Anthony Sagar

Character & Episode: Hotel Proprietor in My Late, Lamented Friend and Partner
Born: 19/06/1920, Burnley, Lancashire, England (as James Anthony Sagar)
Died: 24/01/1973, Kensington, London, England

An often-seen character actor from the Fifties and Sixties, Anthony Sagar made some memorable appearances in his screen career. He attended Burnley Grammar School, where he captained the cricket team, and later trained as an actor at Miss Eileen Thorndike's School of Drama at the Embassy Theatre in Hampstead, North London. His first professional stage role was at The Arts Theatre in 1939, during which year he started using the stage name Anthony Sagar instead of James Sagar. He was a radio telegraphist for nearly six years in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. This took him to many parts of the world and he was on board the ship that put the first torpedo into the Bismarck in the action in which the German raider was sunk.

Despite a long acting career in which he contributed to more than a hundred and fifty film and television productions, Anthony did not make his screen debut until 1956. Sailor Beware and Hammer's X the Unknown are among the earliest films in which he figured. Further small screen roles, often uncredited, followed. In 1958 he made the first of seven contributions to the Carry On film series, as a stores sergeant in Carry On Sergeant, and over the next dozen years he would appear occasionally in the odd cameo role (though his last scenes, in Carry On Henry, ended up on the cutting room floor). His 1970 cameo as a patient in bed in Carry On Loving is a highlight of his association with the Carry Ons. Also in 1958, he figured in the film I Was Monty's Double which starred John Mills and Cecil Parker. 1959 saw Anthony gain his biggest role to date as the footman James in the series The Moonstone; Anthony was to appear in six episodes. In 1961 he played a police sergeant in the soap Coronation Street, and two years later appeared in the Steptoe and Son episode Full House. Anthony also featured in a 1969 episode of The Avengers, Take-Over. He was also a regular guest player in three police series: Dixon of Dock Green (between 1956 and 1969), No Hiding Place (between 1960 and 1964) and Z Cars (between 1962 and 1970).

Later television appearances included Dad's Army (1969 to 1970), The Onedin Line (1971), The Fenn Street Gang (1971) and in 1972 he had a regular role as Detective Sergeant Watson in It's Murder But Is It Art?, which starred Arthur Lowe and Dudley Foster. Anthony's last screen role was recorded late in 1972 when he appeared as an inspector in the comedy series The Upper Crusts. Shortly after this, he died suddenly in January 1973, and The Upper Crusts was screened posthumously. As well as being a fine character actor, Anthony was a keen cricket fan and played in many charity matches for the Lord's Taverners.

In his personal life, Anthony was firstly married to the actress Sally Rogers (1921-2006). Four year after their divorce, he married for a second time, to the actress Laurel Solash (1927-1985) from 1960 until his death. They had one child.

Leslie Schofield

Character & Episode: Peter in Who Killed Cock Robin?
Born: 12/12/1938, Oldham, Lancashire, England

A busy and reliable actor throughout a career in which Leslie Schofield has featured in more than one hundred screen productions. As a youth, Leslie became rebellious after his parents split and later divorced. He gained stability and a direction in life when he spent two years on a Royal Navy training ship, after which he moved into the organisation's Fleet Air Arm for many years. It was with the Fleet Air Arm that he began acting.

After leaving the Navy in the mid-1960s, Leslie started to work in repertory theatre and soon came to the television, where among his first appearances were roles in series such as Dixon of Dock Green (1968 and 1969), Premiere (1968) and The Troubleshooters (1969), with his minor role in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) following shortly afterwards. He soon became a familiar face on British television, appearing in many well-known series of the time. He also appeared as Chief Bast, an Imperial Officer aboard the doomed Death Star in George Lucas' phenomenally successful Star Wars (1977). Other sci-fi appearances include two Doctor Who stories - The War Games (1969) and The Face of Evil (1977) - and as ruthless prison ship officer Sub-Commander Raiker in the Blake's 7 episode Space Fall.

He is perhaps most famously remembered for his 1997-2000 role as Jeff Healy in the popular soap opera, EastEnders. His character was famous for unsuccessfully proposing to Pauline Fowler (played by Wendy Richard). His last television appearance was in 2006 in the popular detective series Midsomer Murders, after which he retired from acting.

In his personal life, he has two daughters: Ana and Louise, who work respectively in radio and the broadcast media industry.

