory and discussions with his assistants. The novelty of the series was that Oldenshaw and his colleagues never needed to leave their office in order to resolve cases, preferring to spend their time playing the Japanese board game of Go. They simply provided their prognosis and left the police to do the cleaning up. Different directors were often appointed to film the Room 17 and outside-world scenes independently, to maintain a sense of distance between the two worlds.

The Man in Room 17

1965Series
Gideon's Way
7.0

Gideon's Way is a British television crime series made by ITC Entertainment in 1964/65, based on the novels by John Creasey. The series was made at Elstree in twin production with The Saint TV series. It starred Liverpudlian John Gregson in the title role as Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, with Alexander Davion as his assistant, Detective Chief Inspector David Keen, Reginald Jessup as Det. Superintendent LeMaitre, Ian Rossiter as Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Bell and Basil Dignam as Commissioner Scott-Marle. The show did not acknowledge any help from Scotland Yard, any other police force or advisor. Daphne Anderson starred as his wife, Kate with Giles Watling as young son, Malcolm, Richard James as older son, Matthew who seemed to have a lot of new girlfriends and Andrea Allan as daughter, Pru. Unusually for police stories, Gideon was shown as a family man at home though urgent phone calls from his bosses tend to disrupt family plans too often. However, he did admit in "State Visit" that his wife had walked out on him for a while years ago when he put the job first and her second. They live in an expensive detached house in Chelsea.

Gideon's Way

1965Series