Terrence Hardiman

Terrence Hardiman: 
† April 6 1937 - May 8 2023

Steely-eyed, cadaverous, Christopher Lee type. He was memorable looming out of TV screens as Abbot Radulfus in 'Cadfael', and has appeared in 'The Demon Headmaster', 'Poirot' and 'Secret Army'. Rather less fearsomely, he took the classic comic role of Mr Pooter in the 1979 television version of 'Diary of a Nobody', with Sheila Steafel as his long-suffering wife. He was also in the 2010 'Doctor Who' episode 'The Beast Below', the one with the horrible Smilers.

In fact, there seems to be hardly a TV genre that he hasn't conquered. Drama: in 'Colditz', 'When The Boat Comes In', 'Prime Suspect 3', and 'Hannay'. Comedy: in 'Home to Roost', 'Surgical Spirit' and the Dickens pastiche 'The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff'. And a fair bit of kids' TV: 'Chucklevision', 'The Worst Witch', and 'Magic Grandad'.

In an episode of 'Colditz'

'No more questions, m'lud.' In a 1975 episode of 'Crown Court'

I don't remember 'Skorpion', a well-received BBC terrorist thriller series from 1983 that he starred in, but which seems to have been consigned to the corporation's deeper basements. A pity, as it sounds pretty good.

As Abbot Radulfus in 'Cadfael'

In full 'Dr No' mode as 'The Demon Headmaster'

He crops up in a few feature films; 'Pope Joan' (1972), 'Running Scared' (1972), and as Ramsay MacDonald in 'Gandhi' (1980) and Thomas Cromwell in the Tudor thriller 'God's Outlaw' (1986).


Terrence Hardiman - imdb