Theatre Appearances | Television Appearances
Film Appearances | Radio Appearances

Valentine has played a diverse range of characters. His career spans close to 15 years, and in that time, he has played an evil Immortal (or two), a wide range of bad guys, a husband, a spoiled son, a few boyfriends, and a poet. He makes each role his own. None of the characters remind me of another; each one has a distinct style all his own. It's true that Valentine has done a lot of period pieces. It might be because he loves riding horses so much. Or it might be the swordwork. Or it might be because he loves the costumes .

The following is not a complete list of his work, but it is close.

Many thanks to Kitty Fisher for getting flyers at Mr. Pelka's performance in April 1997 of The Traveller Without Luggage. And now also to Mr. Pelka, for taking the time to review this list with Marilyn at Chronicles. These are the theatre credits for Valentine Pelka:

• 1983 - Oedipus Trilogy - Chorus (Oxford Playhouse) [His First Job]
• 1983 - 12th night - Curio (Oxford Playhouse)
• 1983 - Antony and Cleopatra - Scarus (Ludlow Festival)
• 1984 - Bloody Poetry - Percy Bysshe Shelley (Foco Novo)
• 1986? - Dead Men - Nechaev (Traverse Theatre, Australia)
• 1988? - Winter in the Morning - Roman (Watford Palace Theatre)
• 1988? - Zack - title role (Watermill Theatre)
• 1989? - Caste - Samuel Gerridge (Watermill Theatre) [Played his sister, Kazia's, boyfriend]
• 1990 - The Lost Domain - Francois (Watermill Theatre)
• 1991 - No-one Writes to the Colonel (Lyric Studio, Hammersmith)
• 1991 - 1992 - Maud (One-man show; RSC Fringe Festival)
• 1991/1992 - Romeo and Juliet - Paris (RSC)
• 1991/1992 - Woman Killed with Kindness - Sir Francis Acton (RSC)
• 1992 - Hamlet - title role (Theatre Museum)
• 1995 - The Winter's Tale - Leontes (Manchester Library Theatre)

1997 - The Traveller Without Luggage Gaston (BAC Theatre April 1997). The London Times did a review of the play, which I've added here. I waited until after the play's run to put up this information, since I used pictures and information from the BAC page. I hope they don't mind. :-). Click here to read a brief synopsis of the play, and here to read a review by a lucky lady!

I am working on getting more information on Mr. Pelka's appearances in the following shows/series:

• Lytton's Diary
  
• Casualty
  
• The Bill
  
• South of the Border - Dr. Manci
  
• Guide to Genius: Freud - title character
  
• The Intercom Conspiracy
  
• The Late Show
  
• Mr. Pelka appeared in a commercial for "Insignia" some time in the mid '80s.

1986

Hold The Dream

Jenny Seagrove
Stephen Collins
Liam Neeson
Valentine Pelka as Winston Harte (14 mins.)

Val plays a friend to the main character. The movie is listed on the reel.com movies site, but they do not have it available for rent or purchase. It does have a picture of the box cover on the page above. This is reel.com's brief synopsis: In this sequel to Barbara Taylor Bradford's "A Woman of Substance" a successful and rich elderly woman prepares to transfer control of her business empire over to her granddaughter.

Crossbow in the episodes -- "The Banquet", "The Prisoner", "Scavengers", "The Bet", "The Imposter", and "The Pass" as Roland

Will Lyman as William Tell
Valentine as Roland the rabble rouser

This series was based on the legend of William Tell (the man who shot the apple off his sons head).

If Tomorrow Comes - adaption of Sidney Sheldon's novel. Produced by Carmen Culver and Nick Gillott. Directed by Jerry London. A CBS Entertainment Production (c) MCMLXXXVI CBS Inc. All Rights Reserved. ISBN 1-56068-787-8

Madolyn Smith
Tom Berenger
David Keith
Liam Neeson
Valentine Pelka as Gino (5 mins)

Robin of Sherwood - episode "The Sheriff of Nottingham"

Jason Connery as Robin
Lewis Collins
Valentine Pelka as Sarak (10 min 30 sec)

Of note: Mark Ryan (Nasir) did the fight choreography for RoS as well as First Knight.

1987

Pulaski, TV Detective - episode "The Fictional Detective" originally airing October 2, 1987.

