Richard Franklin Passes On

Richard Franklin, who played Captain Mike Yates on Doctor Who, and had recurring roles on the TV shows Crossroads and Emmerdale Farm, died yesterday, December 25 2023, at the age of 87.

Richard Franklin was born on January 15 1936 in Marleybone, London. His father was renowned surgeon Richard Hampton Franklin, CBE. His mother was Helen Margaret,  daughter of Sir Henry Dixon Kimber, 2nd Baronet. He attended Westminster School. He received a Master of Arts degree in Modern History at Christ Church at the University of Oxford. His National Service was in the Royal Green Jackets (Rifle Brigade and he served as a captain in Queen Victoria's Rifles. He worked at the Hobson and Grey advertising agency as an assistant account executive, assistant producer, and scriptwriter for three years before going into acting.  He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

It was following his graduation from RADA that he spent six years in repertory theatre, spending time at the Century Theatre in Snibston, Ravenstone, the Birmingham Rep, and at the Bristol Old Vic. Afterwards he appeared in a number of productions on the West End in London.

Richard Franklin made his television debut in an episode of Dixon of Dock Green in 1966. In the late Sixties he guest starred on the shows The Saint, The Doctors, and From a Bird's Eye View. He appeared in the mini-series Little Women. He was a regular on the soap opera Crossroads.

In the Seventies Richard Franklin played Captain Mike Yates, a British adjutant of UNIT,  on Doctor Who. He guest starred on the shows The Pathfinders and Blake's 7. In the Eighties he was a regular on Emmerdale Farm. He appeared in the mini-series The Borgias. He appeared in the TV movie Waving to a Train. In the Nineties he reprised his role as Mike Yates in the thirtieth anniversary Doctor Who special Dimensions in Time that was also a crossover with EastEnders and was  produced for the charity Children in Need. It was historic as the final appearance of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. He also appeared in the mini-series The Gambling Man. He guest starred on the show Harry and Heartbeat.

In the Naughts Richard Franklin appeared in the movies Feedback (2004), Chemical Wedding (2008) and The First Days of Spring (2009). In the Teens he appeared as Richard Wagner in Twilight of the Gods (2013) and one of the Death Star engineers in Star Wars movie Rouge One.

Richard Franklin was a very talented actor. He was remarkable as Mike Yates on Doctor Who, the cool and efficient British officer working with UNIT. Although he worked for UNIT and was never actually a companion of The Doctor, the character is so beloved by fans and worked with The Doctor so often that he is often counted as one of The Doctor's companions. Of course, he was also a regular on Emmerdale Farm, playing Denis Rigg, the villains businessman who terrorizes the villagers of Beckindale. In the film Twilight of the Gods (2013), he played the ghost of composer Richard Wagner, who haunts philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche while he is in Turin Lunatic Asylum. Richard Franklin was a remarkable talent who could play a wide variety of roles, from the heroic Mike Yates to the villainous Denis Rigg.