Daniel Moynihan

Daniel Moynihan:

† 1932 - March 30, 2020

Gaunt London-born actor Daniel Moynihan has something of the look of a British Harry Dean Stanton, and his cool, quizzical gaze has appeared in TV and film since the late '50s. Those early years were something of a flurry of activity, with roles in a string of crime dramas and television plays leading into some of the most popular shows of the early '60s. These included 'The Plane Makers', 'The Avengers' (two appearances in the early b&w seasons), 'Z Cars', 'The Strange Report' and 'Special Branch'.      

  

In the 1963 'Avengers' episode 'The Man With Two Shadows'

By the '70s and '80s he was attracting castings for roles that made more of his gravitas and severe appearance, not to mention his assured and maturing acting abilities. He crops up in 'Wings', 'Lytton's Diary', 'Spy Trap', 'General Hospital', 'Prince Regent', as well as a memorable episode of 'Yes, Minister', and in the BBC adaptation of 'The Diary Of Anne Frank'. 

TV Times magazine entry for the early-'70s
ATV series 'Crime Of Passion'

In 'The Famous Five', as the typical Enid Blyton policeman, happy to
let sensible middle class children help him find a dangerous criminal. 

In the historical drama 'Elizabeth' (1998) 

In more recent times, Daniel Moynihan appeared but infrequently, although he did a fair few stints on 'The Bill' as  a doctor. He seems to have quietly retired from the profession, making his most recent TV appearance in 2000 housewife heist series 'Daylight Robbery'.

Daniel Moynihan-imdb

David Rowlands

David Rowlands: 

David Rowlands, with his shock of hair and strong features, pops up fairly regularly in Brit TV of the '70s and 80s, and reminds me a little (and in a good way) of Don Martin's cartoon characters from Mad Magazine.  

Rowlands' stock in trade is mainly characters from the politer end of English society: vicars, vaguely aristocratic and upper middle-class types, military officers, doctors, the occasional scientist and the nicer sort of policeman.  

Enjoying classic billing as the 'man with big bra' in 'Are
You Being Served?', facing the daunting Mrs Slocombe.

He first starts to make appearances in the mid-60s in a fairly even mix of dramas and comedy/variety output, but throughtout his career there is a strong tilt to the comedic side. He can be seen in a lot of mainstream sitcoms, on ITV in the channel's finest comedy 'Rising Damp', and its lesser brethren: 'Bless This House', 'On The Buses', 'Father Dear Father', and Love Thy Neighbour'. Over on the BBC, he crops up in such stalwart midweek fare as 'Are You Being Served?', 'Terry & June', 'Citizen Smith' and 'Allo Allo'. He also remained in demand for sketch and variety shows such as 'The Dawson Watch', 'The Two Ronnies', 'Cannon & Ball', 'Kelly Monteith' and 'Mike Yarwood In Persons'.         

Capturing the Abbot family nuptials in the film
spin-off of Bless This House (1972)

Some of the comedy productions he appeared in are now considered classics, witness the likes of 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin', 'The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy', and 'Blott On The Landscape'. He's also got a decent role in the Tom Baker-era 'Doctor Who' adventure, 'The Sun Makers' as an inquisitive intellectual in a world of human slave-drones, earning a whole bag of jelly babies for his assistance in defeating a dastardly Henry Woolf. 

As Bisham in the 1977 'Doctor Who' story 'The Sun Makers'

In the field of more heavyweight drama, he can be spotted in 'Take Three Girls' (and the '80s revisit, 'Take Three Women'), the Boer War saga 'The Regiment', Dennis Potter's 'Pennies From Heaven', and that bizarre ancient-world pot-boiler 'The Cleopatras'.   

As one of the useless Golgafrinchans, sent off into space by
their planet and destined to become the ancestors of humanity,
in the 1981 BBC adaptation of 'Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy'

He's in a very few feature films: the big-screen versions of 'On The Buses' (1971), 'Mutiny On The Buses' (1972) and 'Bless This House' (1972), the Ian Hendry thriller 'Assassin (1973) and the so-bad-it's-all-right-I-suppose comedy horror 'Vampira'/AKA 'Old Dracula' (1974) with David Niven hamming it up as the count. 

In the very silly British horror comedy 'Vampira' (1974)

 David Rowlands-imdb

Derek Martin

Derek Martin:  
† Apr 11 1933 – Jan10 2026

If you watch 'EastEnders', you'll recognise Derek Martin as lovelorn cabbie Charlie Slater who was finally killed off in 2016, after 700+ episodes and even a spin-off, 'Slaters In Detention'. And if you don't watch 'EastEnders', you'll recognise him from dozens of cop series, gangster dramas and comedies, stretching back to the '60s.

Cutting up rough in an episode of 'The Professionals'

Despite having little formal drama training, Londoner Derek Martin has been ubiquitous in no-nonsense roles across British television for decades. Leaving his job at Smithfield meat market and starting as a stuntman and extra, he soon proved to be more than capable with dialogue and gradually built a reputation as reliable casting for heavies, coppers, soldiers and security guards. 