Alex Scott

Character & Episode: Donald Seaton in The Smile Behind the Veil
Born: 18/09/1929, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died: 25/06/2015, Toorak, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

The son of a Glaswegian father and an Irish mother, Australian born Alex Scott (his real first name was John) grew up in Ballarat in Victoria. He was educated there at St Patrick's College, and he later attended Xavier College in Melbourne. His schooldays behind him, he started to study for his career in analytical chemistry, but after a short while abandoned the idea and joined a local radio station as an announcer in order to earn money to enter the University Conservatorium in Melbourne. In the late 1940s he returned to Melbourne to become a freelance radio actor, and first secured a position compiling radio news for a commercial station. Soon afterwards, he attended the University Conservatorium, as he had planned, studying drama and appearing in plays. In 1951 he joined the newly formed Tana Company directed by a Czechoslovak couple, George and Hana Pravda (who would both, like Alex, also become familiar faces in British television over the years to come), and appeared in a number of productions. In 1954, he decided to move to England to pursue an acting career, but delayed his plans until the following year in order to complete his stay with the Union Theatre Repertory Company in Melbourne.

He made his television debut in the United Kingdom in 1955. He made his earliest appearances in such productions as The Makepeace Story: Family Business, Roger O. Hirson's The End of the Mission (a play in the Associated-Rediffusion series London Playhouse), and Thanksgiving Day, an episode of The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a television film series produced by Harry Towers. Over the next twenty years he established himself as a strong and in-demand character actor, appearing in many popular television series. These included The Avengers, Danger Man, The Saint and The Smile Behind the Veil, which was screened as the final episode of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). In addition to his television output, he also featured prominently in films such as Fahrenheit 451, Darling, The Abominable Dr Phibes and The Blue Max, and, as a voice artiste, lent his voice to many audiobooks, documentaries and commercials.

Alex made more than one hundred film and television credits during his career which lasted nearly sixty years. He moved back to Australia in 1981 and, although his output slowed, he appeared in a number of Australian films, including Next of Kin, Now and Forever, Sky Pirates and Romper Stomper. Alex was also a founder member of the Melbourne Theatre Company, and he also won the Tony Award four times. His last screen appearance was in 2009, when he featured in the film Remembering Nigel. He also continued to act in theatre until around this time.

In his personal life, Alex was first married to Estonian stage wardrobe mistress Anne Nelis. His other wife was Barbara Potger, a cousin of Keith Potger from the Australian pop group The Seekers. Alex had two sons, Rainer and Daniel, and a stepdaughter, Rebecca.

George Sewell

Character & Episode: Eric Jansen in Vendetta for a Dead Man
Born: 31/08/1924, Hoxton, London, England (as George Daniel James Sewell)
Died: 01/04/2007, London, England

George Sewell was a popular actor whose rugged, pockmarked features were offset with a voice that made viewers warm to many of his characters and performances. Born in the East End of London, his father, George Mornington Sewell (1899–1986), had been a professional middleweight boxer. George (Junior) left school at the age of 14 and worked briefly in the printing trade before switching to building work, specifically the repair of bomb-damaged houses. Once George had grown up, he joining the RAF during the Second World War. However the war ended before he had completed his training as a pilot and he was demobbed almost immediately. Afterwards, he drifted from job to job, most notably working as a steward on the cruise liners RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth.

It was not until a chance encounter with the actor Dudley Sutton in a pub that George was persuaded to try his luck as an actor. He shortly afterwards was successful in an audition to join Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop, though he was by now 35. Joan’s company helped launch the careers of many actors such as Barbara Windsor, Sheila Hancock, Harry H. Corbett and fellow Randall and Hopkirk guest actor Dudley Foster.

George's cockney upbringing made him ideal for casting directors and in 1962 he put his gifts to good use in his early film roles such as those in This Sporting Life and The Informers (both released in 1963 in the UK), and during the following year in the Theatre Workshop production of Oh, What A Lovely War! From the early Sixties until his last appearance in 2006 George remained a busy actor and could play straight roles or comedy and would register well over one hundred appearances in television and film.

A role he is fondly remembered for came in 1969 when he played the role of Colonel Alec Freeman in the science fiction series UFO (transmitted in 1970-71), which featured Ed Bishop and Michael Billington. Sadly, he was dropped overnight after 17 of the 26 episodes had been made when Abe Mandell, head of the American arm of the show's commissioning company ITC, issued an instruction to producer Gerry Anderson: "The guy with the pockmarked face - get rid of him!" And that was an end of one of the most popular characters in the series...

