Richard Cant

Cant appeared twice on the long-running murder mystery series Midsomer Murders, appearing in the 1997 pilot episode The Killings at Badger's Drift as undertaker Dennis Rainbird,{{cite news|url=https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1324814/Midsomer-murders-DCI-Tom-Barnaby-John-Nettles-Richard-Cant-blunder-pilot-itv-video/amp|work=The Express|title=Midsomer Murders: DCI Tom Barnaby star exposes major blunder in first ever episode|quote=But it was revealed by John that Richard Cant - who starred in the pilot episode as undertaker Dennis Rainbird - made a major blunder during filming.|first=Charlotte|last=Manning|date=23 August 2020|access-date=11 June 2025}} and then again as Dennis Rainbird's cousin, Alistair Gooding, in the 2006 story Dead Letters. In the second story, he appeared alongside Jason Hughes, who played Detective Sergeant Ben Jones.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Cant had previously appeared with Jason Hughes in an episode of the BBC 2 TV series This Life, where he played Phil, a friend of Hughes's character, Warren.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Other television and film appearances include {{citation needed|date=August 2023}} " Stan and Ollie", "Mary, Queen of Scots", 'The Crown", "It's a Sin", The Way We Live Now, Bleak House, Gimme Gimme Gimme, and Gunpowder Treason and Plot. In 2007 he appeared in an episode of Doctor Who, "Blink".{{cite web | url = http://www.eyeofhorus.org.uk/content/series-03/10-blink.html. | title = Doctor Who - Blink, (from 'Eye of Horus') | accessdate = 2009-01-25 | archive-date = 29 November 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231129031633/http://www.eyeofhorus.org.uk/content/series-03/10-blink.html | url-status = live }}

He has worked on stage for The National Theatre, RSC, Royal Court, Cheek by Jowl, and Sheffield Crucible.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

He appeared as Friedrich in War Horse at the New London Theatre.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In 2023, he starred as Merle Miller, the iconoclastic gay writer in the East End play, What It Means, at Wilton's Music Hall, London. The Guardian gave his performance 4 out of 5 stars, lauding him: "Richard Cant is superb as Merle Miller who takes a stand against homophobia in this clever retelling of his landmark essay."{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/oct/10/what-it-means-review-merle-miller|title=Review: What It Means review – how a gay American writer came out fighting|first=David |last=Jays|date=10 October 2023|access-date=11 June 2025}} Time Out wrote, "Richard Cant gives an electric performance in this (largely) one-person play, based on real events, which makes its debut at Wilton's Music Hall."{{cite news|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/what-it-means-review|work=Time Out|title=Richard Cant gives a mesmeric turn in this drama about Merle Miller's landmark 1971 article 'What It Means to Be a Homosexual'|first=Tom |last=Wicker|date=10 October 2024|access-date=11 June 2025}}

In Spring 2024, he toured in a production of As You Like It to Romania.{{cite web|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/richard-cant-taking-as-you-like-it-to-post-revolutionary-romania-was-like-being-in-the-beatles|website=The Stage UK|title=Richard Cant: 'Taking As You Like It to post-revolutionary Romania was like being in the Beatles'|date=3 May 2024|first=Fergus|last=Morgan|access-date=11 June 2025}} In Fall 2024, Cant performed as Edward Jenner in Pins and Needles at the Kiln Theatre.{{cite news|url=https://www.westminsterextra.co.uk/article/review-pins-and-needles-at-kiln-theatre|work=Westminster Extra|title=REVIEW / THEATRE: Review: Pins and Needles, at Kiln Theatre: Fascinating stuff to unpack in play that explores the fallibility of government and the tarnished reputation of the pharmaceutical companies|quote=Over the course of 80 minutes, we meet ... Edward Jenner (Richard Cant), the English physician who invented the smallpox vaccine in 1796....There's some fascinating stuff to unpack, and it's well-acted|date=3 October 2024|first=Lucy |last=Popescu|access-date=11 June 2025}}

Cant was born in Dartford, Kent in 1964.{{cite web | url = https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/richard-cant-taking-as-you-like-it-to-post-revolutionary-romania-was-like-being-in-the-beatles | title = Richard Cant: 'Taking As You Like It to post-revolutionary Romania was like being in the Beatles' | last = Morgan | first = Fergus | date = 2024-05-03 | website = The Stage | access-date = 2024-09-09| url-access = registration}} In June 2023, Richard Coles, the former Communards musician and Anglican priest, said he was in a relationship with Cant.{{cite news|url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/01/reverend-richard-coles-richard-cant-romance/|title=Reverend Richard Coles opens up about finding new love three years after tragic death of husband|date=1 June 2023|website=Pink News|access-date=30 April 2024|archive-date=8 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240408222133/https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/01/reverend-richard-coles-richard-cant-romance/|url-status=live}}

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• This Life (1996)
• Midsomer Murders (1997) & (2006)
• Gimme Gimme Gimme (1999)
• Lawless Heart (2001)
• The Way We Live Now (2001)
• Shackleton (2002)
• Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005)
• Bleak House (2005)
• Sparkle (2007)
• Doctor Who (2007)
• The Bill (2008)
• Vexed (2010)
• Mapp & Lucia (2014)
• The Crown (2020)
• It's A Sin (2021)
• Mary, Queen Of Scots (2018)
• Stan and Ollie (2019)

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• As You Like It / Cymbeline/ Troilus and Cressida (Cheek by Jowl)
• War Horse (2012/13, NT at New London Theatre)
• Salome (Headlong)
• The Country Wife (Sheffield Crucible)
• Orlando (West End)
• Handbagged/ Wife (Kiln)
• The Vortex (Chichester)
• Henry The Sixth / Maydays / Hamlet (RSC)
• Normal Heart/ Mr Gum And The Dancing Bear (NT)
• Medea (Almeida)
• The Trial (Young Vic)
• After Edward/ Edward The Second (Globe)
• What It Means (Wilton's)

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• The Importance of Bring Earnest (National Theatre)2025

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0134458|name=Richard Cant}}

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Category:English male television actors

Category:English male stage actors

Category:Living people

Category:1964 births