An uncredited appearance in the 'Doctor Who'
adventure 'The Claws Of Axos' from 1971

In 'The Curse Of Fendahl', a classic Tom Baker 'Who' from 1977 

An idea of this trajectory can be seen from his long involvement with 'Doctor Who'. Cast in no fewer than nine adventures from 1965 onwards, he was an uncredited extra until 1977's 'The Curse Of Fendahl'. A conscious decision to move away from stunt work and into speaking roles paid off after much effort and application. The long upwards haul included appearances in 'No Hiding Place', 'Adam Adamant Lives!', 'Z-Cars', 'Softly Softly', 'Terry & June', 'Hart To Hart' (an episode shot in London), 'Target', 'Shoestring', 'Private Schultz', 'Minder' and 'Angels'.        

As a redcap in an episode of 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum'
with the late Windsor Davies and Donald Hewlett  

As the bent copper DI Lyall in 'Law & Order' 

Big breaks came in the form of 'Law & Order' in 1978, a gritty police corruption drama featuring his soon-to-be 'EastEnders' colleague Peter Dean. He also played David Yip's guvnor DCI Berwick in 'The Chinese Detective' and Janet McTeer's cynical deputy in the prison drama 'The Governor'. 

A TV stalwart and deserving of a salute.

Derek Martin-imdb 

Susie Blake

Susie Blake:

Pert and pretty actress, hilarious as the confidingly bitchy continuity announcer from 'Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV' in the '80s and later memorable as the boozy barmaid Bev in 'Coronation Street' who would have married Fred Elliott - had he not dramatically died in epic soap opera style on the morning of their wedding.

Susie Blake's mother Molly presented the popular 
BBC children's programme 'Muffin The Mule'

A member of the illustrious Mills dynasty of actors (she's the great niece of Sir John and cousin to Hayley and Juliet), Susie Blake trained at LAMDA and began appearing on television during the mid-'70s. Her charm and vivacity might have seen her cast in a number of typically lightweight young female roles of the era, but clearly her stage-honed acting ability and knack for comedy started to show itself quite early in her career.     

In her first TV role, a 1974 episode of 'Zodiac' 

As a music hall singer in the Victorian detective series, 'Cribb'

By the '80s, she could be seen in the sitcom 'Born & Bred' and was a regular in 'Russ Abbott's Saturday Madhouse', but it was 1985's 'Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV' that cemented her place in the public eye. Less famously, she also provided voices for Victor Lewis Smith's hit-and-miss 'Adventures of Ferdinand De Bargos' and was given centre stage in her own sketch comedy vehicle, 'Something For The Weekend' in 1989. 

With Russ Abbott in his popular Saturday
evening variety/sketch show in the '80s 

We also see Susie Blake pop up briefly in hit shows of the '90s such as 'One Foot In The Grave', The Darling Buds Of May', and the wine-bar, Laura Ashley frock-era comedy 'Singles', before we hit the 'Coronation Street' years. She played Bev Unwin from 2003 until 2015, quite an epic stint, even for that great national institution. Keeping her hand in on the theatre stage, she also found time to appear in a number of large productions at the National Theatre and Lyric in everything from Ibsen and Shakespeare to 'South Pacific' and Joe Penhall's 'Blue/Orange'. 
  

Slightly miffed at having John Cleese lick her
injured leg in 'Fierce Creatures' (1997) 

Trouble at the Rovers Return, as Bev Unwin
in 'Coronation Street' 

There aren't many cinema productions in which she can be spotted, but they include 'Fierce Creatures' (1997), and 'Nativity 3' (2014). It's more likely you will see her these days in the unfathomably popular 'Mrs Brown's Boys' in which she plays Hilary. I wonder how Victoria Wood would have her snooty announcer character describe that particular programme? We shall never know.     

Susie Blake - imdb 

Harry 'Aitch' Fielder

 

Harry 'Aitch' Fielder:

† April 26 1940 – February 6 2021

King of the Extras, Harry Fielder has died. A legendary supporting player in the British film and television industries, it's almost easier to list which classic productions he doesn't appear in. 

It's apparently something of a game among Brit film buffs to spot his fleeting appearances, particularly in horror films, Carry-Ons, classic TV (all the ITC cult shows, plenty of 'Dr Who'), every great sitcom, and beyond. A tough looking Londoner, he appears often as coppers and villains, but there aren't many bit-part roles he hasn't tackled. 

Trivia: He got paid £11 a day for his seven days work as one of Darth Vader's elite troopers.
  

Harry 'Aitch' Fielder-imdb

Dicken Ashworth

Dicken Ashworth:

These days, if I were to say the words 'Alan Partridge' to you, you'd probably lunge back with a hearty 'A-ha!'. Well, if you're that sort of person, you might. But, back in the early '80s, those words would immediately bring to mind the image of Dicken Ashworth. He was playing the hefty, sobbing and very drunk sad-sack Alan Partridge, stumbling about the close in Channel 4's new soap 'Brookside', knocking over the bins and yelling 'Why did you leave me, Sam?', while the net curtains twitched nervously in the front rooms of Edna Cross and Sheila Grant.  