Unusually in an era in which stereotyping was rife in the entertainment business, George's sandblasted features and shifty, haunted looks made him ideal for playing villainous characters or hard-bitten detectives and as such was regularly cast in roles on both sides of the law. He was a gangster colleague of Michael Caine's Jack Carter in Mike Hodges classic feature film Get Carter (1971), but was just as convincing as good guys in police dramas such as when playing DCI Alan Craven in the revamped Special Branch film series of 1973-74. His final regular role, as Superintendent Cottam in the joyous situation comedy The Detectives (1993-97) alongside Jasper Carrott and Robert Powell, acted as a wry parody of his Special Branch role.

In the last decade of his career, the frequency of George’s screen appearances slowed as he has moved to the South of France, though he would die in London aged 82, from cancer. George had been married to Helen Logan Davies (1932-2012). They had one child, a daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in 1962. His brother was Danny Sewell (1930-2001), who was a promising light-heavyweight boxer whose sporting career was ended by polio, after which he, like older brother George, went into acting, mainly in bit-parts, though he did play Bill Sikes in the original stage production of Oliver! and later toured the USA.

Anne Sharp

Character & Episode: Fay Sorrensen in My Late, Lamented Friend and Partner
Born: 11/1934, Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England (as Ursula Anne Sharp)
Died: 23/06/2010, London, England

Anne Sharp, the daughter of Percy William Sharp, colliery agent, was a supporting actress seen mainly in the late Fifties and the Sixties. Although she only made something in the region of thirty screen appearances, Anne did though choose well, appearing in many classic and enduring television series. These included The Saint, The Champions, The Baron and her main role was playing Nicola Harvester in seven episodes of Jason King, which starred the flamboyant Peter Wyngarde. She was also active in the theatre, with a season at The Intimate Theatre, Palmers Green, and a theatrical tour of Hungary as Consuela in West Side Story being among her stage credits. In addition to these acting engagements, she was also a continuity announcer for Border Television.

Anne became the second wife of ITC producer Monty Berman (1913-2006) in 1956 and they remained together until his death. During their time together, Anne appeared in several of her husband's productions including a duo of horror films in the late Fifties: The Trollenberg Terror (1958) and Jack the Ripper (1959), as well as, of course, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). The couple had one daughter, Charlotte, who was born in 1971.

Michael Sheard

Characters & Episodes: Supermarket Manager in Money to Burn;
German Commentator in Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave
Born: 18/06/1938, Aberdeen, Scotland (as Michael Lawson Perkins)
Died: 31/08/2005, Newport, Isle of Wight, England

The son of a church minister, Michael Sheard was educated at Michael Hall School in East Sussex and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, graduating in 1960. Soon after, in the same year, he took his mother's maiden name Sheard to be his stage surname. A popular character actor, his career is defined by his roles in three productions - Grange Hill, Doctor Who and the first Star Wars film - with an honorable mention for having played Adolf Hitler on no fewer than five occasions during his career: in Rogue Male (1976), The Tomorrow People: Hitler's Last Secret (1978), The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and the documentary Secret History: Hitler of the Andes (2003). Remarkably, he also played Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring's double in a long career - obviously no-one noticed he was Scottish and not Austrian or German...

Michael's Star Wars character - Admiral Ozzel's - death scene at the hands of Darth Vader elicited an unexpected compliment from director George Lucas: "That's the best screen death I've ever seen," he is reputed to have told Sheard. The Star Wars connection led to Sheard being feted at conventions and other Star Wars events, something he took to with good humour and enthusiasm.

He did much the same regarding his Doctor Who connections and kept in touch with many fans up to his death in 2005. He appeared with most of the classic series Doctors: with William Hartnell in The Ark (1966), Jon Pertwee in The Mind of Evil (1971), Tom Baker in Pyramids of Mars (1975) and The Invisible Enemy (1977), Peter Davison in Castrovalva (1982), Sylvester McCoy in Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) and Paul McGann, on audio in The Stones of Venice (2001).

But it is probably for Grange Hill, as the overbearing, bewigged Deputy Headteacher Mr Bronson, that Sheard will be remembered for. He played the role for five series and entered the cult history books. The character wasn't entirely unlikeable, indeed he was passionate about teaching languages, and was once placed in a 'TV's Biggest Bastard' poll. Sheard later commented that "I was very pleased that when they voted for Mr Bronson ... that he actually came in at number 4, and not number 1, because he did have that kind side."

