Editing Christopher Ryan (section)

==Career==
===''The Young Ones''===
Ryan was the only ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|Young Ones]]'' cast member who was not already well known in British comedy circles, the other principal parts being taken by [[The Comic Strip]] members [[Rik Mayall]], [[Adrian Edmondson]], [[Nigel Planer]], and [[Alexei Sayle]]. He was a last-minute replacement for [[Peter Richardson (British director)|Peter Richardson]], for whom the "[[straight man]]" role of "Mike The Cool Person" was originally intended.

In 1986, Ryan reunited with the rest of the cast for the comedic charity single and music video for [[Cliff Richard]]'s hit song "[[Living Doll (song)|Living Doll]]", with Richard himself, for [[Comic Relief]].<ref name="living">{{cite web|url=https://www.simplyeighties.com/cliff-richard-and-the-young-ones.php#.YA9Tr5P7Si4 |title=Living Doll by Cliff Richard and The Young Ones - SimplyEightys |accessdate= 25 January 2021}}</ref>

===Later career===
In 1987, he starred in the short-lived BBC sitcom ''[[A Small Problem]]''. He played [[Lucky (Waiting for Godot)|Lucky]] in [[Samuel Beckett]]'s ''[[Waiting for Godot]]'' at the [[Sondheim Theatre|Queen's Theatre]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]] in 1991, alongside Mayall and Edmondson.<ref>From the programme to the production.</ref> He later played Dave Hedgehog in ''[[Bottom (TV series)|Bottom]]'', and Marshall Turtle, one of Edina's unloved ex-husbands, on ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]''. He has also appeared in two major sitcoms: he played one of the Driscoll brothers in an episode of ''[[Only Fools And Horses]]'' and [[Spin-off (media)|spin-off]] ''[[The Green Green Grass]]'', a pair of [[Twin|identical twin]] builders in the ''[[One Foot in the Grave]]'' episode "Hole in the Sky", and a plumber in the episode "The Valley of Fear". He appeared in ''[[Back to School Mr. Bean]]'', ''[[My Family]]'' and ''[[Saxondale]].'' He joined up again with Jennifer Saunders for two episodes of ''The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle''.

In 1986, he appeared in the [[science fiction]] series ''[[Doctor Who]]'' as the alien creature [[List of Doctor Who villains#Lord Kiv|Lord Kiv]] in the serial ''[[The Trial of a Time Lord]]'', and as one of the rose-painting playing cards in the 1999 TV version of ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1999 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]''. In 2008, he again guest-starred in ''Doctor Who'' in the episodes "[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]" and "[[The Poison Sky]]", as the [[Sontaran]] leader "General Staal",<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2007/10/02/49473.shtml | title=Doctor Who: Casting Update | date=2 October 2007 | accessdate=12 September 2009 | publisher=[[BBC]] | archive-date=7 March 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307232646/http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2007/10/02/49473.shtml | url-status=dead }}</ref> and in the 2010 episode "[[The Pandorica Opens]]", playing another Sontaran character, "Commander Stark". In 2012 he appeared in the role of Marshall in Episode 3 "Olympics" of the ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'' 20th-anniversary specials.

Although so far his film appearances have been few, he has played small roles in ''[[Santa Claus: The Movie]]'' (1985) playing Vout the elf, and in the film ''[[Dirty Weekend (1993 film)|Dirty Weekend]]'' (1993), directed by [[Michael Winner]] playing a character credited as Small One.

Ryan starred as Baron Hardup in the pantomime of [[Cinderella]] at the [[Theatre Royal, Norwich]] from 17 December 2013 to 19 January 2014.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.hercampus.com/school/exeter/hcx-pick-christmas-events-around-country | title=HCX Pick of Christmas Events | date=28 November 2013 | accessdate=10 June 2014 | publisher=Her Campus Media, LLC }}{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>