David Andrews as Larry Summers/Pulaski
Valentine Pelka as Shadwell

Of note: Kazia Pelka did the "voice" of Shadwell in the forest. You'll just have to see it to believe it!

1989

Boon -  "Love Letters From a Dead Man"

Michael Elphick as Ken Boon
Valentine Pelka as Charlie Cochran

Of note: the main guest star in this episode was Sheila Gish, Rachel from the Highlander movies.

1990

Campion episode - "Sweet Danger"

Peter Davison as Campion
David Haig as Guffy
Valentine Pelka as Eager-Wright

Original airdates: "Sweet Danger (1)" 11/15/90 and "Sweet Danger (2)" 11/22/90. I thought this was delightfully campy, with Valentine as Eager-Wright and David as Guffy pulling together to help Campion. It was a pretty good mystery, and Davison was also very good as Campion.

Of note: David Haig (Guffy) starred with Peter Wingfield in the first series of Soldier, Soldier as Major Tom Cadman.

Zorro - episode "All That Glitters" A Family Channel Production.

Duncan Regehr as Zorro
Valentine Pelka as Leonardo Montez (7 min. 30 sec.)

Produced by Gary Goodman. Directed by Peter Diamond. © Copyright New World Television. All Rights Reserved.

1991

Heartbeat - episode "Sitting Off the Dock of the Bay"

Kazia Pelka as Maggie Bolton
Valentine Pelka as Danny Bolton a.k.a. Danny Black (10 min. 30 sec.)

Of note: Valentine and Kazia play brother and sister. Kazia is a regular on the series.

Peak Practice - episode "Power Games."

Amanda Burton as Dr. Beth Glover
Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish

In Suspicious Circumstances - episode "An Evil Business" A Granada production for ITV. © Granada Television MCMXCV. Produced by Sue Durkan. Directed by Ken Horn.

Storyteller Edward Woodward
Valentine as Lord Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
Joann Roth as Lady Amy Dudley 

Cadfael II - episode "The Virgin in the Ice"

Derek Jacobi as Brother Cadfael
Eoin McCarthy as Hugh Beringar
Valentine Pelka as Evrard Boterel

A production of Central Films, England. Produced by Stephen Smallwood. Directed by Malcolm Mowbray. Program © Carlton UK Television, MCMXCV. ISBN 1-56938-078-3

Of note: Robert Cavanagh who portrayed Olivier de Britange also appeared in the Highlander episode, "Reasonable Doubt", and in several episodes of Highlander: The Raven.

Highlander: The Series episodes - "Comes A Horseman" and "Revelation 6:8" Produced by Rysher and Gaumont.

Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod
Valentine Pelka as Kronos/Melvin Koren

Highlander: The Series  in the episode "Archangel" Produced by Rysher and Gaumont.

Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod
Valentine Pelka as Kronos/Ahriman

Highlander: The Series - episode "Armageddon" Produced by Rysher and Gaumont.

Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod
Valentine Pelka as Kronos/Ahriman

Highlander: The Series - episode "Not To Be" Produced by Rysher and Gaumont.

Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod
Valentine Pelka as Kronos

Mortimer's Law (a.k.a. "Glendowr's Way") Produced by Chatsworth Productions.

Amanda Root as Rachel Mortimer
Valentine Pelka as John Keswick

Highlander: The Raven -episode "A Matter of Time" Produced by Rysher and Gaumont.

Elizabeth Gracen as Amanda
Valentine Pelka as Korda

Highlander: The Raven - episode "The French Connection" Produced by Rysher and Gaumont.

Elizabeth Gracen as Amanda
Valentine Pelka as Korda

Family Affair - British soap opera

Life Force (UK) - playing Richard Webber

Queen of Swords - syndicated

Tessie Santiago	....	Tessa Alvarado
Paulina Gálvez	....	Marta
Valentine Pelka	....	Col. Luis Montoya
Anthony Lemke	....	Capt. Marcus Grisham
Peter Wingfield	....	Dr. Robert Helm
Elsa Pataky	....	Senora Vera Hidalgo
Tacho González	....	Don Hidalgo

Film appearances are listed in year order. After the title of the film/miniseries, Mr. Pelka's character name and the number of minutes he appears on screen (if known) are listed. Clicking on the film name will take you to further information.