In his personal life, Michael was married from 1961 until his death to Rosalind Muir (1940- ), a fellow actor who performed under the alias Rosalind Allaway. He was survived by his wife and their three children, two sons: Simon and Rupert and a daughter Susannah. Sheard wrote four autobiographies – Yes, Mr Bronson: Memoirs of a Bum Actor (Summersdale, 1997, with an introduction by Sir Roger Moore), Yes, Admiral (Summersdale, 1999), Yes, School’s Out (Gopher Publishers UK, 2001), and Yes, It's Photographic: The Party Goes On (Librario Publishing, 2004).

Kevin Smith

Character & Episode: The Photographer in Just for the Record

Little is known about Kevin Smith, other than that he has only a handful of screen credits to his name. His known credits span a seven-year period from 1963 to 1970, although it is likely that Kevin made additional screen appearances during his acting career. His early screen work included a single-episode appearance as a policeman in the Associated-Rediffusion children's comedy series The Handy Gang in 1963. Later, he played a man in a public house in Time for the Funny Walk, an entry in London Weekend Television's comedic play series For Amusement Only in 1968. In the same year, he also appeared on the big screen, portraying a drunk in the Tigon horror film Curse of the Crimson Altar, which starred Christopher Lee and an ageing Boris Karloff. Back on television, he made an uncredited appearance as a friend of Steed's partner Tara King (Linda Thorson) in one 1969 episode of The Avengers (Who Was That Man I Saw You With?). His last known credited screen role came in 1970, when he appeared as Snyder in one episode of the World War II drama series Manhunt, which starred Alfred Lynch, Peter Barkworth and Cyd Hayman.

William Squire

Character & Episode: Sam Seymour in A Sentimental Journey
Born: 29/04/1917, Neath, Glamorgan, Wales (as William Arthur Squire)
Died: 03/05/1989, London, England

William Squire was a talented Welsh character actor who amassed a large number of theatre, film and television credits during a career that spanned more than forty years. He attended Gnoll School in Neath and later the Central School in nearby Port Talbot. As a 14-year-old boy he travelled to Bristol from Neath with the intention of joining the Navy, but was not accepted. A couple of years later, he moved to London and gained work in a bell foundry in Holloway. Having an interest in the stage, he started studying dramatic art at evening classes and joined a small amateur company at the Bedford Institute in the East End. Subsequently, he trained for the stage at RADA from 1938 to 1940, and gained some acting experience before serving with the Royal Navy for five years during the Second World War. Following demobilisation in 1945 he resumed his career as a stage actor, joining the Old Vic Company in the same year and touring with them to America as Mowbray in Shakespeare's Henry IV. It was not until the Fifties that he started working on the screen. His most notable feature film appearances during that period included The Man Who Never Was, Alexander The Great and The Battle of the River Plate (all released in 1956). By the end of the decade he had become a regular on the BBC appearing in such series as Pride and Prejudice, Hilda Lessways, How Green Was My Valley and The Verdict is Yours.

As a stage actor, William performed at Stratford-upon-Avon and notably replaced his fellow-countryman Richard Burton as King Arthur in Camelot at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway (and became a good friend of Burton and Elizabeth Taylor). In the Sixties he continued to be busy in television and theatre and in 1968 he played Thomas in Where Eagles Dare, which saw him cast with Burton and Clint Eastwood.

William continued to be busy well into the Seventies, appearing mainly in long running television series. These included The Black Arrow, Doctor Who (as the memorable if wildly theatrical villain The Shadow in The Armageddon Factor) and Callan (as the fourth Hunter, in charge of The Section and Callan himself). Two other Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) actors – Ronald Radd and Michael Goodliffe – had previously played the role.

In his personal life, having been firstly married to actress Betty Dixon, with whom he had children, William remarried in 1967, his second wife being Juliet Harmer (1941- ) who was 24 years younger his junior. Juliet appeared in the Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) episode You Can Always Find A Fall Guy. Sadly, the couple would later divorce, the marriage lasting about six years. His last credited screen appearance was in the television series Rumpole of the Bailey in 1988, and one of the lesser known facts about him is that he helped James Fox become an actor. William has a bench dedicated to him on Hampstead Heath in Hampstead, London.

Tony Steedman

Character & Episode: Surgeon in You Can Always Find a Fall Guy
Born: 21/08/1927, Warwickshire, England (as Anthony Francis Steedman)
Died: 04/02/2001, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England

A dependable actor, Tony Steedman made his television debut in the 1950s and remained busy, mainly on television, over the forty years and more. During the Second World War, he joined the BBC as an engineer and won a scholarship to the Repertory School shortly afterwards. His professional stage career commenced in 1944 when he joined Birmingham Repertory Company and remained with them for five years. At some time during the 1940s he also served as a physical training instructor in the Royal Navy.

