Clive Francis in the son of actors Raymond Francis and Margaret Towner (his mother still acts today, most recently she played Jira, Anakin Skywalker's friend, in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.)

Clive Francis began his acting career at the age of 16 as a Penguin Player, and has acted on stage, radio, television and to a lesser extent, in films.

He is also a noted caricaturist and has had several exhibitions. His caricatures have appeared on the covers for books written by actor Alec Guinness, for example, and he's also had several books of caricatures published himself: There's Nothing Like A Dane (Hamlet), There's Nothing Like A Thane (Macbeth) and a book on John Gielgud.

Francis appeared as "Joe the Lodger" in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. He co-starred with Alan Arkin in Clouseau, and co-starred in Girl Stroke Boy.

Francis starred in the series The 10%ers, The Piglet Files (which used his caricatures in the credits) and May to December. He has guest-starred in dozens of other programmes, including Yes, Prime Minister, in which he played Luke, who, the Prime Minister is told, is a spy — for the Foreign Office, whose policy is often in conflict with the PM's.

He also played Ross Poldark's cousin Francis Poldark in Poldark, the popular BBC series.

In addition Francis appeared opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in Saturday, Sunday, Monday, a play which was part of the Laurence Olivier Presents series for Granada TV.