Richard Lumsden

Richard James Lumsden (born 24 June 1965) is an English actor, writer, composer and musician. He played Nathan in Channel 4's drama Sugar Rush and on radio he plays Ray in Clare in the Community.

Television

Lumsden's television work includes Colin in three series of Is it Legal?, Henry in Wonderful You (both for ITV); Foggy in two series of First of the Summer Wine, Charles in All About Me, Nutter in The Sharp End and Roger in The House That Jack Built, all for the BBC. He has appeared as Martin in series three of The Catherine Tate Show, and Arnold, an ex-boyfriend of Clare Bates in EastEnders. He also appeared as David Farmer on season 15 of Midsomer Murders, episode "The Sicilean Defense".

In December 2013, the television channel Sky Atlantic aired a new comedy series called Little Crackers. The second programme in the series was an autobiographical story written by Rebecca Front and her brother Jeremy. The story centres on the time Front witnessed a serious incident when her father, Charles, was nearly drowned in a lake. The role of Front's father was played by Lumsden.

Film

Lumsden appeared in the films Sense and Sensibility, The Avengers, Room To Rent, Silent Cry, Gospel of John, Attila The Hun, and Life of Riley.

In 2014, Lumsden starred in the independent British feature film Downhill, a comedy about four men attempting Alfred Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk.

Theatre

He performed his own one–man musical play We Could Be Heroes at the Bridewell Theatre in 2004. His repertory theatre work at Stoke-on-Trent and Basingstoke included Master Harold & The Boys, the title role in Hamlet, As You Like It, King Lear, A Trip To Scarborough, Amadeus, Juno and the Paycock, Far From The Madding Crowd and Having A Ball. He played Roche in Rat in the Skull at Theater Exchange, Minneapolis, and John Thorpe in Northanger Abbey at Greenwich. At the Almeida Theatre, London, in February 2016 he was Cartwright (Telegin) in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya for director Robert Icke, providing on-stage musical accompaniment to the action on mouth-organ and guitar.

Writing

His writing work includes a seven-hour drama Wonderful You for ITV (co-written with Chris Niel), in which he also starred, and three verse plays for BBC Radio 4: John Dodd Gets Taken for a Ride (which was nominated for the BBC's Imison award for new writing), A Good Place For Fishing which starred Anne Reid, and Man in the Moon which starred Tom Courtenay (The Guardian and Daily Telegraph's radio "Pick of the week"). Readings of his play Skeletons have taken place at Soho Theatre and The Venue. In January 2019 his first novel, The Six Loves of Billy Binns, was published by Tinder Press.

Music

He has composed music for cinema, television and theatre, including the soundtrack to the 2009 film Morris: A Life with Bells On, a full musical score for Alice in Wonderland at the New Vic Theatre in Stoke, title music for BBC Breakfast and incidental music for his brother-in-law Greg Wise's BBC documentary about the life of Jack Good. He has released two albums with his band Henry Kissing Her – A Little of Who You Fancy (1996) & Pull (2006) – and also released a CD of piano music, Concert From The Eyrie (2001). In 2012, Lumsden and John Dipper released the album Sunshine Takes You: 11 songs for ukulele, fiddle, banjo, bass, percussion & keyboards.

Lumsden attended Lady Manners School, situated in Bakewell in the Peak District, before he trained at the Guildford School of Acting, graduating in 1986. In 1995, Lumsden married actress Sophie Thompson; they separated in 2015. They have two sons, Ernie James (born 1997) and Walter Eric (born 2000).