During the Sixties, he appeared in numerous well known series including The Avengers, Dixon of Dock Green, The Champions and Strange Report. In the Seventies, he contributed to such shows as The Professionals, Jason King, Arthur of the Britons and in the late 1970s was a regular on the soap opera Crossroads for a while.

Tony holds the distinction of portraying the Nazi General Alfred Jodl twice, first in The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) and later in The Bunker (1981). He is probably best remembered, however, for the BBC situation comedy Citizen Smith, in which he took over the role of Charles Johnson from Peter Vaughan (another Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) actor) for the last two years of the series. During the mid-Eighties, he moved to America for a while and contributed to a number of well known American television shows of the time such as The A-Team, The Fall Guy and Beauty and the Beast. He was also cast as Socrates in the feature film comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989).

By the late Eighties, he was back in Britain (though he continued to work occasionally in America during the 1990s), and he resumed his career as an in-demand character actor, featuring in Boon, Minder, Inspector Morse, and The Brittas Empire, among many other roles. Tony made his final screen appearance in the adventure series Animal Ark (1997-98) as Tom Hope.

In his personal life he was married to the well known character actress Judy Parfitt (1935-). The couple had one son, David. Tony had previously been married to Ann Taylor (1932- ), who from 1954 worked as a professional ballet dancer under the stage name Nicola Shaw. The couple had a daughter, Amanda, who was born in 1959. Tony suffered from vascular dementia for the last decade of his life and passed away in 2001.

Peter Stephens

Character & Episode: Sir Timothy Grange in When Did You Start to Stop Seeing Things?
Born: 03/01/1920, Morro Velho, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Died: 17/09/1972, Kensington, London, England

Peter Stephens was an actor who appeared mainly in small supporting roles. During a career lasting more than a quarter of a century, Peter made more than one hundred screen appearances, with television being his primary medium since the mid-1950s. Peter's television debut came on 16th May 1948 when his stage role as the Venetian Ambassador in Clifford Bax's play The Immortal Lady was televised - in a condensed form - by BBC Television. His television debut proper - from the BBC's studios at Alexandra Palace - was in Androcles and the Lion, performed live on 10th October 1948.

Other notable contributions from Peter included two episodes each of BBC police drama Dixon of Dock Green (1958 and 1959) and Danger Man (1961 and 1966), two Doctor Who serials (as the Billy Bunteresque 'Cyril' in The Celestial Toymaker in 1966 and as an Atlantean high priest in The Underwater Menace in 1967), The Avengers (Love All in 1969), and as the Chairman of the Board in four episodes of the popular London Weekend Television comedy series Doctor in Charge (1972). His last appearance, later that year, was in the historical drama series Arthur of the Britons, shortly before he died at the relatively young age of fifty-one. The episode - In Common Cause - was transmitted more than a year after his death.

Mike Stevens

Character & Episode: Police Sergeant in Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?

Mike Stevens came to the film and TV industry in the 1960s and worked within it mainly as an extra. On the big screen he was seen in five films in the famous Carry On comedy series, though none of those roles were credited, the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and the third Star Wars film to be made Return of the Jedi (1983). His first credited feature film appearance was in Play Dirty (1969), an action film set during the Second World War. On television, Mike appeared in such series as The Saint, The Baron and Department S. He also appeared as a Main Mission Operative in 16 of the 24 first series episodes of Space: 1999, but was not credited on screen in the series. In addition to his work as an extra and actor, Mike was also a stuntman - one of his notable accomplishments was to double Patrick Macnee as John Steed in some episodes of The Avengers.

David Stoll

Character & Episode: Tilvers in When Did You Start to Stop Seeing Things?
Born: 1922, Wandsworth, Surrey, England
Died: 2012

David Stoll started his professional stage career with two years in repertory theatre at Bristol Rep. However, his early work in profession was to be interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, during which he served with Signals in the RAF for five years. After demob, he went to study acting at RADA, graduating in 1948. His sporadic screen career spanned almost half a century. It began in 1947 when he had a bit part as one of the guests in the BBC Television adaptation of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, which was performed live on 16th and 18th February 1947. He made his feature film debut in 1952 in Death of an Angel as a plainclothes detective. The following year he played Gerald Popkiss in the BBC television play Rookery Nook by Ben Travers, which also starred Peter Cushing and David Kossoff. David remained busy in television roles throughout the remainder of the decade, including appearances in Sunday Night Theatre for the BBC and Play of the Week and Television Playhouse for ITV. He also played in many West End productions and toured in North America.

