# Michael Angelis
**Michael Angelis** (full name Nicolas Michael Angelis) was an English actor whose lugubrious, soft-Scouse delivery made him a familiar presence on British television for four decades, best known as Chrissie Todd in [Alan Bleasdale](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-bleasdale)'s *Boys from the Blackstuff* (1982) and as the longest-running narrator of *Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends*.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) • [2](https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/theatre-arts/obituary-michael-angelis/39265924.html) He was born in London in 1944 and died of a heart attack on 30 May 2020, aged 76.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | Born 1944 in Paddington, London; died 30 May 2020 in Thatcham, Berkshire, of a heart attack[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0029617/bio/) |
| Signature drama role | Chrissie Todd in Alan Bleasdale's *Boys from the Blackstuff* (BBC, 1982), opposite Julie Walters as his wife Angie[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) |
| Sitcom role | Lucien, the rabbit-obsessed brother of Carol Boswell, in Carla Lane's *The Liver Birds* from 1975[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) |
| Thomas narration | Narrator of *Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends* from 1992 to 2012, 14 series, succeeding Ringo Starr; Mark Moraghan took over in 2013[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) |
| Training | Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow; repertory work in England and Scotland, notably the Liverpool Everyman[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) |
| Marriages | Three: first in 1971 (divorced); the *Coronation Street* actor Helen Worth from 1991 to 2001; Jennifar Khalastchi from 2003[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) |
## Early life and training
Angelis was born in London to Margaret (née McCulla) and Evangelos Angelis, a Greek immigrant, and was brought up in the Dingle area of Liverpool.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) Although born in London, he is often wrongly thought to have been a Liverpool native, a confusion his own obituarists corrected.[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0029617/bio/) He trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and acted with repertory companies in England and Scotland, notably the Liverpool Everyman.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) His elder brother, Paul Angelis, was also an actor and voiced [Ringo Starr](https://www.edgepedia.org/ringo-starr) in the 1968 film *Yellow Submarine*; coincidentally, Starr and the Angelis brothers all grew up in the Dingle.[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0029617/bio/)
## The Liver Birds and early television
His first significant television role came in Carla Lane's Liverpool flatmates sitcom *The Liver Birds*. Joining for the fifth series in 1975, he played Lucien, the downbeat, philosophising brother of Carol Boswell (Elizabeth Estensen), an obsessive rabbit lover whose line "It's me rabbits!" became a schoolyard catchphrase.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) The sitcom ran until 1979, and he returned as Lucien for a short-lived revival in 1996.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) He also appeared in two other Lane sitcoms: *I Woke Up One Morning* (1985–86) as Max, one of four recovering alcoholics, and *Luv* (1993–94) as Harold Craven, a working-class millionaire.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary)
## Boys from the Blackstuff
**The defining role.** In Alan Bleasdale's five-part BBC drama *Boys from the Blackstuff*, broadcast in 1982, Angelis played Chrissie Todd, one of five Liverpudlian former tarmac layers struggling for survival as unemployment rose in the wake of [Margaret Thatcher](https://www.edgepedia.org/margaret-thatcher)'s economic policies.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) The series was a sequel to Bleasdale's 1980 play *The Black Stuff* and featured the same principal actors: [Bernard Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/bernard-hill), Angelis, Alan Igbon, Tom Georgeson, and Peter Kerrigan.[4](https://rts.org.uk/article/comfort-classic-boys-blackstuff) Of the five central characters, Chrissie was described as the most ordinary, desperate for legitimate work and increasingly soured by the indignity of life on the dole.[5](https://www.museum.tv/tvencyclopedia2/boys-from-the-blackstuff)
In the raw closing scene of his story, with his gas cut off and employment officials investigating him, Chrissie tells his wife Angie ([Julie Walters](https://www.edgepedia.org/julie-walters)): "Angie, this is our life – and I wish I was dead… I had a job, Angie."[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) The episode ends with him strangling and shooting his geese and pigeons to provide dinner.