Richard Hope (11 October 1953 in Kettering, England[1]) is a British actor who gained recognition from Brideshead Revisited as the doltish junior officer, Hooper, under Jeremy Irons' charge.

[6] In 1984, he joined the Richard Eyre / David Hare Company[7] playing Bill Smiley in the premiere of Pravda with Anthony Hopkins[8] before switching to the role of Eaton Sylvester in two extended revivals in the Olivier Theatre.

In Piece of Cake directed by Ian Toynton he was ‘Skull' Skelton and he played Mortimer Tundish in both series of Debbie Horsfield's comedy-drama The Riff Raff Element, with Celia Imrie and Nicholas Farrell.

In 1996, he returned to the National Theatre as Pierre Bezukhov in the Shared Experience joint production of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace,[11] adapted by Helen Edmundson and directed by Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale.

During 2000, under coach Geoff Thompson (author of Real Punching), Hope learned to wrestle for Jim Cartwright's Hard Fruit at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by James Macdonald.

During a performance of Hard Fruit, Hope broke his wrist when he hit a punch post that was missing its padding; he continued the run of the show with an "authentic" bandaged hand.

[17] Hope has been in several police dramas: Superintendent Harold Spence in Agatha Christie's Poirot, Barry Purvis for two series of Murder Investigation Team and semi-regular Rod Jessop, the local headmaster, in The Bill.

[20] In 2014, he played Queen Elizabeth I in the UK premiere of Sarah Ruhl's stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando at the Royal Exchange with Suranne Jones, directed by Max Webster.

In 2024 Hope returned to Royal Court Theatre as Wally Saunders in Giant by Mark Rosenblatt, directed by Nick Hytner, with John Lithgow, Elliot Levey, Rachael Stirling, Romola Garai and Tessa Bonham Jones.