In feature films, David played a butler in the comedy thriller The Night We Dropped a Clanger (1959). which also featured Brian Rix, Leslie Phillips and Cecil Parker. He also had a minor role in Carry On Regardless (1961) as a distraught manager. He made guest appearances throughout the Sixties in television programmes such as Our Man at St. Mark's (1963), First Night (1964), Mystery and Imagination (The Canterville Ghost, 1966) and Comedy Playhouse (1968), and in 1969 he joined the regular cast of the first series of Ours is a Nice House, a situation comedy starring Thora Hird and Ruth Holden.

Later, in 1971, he played Gabbige the butler, a recurring character in the children's comedy series Tottering Towers, which starred William Mervyn and is a series that is today completely 'missing, believed wiped'. David's other 1970s roles were in series such as Clayhanger, Yus, My Dear and The Dick Emery Show (all in 1976), as well as featuring in the well-regarded anthology series Second City Firsts (Waifs and Strays) in 1977. David made occasional appearances during the following two decades, with appearances in Keep It in the Family (1983), Casualty (1986), The Bretts (1987) and The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1989 and 1990). He also featured in a handful of movies during this time, including a bit part in Little Dorritt (1987) and a role as a butler in King Ralph, a 1991 comedy starring John Goodman and Leslie Phillips. In 1994 he was among the cast of an episode of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean. His last credited screen appearance came a year later when he played a character called Ted in the crime drama Backup.

In his personal life, David was married to the actress Lyndall Goodman (1937- ). They had a son, Benedict (born in 1971). David was the grandson of theatre impresario, silent era film producer and philanthropist Sir Oswald Stoll (1866-1942). David was also associated with a volunteer organisation in England which made taped readings of books for use in hospitals; he was one of the narrators. David passed away in 2012.

John Styles MBE

Character & Episode: The Ventriloquist in That's How Murder Snowballs
Born: 1934, Walthamstow, London, England (as John Robert Styles)

During National Service, John Styles spent his time performing in Army Concert parties, gradually developing his skills in magic, as well as in presenting Punch and Judy shows. In time he became a highly respected magician and puppeteer, and has been in the business professionally since December 1950. He has several acting credits that include The Avengers (1968) and The Goodies (1975), and he could also be seen from time to time on the popular children’s television series Rainbow.

As a puppeteer, he has worked on several films, most notably Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981), 102 Dalmatians (2000) and The Polar Express (2004).

John is a past President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and from 1950 to 2013 he was a Gold Star member of the Inner Magic Circle. In 2003 he was awarded an MBE for his services to the Arts.

In his personal life, he was married to Barbara Mitchell (1938-2012), with whom he had two children. His son, Robert (born in 1964), followed in his father's footsteps and is an actor and entertainer.

Ingrid Sylvester

Character & Episode: Yateman's Receptionist in You Can Always Find a Fall Guy
Born: 09/1945, Surrey, England (as Ingrid Tanya Sylvester)

Ingrid Sylvester is an actress with more than twenty television credits to her name, although she was prolific in dancing, modelling and acting in television commercials. Ingrid's mother was a dressmaker for Hartnell and Dior and her father was from a circus background. She aspired to become a ballet dancer and joined the ART stage school, where the curriculum was split 50/50 between academic subjects and stagecraft.

Her first audition took place in a caravan in a car park when she was 12 years old, and this interview led to her big break on television. Her first role on television came in 1957 when she played Bronia Balicki in the BBC drama serial The Silver Sword, set in Poland in World War II. She was also a regular in the Associated-Rediffusion adventure series Smugglers' Cove (1963) in which she played a character called Patricia. Other television appearances included Z Cars and All Gas and Gaiters. While her role as the receptionist in You Can Always Find A Fall Guy was not her last credited television work, it would prove to be the last one to receive a scheduled transmission.

Ingrid danced in several well known ballets, including three seasons at the Royal Festival Hall in The Nutcracker. She was also much in demand as an actress in television commercials, shown on the ITV Network, for products including Stork Margarine, Kellogg's breakfast cereals, soap and many others. Her work in advertising was not restricted to television, as she was also regularly called to do photographic advertising work for many clients, notably appearing in the Grattan mail order catalogue.