Lieutenant Ritchie

Flight Lieutenant Ritchie is a ficitional character who appeared in the Hogan's Heroes episode, Movies Are Your Best Escape. He was played by John Crawford.

Flight Lieutenant Ritchie appears as one of two Royal Air Force officers who has earlier parachuted into Germany after their recon plane has been shot down near Düsseldorf. He, along with Lieutenant Donner, is seen exiting the rising bed entrance and then entering Barracks 2, along with Corporal Newkirk, who is carrying in his hands a couple of small cards with some written information. Newkirk quickly introduces the pair to Colonel Hogan, the head of the operation, before he tells Hogan that the pair have been checked on and have turned out to be clean, while giving him the two cards. As he and Donner tell Hogan about their being shot down, they head for a nearby table to sit down, while being offered coffee, which he and Donner accepts. As they drink the coffee, he hears Hogan tell them that they plan to send them back to England as soon as the Germans are no longer looking for them. Ritchie, after he has mentioned that they have heard that Hogan's men are experts at getting people out of Germany, tells Hogan that he and Donner really needed to get back to England, before he hears his compatriot tell them that reason why is because next week their squadron is to be involved in a game with a Royal Engineers unit. He then hears Newkirk's sarcastic remark about the two going to get themselves hurt over a cricket match which gets a chuckle from both pilots. He then hears Sergeant Kinchloe, who has been looking out the door, warns them that the other prisoners are being sent back to the barracks, along with Sergeant Schultz. The pair drops their cups and are quickly sent back into the tunnels.

Ritchie is next mentioned when Newkirk suggests to Hogan that the photographs that he and Corporal LeBeau have earlier taken of the materials that they found inside General von Kaplow's briefcase be sent to London via him and Donner after they have gone through the emergency tunnel. Hogan rejects the idea because the Germans are still out in the woods looking for the pair, but then changes his mind when he comes up with a better idea using the same theme. Hogan then tells Newkirk to go get a couple of fake German uniforms for Ritchie and Donner, which he does.

Ritchie, along with Donner, are next seen in the fake German Heer uniforms, being told by Hogan what they are suppose to do: they are to tell Klink that they are part of a camera crew who are to record life at Stalag 13 for military archives. They are also to ask him for a car to take them back to their unit as their own car has broken down on the way there, thus forcing them to walk to the camp. Hogan then informs them that the film canister that Donner will be using will not contain film, but the microfilm of the materials earlier copied from von Kaplow's briefcase. Ritchie then asks Hogan what would happens if they are captured and someone tries to open the canister. Hogan informs them that if it isn't open in the correct way, it would explode.

Next, Ritchie, with a rank of an army Captain, and Donner are in front of Klink's office, speaking with Klink. After Klink has informs them that he has not been told about their arrival, Donner tells him it is understandable, considering conditions in Berlin. He then see Hogan comes up and tells Klink that this might be a great opportunity for him to show how must of a nice guy he actually is, to keep himself from being shot by an American officer who has arrived via a Sherman tank when the Amricans liberates the camp. After Klink agrees that it would, he let the two start filming. After they has filmed a scene in front of Klink's office, Ritchie suggests that he and Donner should leave, Klink stops them, insisting that they should film even more of the stalag. The pair reluctantly agree, as does Hogan, so that Klink wouldn't catch on to the truth. After the pair has done some more filming, von Kaplaw arrives in his staff car, which cause filming to stop. As they watch, the General informs Klink that everything is okay in Berlin. After hearing this, Klink confronts Ritchie and Donner, telling them that he plans to confiscate the film, since it shows him fraternizing with the prisoners, which would not look good on his record. Before Klink is able to take the fake camera away, Hogan intervenes, taking it himself, while telling Klink that he is doing the right thing and that they are probably agents of the Gestapo, planning to ruin his reputation. Hogan then heads over to a water barrel, where he dunks the film twice, before giving it, with the film supposively damage by the water, to Donner and telling the pair to go. Ritchie, after Klink tells the pair to leave, reminds him that they need a car. Klink orders that one be brought out for them. Ritchie and Donner then heads for the car to begin their trip back to England.