As the (very Yorkshire) alien barbarian chieftain, Gunn-Sar,
in 'Blakes 7'. Thankfully, he has his shirt on in this shot. 

Burly, gruff and permanently-moustachioed Yorkshire-born actor Dicken Ashworth made his first TV appearances in the late '70s, but an early memorable role was in 'Minder' as the abusive husband of one of Terry's old girlfriends (played by Sharon Duce). It's the episode where Terry gets a bit wistful and almost gives up all the ducking and diving with Arthur when she tells him the her lad is his son. 

 

The ominous arrival in London of violent husband 
Ronnie, looking for his wife and son, in 'Minder'

In 'Scabs', the award-winning ITV drama about the
miners' strike, still a very raw subject in 1986.   

Comedy buffs might remember him in Norman Lovett's awkwardly surreal sitcom 'I, Lovett', and others such as 'Love Hurts', 'Keeping Up Appearances', 'The Thin Blue Line', The Detectives', and the star-studded but rather clunkily satirical 'Look At The State We're In!'. He also crops up in fun stuff like 'Doctor Who', 'Blakes 7', and 'Crossbow' aka 'William Tell', the international TV collaboration in the 'Robin of Sherwood' mould. 

Norman's neighbour Darren, in 'I, Lovett'

He was arguably more at home in police and action dramas, from the cosy capers of 'Boon' and 'Big Deal', to the more gritty 'Inspector Morse', The Chinese Detective', 'Juliet Bravo', 'The Gentle Touch', 'Hazell'. In addition to 'Brookside', he had soap stints in 'Coronation Street' and 'Emmerdale', as well as multiple roles over the years in 'The Bill' and those old stand-bys 'Doctors' and 'Heartbeat', but he is unusual in avoiding the 'Casualty'/'Holby City' universe.        

A bit of muscle for protection racketeer Philip 
Jackson in an episode of 'The Gentle Touch' 

He was in some feature films too. He's in the fantasy classic 'Krull' (1983), 'Force 10 From Navarone' (1978) and Roman Polanski's 'Tess' (1979). He also provided the voice of Mr Mulch in 'Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit' (2005).

So, there you go. Knowing you, Dicken Ashworth. A-ha!

Dicken Ashworth-imdb

David Sibley

David Sibley: 

You will almost certainly have your familiar buttons pushed by British actor David Sibley. He  has appeared in a very solid set of UK television favourites over the years, starting with 'Survivors', the prescient disease drama of the '70s. Another important supporting role was in the very popular First World War series 'Wings', following the development of the Royal Flying Corps through a compelling narrative of character and class clashes, lost youth and authentic aerial sequences.   

As sickly hippie Kim in 'Survivors'

With the great Tom Baker in 'Dr Who: The Pirate Planet' 

Some of the big-name successes that he has been associated with more recently include 'Downton Abbey', 'Silent Witness', 'Broadchurch' and 'Wallander', alongside some choice period TV dramas such as the 1998 BBC 'Middlemarch', 2013's 'War and Peace' and the star-studded 2018 'Vanity Fair'.  

As flight mechanic Corporal Morgan in 'Wings'

As an RAF bar steward in the National Service 
comedy 'Get Some In' with the great Tony Selby

Feature film appearances are not extensive, but you might spot him in 'Gandhi' (1982), 'Willow (1988), and 'Great Balls Of Fire!' (1989), or possibly in '45 Years' (2013) with Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling. 

In the reconstruction segments of the IRA drama documentary 
'The Year London Blew Up: 1974', as an unnamed police detective

In the acclaimed police drama 'Broadchurch' 
playing pathologist Dr Lovegood 

In his youth, his somewhat elfin combination of mysterious hooded eyes and perky chipmunk-ish smile led to a few interesting TV roles, and as he has matured, this appealingly ambiguous side to his appearance and performances has obviously caught the eye of casting directors. His characters turn up in many popular detective and light mystery programmes, such as 'Ruth Rendell Mysteries', 'Shoestring'(memorably playing a mild-mannered psycho), 'Midsomer Murders', 'Alleyn Mysteries', 'Frontiers' and 'Judge John Deed',  but he's also in some of our old favourites like 'Minder', 'Blakes 7' and 'Dr Who'.

With Geraldine James in '45 Years' (2013) playing the ukulele at the wedding anniversary 
party for the troubled couple played by Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay

Naturally, he has been ingested by the great long-running drama monsters; 'Holby City', 'Casualty', 'Doctors', The Bill' etc, but keep an eye out for him in the long-ignored LWT drama series 'Rooms', currently (late 2020) getting some airtime on the Talking Pictures channel on British TV.

All in all, a solid all-rounder and a bit more.       

David Sibley-imdb