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/31/tributes-paid-to-boys-from-the-blackstuff-actor-michael-angelis-died) Angelis once described the drama as "possibly the finest thing I've ever done" and said it changed his career; before it he had experienced signing on, but not afterwards.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/31/tributes-paid-to-boys-from-the-blackstuff-actor-michael-angelis-died) After his death, the writer [Jack Thorne](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-thorne) called him "the heart of Boys from The Blackstuff", and the comedian [Matt Lucas](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-lucas) described him as "one of the greatest TV actors I've ever seen".[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/31/tributes-paid-to-boys-from-the-blackstuff-actor-michael-angelis-died)
## Work with Bleasdale and other roles
Bleasdale, who regarded Angelis's performances as "real" and "truthful", cast him repeatedly. Angelis starred in the 1985 film *No Surrender* as the new manager of a Liverpool club, played the poet Martin Niarchos in the political drama *GBH* (1991), and appeared as a detective in *Melissa* (1997), Bleasdale's reworking of a Francis Durbridge murder mystery.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) Other television roles included the club owner Irwin in *The Marksman* (1987), Merlin in the children's fantasy *Wail of the Banshee* (1992), Arnie alongside [Russ Abbot](https://www.edgepedia.org/russ-abbot) in *September Song* (1993–95), the gangster Mickey Startup in the revived *Auf Wiedersehen, Pet* (2002), and Robert Rocksavage, the bed-ridden father of Warren Brown's title character, in the BBC's *Good Cop* (2012).[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) On the West End stage he appeared in [Willy Russell](https://www.edgepedia.org/willy-russell)'s comedy *One for the Road* at the Lyric Theatre in 1987.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary)
## Narrating Thomas the Tank Engine
To a younger generation, Angelis's melodic voice was heard as the narrator of *Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends* (later retitled *Thomas & Friends*), the children's series launched in 1984 by producer Britt Allcroft from the Rev Wilbert Awdry's Railway Series books.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) He took over from the former Beatles drummer and fellow Dingle resident Ringo Starr when the program was revived, and narrated 14 series from 1992 to 2012, beginning with a story about Percy and Henry arguing over scarves; Mark Moraghan succeeded him in 2013.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) Fan-maintained references date his run from 1991 to 2012 and describe him as the longest-serving narrator in the television series, totaling 21 years.[7](https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Narrators) He also narrated two episodes of the US version and re-narrated the Railway Stories audiobooks originally read by other narrators.[8](https://obits.cleveland.com/news/michael-angelis-2020-thomas-the-tank-engine-narrator) • [7](https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Narrators)
## Death
Angelis died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Thatcham, Berkshire, on 30 May 2020, while at home with his wife.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary) • [6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/31/tributes-paid-to-boys-from-the-blackstuff-actor-michael-angelis-died) He was survived by his third wife, Jennifar Khalastchi, whom he married in 2003.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary)
## References
1. [Michael Angelis obituary, The Guardian (Anthony Hayward, 1 June 2020)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/michael-angelis-obituary)
2. [Obituary: Michael Angelis, Irish Independent (7 June 2020)](https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/theatre-arts/obituary-michael-angelis/39265924.html)
3. [Michael Angelis – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0029617/bio/)
4. [Comfort Classic: Boys from the Blackstuff, Royal Television Society (7 February 2022)](https://rts.org.uk/article/comfort-classic-boys-blackstuff)
5. [Boys from the Blackstuff, Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television](https://www.museum.tv/tvencyclopedia2/boys-from-the-blackstuff)
6. [Tributes paid to Boys from the Blackstuff actor Michael Angelis, The Guardian (31 May 2020)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/31/tributes-paid-to-boys-from-the-blackstuff-actor-michael-angelis-died)
7. [List of Narrators, Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki (Fandom)](https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Narrators)
8. [Michael Angelis (2020), "Thomas the Tank Engine" narrator, Legacy.com obituary](https://obits.cleveland.com/news/michael-angelis-2020-thomas-the-tank-engine-narrator)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames A to B*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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