Richard Cole appeared on Coronation Street in five roles:
- A debt collector pursuing Marie Ramsden in December 1990
- Mal Price, who picked up Tricia Armstrong in a nightclub in February 1996
- Mr Downing, who bought smuggled goods off Steve McDonald in September 1999
- Inspector Pearce, who investigated Ryan Sykes's vendetta against Mike Baldwin in November 2001
- A solicitor who represented David Platt when he was accused of deliberately running down Graeme Proctor in October 2010.
His other credits include roles in Chancer, All Creatures Great and Small, In Suspicious Circumstances, The Bill, Emmerdale, Silent Witness, Casualty, Heartbeat, Cold Feet, Peak Practice, Doctors, The Forsyte Saga, The Royal, Last of the Summer Wine, The Royal Today and DCI Banks, along with the 1988 noir thriller Side Roads.
He was also a member of the Five Card Trick theatre group who wrote bespoke material for corporate entertainment between 1986 and 1987 and is also a Drama and English teacher in a special needs school in North Yorkshire.