His mother was Margaret Richards, who worked for many years as an assistant to Hugh "Binkie" Beaumont, the British theatrical producer at H M Tennent Limited.

She went on to become secretary to Roy Strong at the Victoria & Albert Museum and later worked for the Greater London Arts Association.

as general manager Maplins holiday camp boss Harold Fox, who was known to the staff as The Smiling Viper, The Bill, Lovejoy, Minder, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Between the Lines and Pie in the Sky.

He co starred with Robert Powell in Hannay, with Leigh Lawson in Kinsey, Michael Kitchen in The Reporters and with Rowan Atkinson in Full Throttle.

Richards played Face in Griff Rhys Jones's production of The Alchemist at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith and toured in the lead role in Jack Shepard's Comic Cuts.

[3] The tapes gave an alternative view of the UK miners' strike (1984–85) to those presented by the mainstream media at the time.

Dedicated to War Child Australia,[7] part of the international relief and development agency working for the rehabilitation of child soldiers, the show featured a cast of 9- to 18-year-olds from Marlborough, plus a full professional crew, and was received enthusiastically by audiences over its eight-day run, winning a local community award.

In 2009 he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis and following an extended period of illness, began work on a book of poetry entitled 200 Weeks published by Muswell Press[9] in January 2015.