The Young Ones Ryan was the only
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, 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 song "
Living Doll", with Richard himself, for
Comic Relief.
Later career In 1987, he starred in the short-lived BBC sitcom
A Small Problem. He played
Lucky in
Samuel Beckett's
Waiting for Godot at the
Queen's Theatre in the
West End in 1991, alongside Mayall and Edmondson. He later played Dave Hedgehog in
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 The Green Green Grass, a pair of
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
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. 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", 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), 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. ==Filmography==