Bill Wallis

Bill Wallis:

† 20 November 1936 – 6 September 2013

A great unsung character actor whose Pickwickian features appear in some of my favourite TV and film of the golden age from the '60s to the '90s, as well as some great radio including 'Week Ending' and the original series of 'Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy'. He can be seen in cult classics like 'The Avengers' and 'The Beiderbecke Tapes' on television, and fleetingly in absurd masterpieces like 'The Bed Sitting Room' (1969) and 'Brazil' (1985).   

He was memorable as the scrofulous jailer Mr Ploppy in 'Black Adder II', and the unscrupulous Minister for Sport in 'Yes, Prime Minister'. He is in the first ever episode of 'Midsomer Murders', Pete & Dud's 'Not Only But Also' and performs on Ivor Cutler's 'Prince Ivor' album. 

Well done, that man.   

Singing the interminable praises of Alan-A-Dale on 'Not Only
But Also', with John Wells, Dudley Moore and Peter Cook

Working on the mail train in 'Robbery' (1967)

 

Update: Largely unreported at the time, I didn't realise that Bill Wallis passed away in 2013. I salute him posthumously. 

Bill Wallis-imdb

Roger Ashton-Griffiths

Roger Ashton-Griffiths:

The name might mean nothing to you, but pale and jowly Roger Ashton-Griffiths has appeared in a number of high-profile films, including Terry Gilliam's 'The Brothers Grimm' and 'Brazil', Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs of New York' (playing Phineas T Barnum), Roman Polanski's 'Pirates', Peter Greenaway's 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' and Woody Allen's 'You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger'.

Originally trained as a singer, he was a member of the ENO before making his TV debut as a red-painted demon in an episode of 'The Young Ones' alongside the late David Rappaport. This seems to have led directly into a steady stream of work from the mid-'80s onwards.  

As Orgo the Demon in 'The Young Ones'

As well as the big cinema names listed above, he was seen in a roll-call of some of the most popular, if not always primetime, television of the last three decades: ' Young Indiana Jones Chronicles', 'Cadfael', 'The Darling Buds of May', 'C.A.T.S. Eyes', 'Lovejoy', 'Grange Hill' and inevitably, 'The Bill'. Recent interesting parts have included 'Torchwood' and that great salvation for the British character actor,  'Game of Thrones' in which he plays high lord something-or-other Mace Tyrell.

In the Matthew Holness short 'A Gun for George' (2011)

As Dr Johnson in 'Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man'

 Other appearances include the very dark comedy short (by 'Garth Marenghi's Darkplace' maverick Matthew Holness) 'A Gun For George'. He is also cast as Alfred Hitchcock in Olivier Dahan's forthcoming 'Grace of Monaco' (2014), which sounds interesting, not least for having Robert Lindsay playing Aristotle Onassis.

Roger Ashton-Griffiths-imdb

John Flanagan

John Flanagan:

Firm of jaw and steely of eye, John Flanagan has played a lot of coppers in his acting career. He had his own series in the early '70s, 'Parkin's Patch' in which he played keen young PC Moss Parkin, but he also pounded the beat in 'The Sweeney' (as DS Matt Matthews), 'Softly Softly: Task Force', 'The Bill', 'Casualty' and films including 'The Naked Civil Servant' (1975) and 'The Medusa Touch' (1978).  

In Alan Plater's 1973 TV play, 'The Land of Green Ginger'

Rather older and more serious in 'Inspector Wycliffe Mysteries'

I enjoyed the Play for Today from 1973 that he stars in with Gwen Taylor – Alan Plater's 'The Land of Green Ginger'. It's a real period piece, but can be found in its entirety on YouTube: Click here.  

He's also in Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil' (1985), but I had play around with the pause button to find him.

 
John Flanagan - imdb

Howard 'Lew' Lewis

Howard 'Lew' Lewis: 

† Aug 21 1941 – Jan 20 2018

Hefty, 6'3" London-born actor, pretty much specialising in gormless goons, whose longest-running role is probably as Elmo the barman in the '80s-'90s sitcom 'Brush Strokes'. He also played the dimwitted Blag in 'Chelmsford 123', and Rabies in the larky kids' series 'Maid Marian & Her Merry Men'. A stalwart of TV cop shows and comedies, he pops up in episodes of 'The Bill', 'Minder' and 'Widows' as often as 'Black Adder', 'Open All Hours', The Magnificent Evans' and he was also the memorable Uncle Idris in 'My Family'. 

His film career has largely been a string of bit-parts, albeit in some fairly big movies. For example 'Brazil' (1985), 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' (1991), 'Chaplin' (1992), 'Shadowlands' (1993). He has also been in some variably interesting low-budget British efforts including the comedy-gangster picture 'The Baby Juice Express' (2004), acclaimed b&w short 'Zoltan the Great' (2005), and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets League of Gentlemen-style UK horror, 'Small Town Folk' (2007).

  



Howard 'Lew' Lewis - imdb

Derek Deadman

Derek Deadman: 

† May 1940 – November 21 2014

A former window-cleaner who has made a decent career out of playing dimwits, to the point that he hardly needs to act at all. Which is a good thing, as his acting seems to consist mostly of scratching his head and doing huge double-takes. See his definitive turn as Ringo in the excruciating 'Never The Twain', and spots in 'Benny Hill' (as a sort of junior Bob Todd), 'Porridge', 'George & Mildred', 'Get Some In' and hundreds of bit-part hospital porters, cabbies, butchers, and petty crooks, as well as Stor the Sontaran in the 1978 'Doctor Who' story 'The Invasion of Time'.

'Get busy with the fizzy!' Sodastream advert circa 1980 

In Michael Winner's star-studded but so dreary
British-set version of "The Big Sleep' (1978)  

He was in 'Brazil' (1985), 'Bullshot' (1983), 'Time Bandits' (1981) and a 'Harry Potter' (Philosopher's Stone, 2001), doing more of the same, and fulfilling a constant need within British cinema. For which we salute him.

Update Mar 2015: Sorry to hear that Derek Deadman passed away in Nov 2014.

Derek Deadman - imdb profile