John-Paul II aka The Pope  

Albert Finney as Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II)
Nigel Hawthorne as Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski
Patrick Stewart as Party Secretary Wladislaw Gomulka
Valentine Pelka as Boguslav Banas

Sakharov

Jason Robards as Andrei Sakharov
Glenda Jackson as Yelena Bonner (Sakharova)
Valentine Pelka as Efrem Yankelevich

14 min. (note: the copyright date is 1983)

King David

Richard Gere as David
Valentine Pelka as Shammah
Jason Carter [Marcus Cole Babylon 5] has a small role at the end.

Distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Bruce Beresford. Produced by Martin Elfand. TM & Copyright © 1985 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. ISBN 0-7921-1096-X

Monsignor Quixote

Sir Alec Guinness as Father Quixote
Leon McKern as Sancho Zancas
Valentine Pelka as Father Herrera

Produced by Christopher Neame. Directed by Rodney Bennett. © Copyright Euston Films, 1988. All Rights Reserved. ISBN 1-55983-783-7

Of note: Leo McKern also appeared in The Good King with Valentine.

Nanou Produced by Simon Perry. Directed and written by Conny Templeman. Umbrella-Caufield Films Ltd. Arion Productions S.A.R.L. © 1998 National Film Theatre Trustee. All Rights Reserved.

Imogen Stubbs as Nanou
Jean-Phillipe Ecoffey as Luc
Daniel Day Lewis as Max
Valentine Pelka as Jacques

Rowing With the Wind a.k.a. "Remando al Viento," a.k.a. "Rowing In the Wind." Produced by Directed by © Ditirambo Films S.A.

Hugh Grant as Lord Byron
Lizzy McInnerny as Mary Shelley
Valentine Pelka as Percy Bysshe Shelley (35 min.)
Ronan Vibert as Fletcher

Of note: Rowing also featured Ronan Vibert as Fletcher. He may look familiar to you as La Gaucher in Valentine's episode of Cadfael.

The Good King a.k.a. "Good King Wenceslas"

Jonathan Brandis as Wenceslas
Stefanie Powers as The Queen
Valentine Pelka as Brother Paul (9 mins.)
Leo McKern as Duke Phillip

Produced by Adam Claphan and Michael Deakin. Directed by Michael Tuchner. A Family Channel Production.

Note: Leo McKern also appears in Monsignor Quixote.

The Plant Jonathan Lewis wrote and directed The Plant, a ninety minute drama for BBC1 starring Joanna Roth and Valentine Pelka.

First Knight

Sean Connery as Arthur
Richard Gere as Lancelot
Julia Ormond as Guinevere
Valentine Pelka as Sir Patrise

Note: This movie was done nearly ten years after King David, both of which starred Richard Gere. He was a bit scruffier-looking as Sir Patrise.

A First Knight Page that has some good links.

Ivanhoe

Excellent made for television version, which aired on A&E in the United States.

Ciarán Hinds	....	Brian de Bois-Guilbert
Christopher Lee	....	Lucard de Beaumanoir
Susan Lynch	....	Rebecca
Valentine Pelka	....	Maurice de Bracy
Steven Waddington	....	Ivanhoe

What Rats Won't Do

Natascha McElhone as Kate Beckenham
James Frain as Jack Sullivan
Valentine Pelka as Graham

Read an interview with one of the stars of "Rats", Parker Posey. Our little 'rat' angel is Laura from the VPFC list. Thank you for finding this out for us; it's greatly appreciated!

2000

Last of the Blonde Bombshells

Judi Dench stars as the youngest member of a wartime band called The Blonde Bombshells. Fifty years later they reunite to perform at her granddaughter's school dance. Valentine has a small role as her son-in-law.

The Chewing Gum and Mrs. Andrews (aka Le Chewing Gum et Madame Andrews)

Valentine starred as "Mr. Andrews" in this short film written and directed by Peter Hudson (Highlander: The Series' James Horton)

2001

Sabotage!

This comedy about Napoleon, Wellington, and the Battle of Waterloo has so far only been released in Spain, where it was filmed. The Official Site has lots of information, Quicktime videos and photos, but I have yet to find any with Valentine in.

Note: Alexandra Vandernoot, who played Tessa on Highlander: The Series is one of the stars.

• 1984 - The Cherry Orchard (World Service)

• 1984 - Six Characters in Search of an Author (World Service)

• Martin Chuzzlewitt (Radio 4)

• King Lear (World Service)

• 1991 - A Meeting in Valladolid (World Service)

• 1991 - Moliere (World Service)