Perry Benson

Perry Benson:

Baby-faced and usually bespectacled cockney actor - almost like a junior Johnny Shannon -  often seen in comedy roles where he seems to make a virtue of a slightly wooden acting style to awkward comic effect. You might have seen him in a number of '80s alternative sitcoms, such as 'The Young Ones', Filthy Rich & Catflap', and 'Dream Stuffing', before he settled things down a little with 'The Black Adder', 'You Rang M'Lord', 'Oh Doctor Beeching!' and more recently 'Benidorm'.     

In the largely forgotten 1983 sitcom, 'Dream Stuffing'

You have been watching... 'Oh Doctor Beeching!'

As a contrast to the comedy has been a darker strain of film and TV dramas in which his flat London vowels have lent a banal gangster menace or fearful snivelling to the proceedings, see for example 'Scum' (1977), the harrowing Ray Winstone/Jude Law movie 'Final Cut' (1998),  'Mr In-Between' (2001), 'and 'Capital Punishment' (2003). Even bleaker was the relentlessly horrible 'Mum and Dad' (2008), a domestic psycho-gore horror set near Heathrow Airport.      

Scary in the grim suburban horror, 'Mum & Dad' (2008)

The '80s comedy and cult film connections are still there though, and he can be seen in interesting stuff like '15 Stories High' (as the neighbour with a horse in his flat), Shane Meadows's 'Somers Town' (2008) and his 'This Is England' (2006) and the TV series 'This Is England '86'. He also seems to appear in a lot of short movies, none of which I've seen, but which suggest that he is somehow involved at the grass roots of the industry.     

In the 1974 Play For Today, 'The Headmaster'

As 'Spaz' in the 'Young Ones' brief piss-take of 'Grange Hill',
with Ben Elton and our old friend Peter Greene     

He's also in the generally unconvincing punk movie 'Sid & Nancy' (1986) playing a chunky version of Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, although I think Graham Fletcher-Cook who plays pre-Pistols frontman Wally Hairstyle looks much more the part. My 2d worth, anyway.   

Perry Benson-imdb

Stephen Lewis

Stephen Lewis:

† Dec 17 1926 – Aug 12 2015

'What's this bus doing here? You're due at the cemetery gates in four minutes! Oh my good gawd! I hate you, Butler!'  Etc, etc...
  
Another of the great cohort of working class acting talent brought to prominence by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in the late '50s. This hulking ex-merchant seaman proved to be a talented writer, creating the play, and later screenplay, for 'Sparrows Can't Sing' (1960), a unique slice of London kitchen sink comedy-drama with the young Barbara Windsor, Roy Kinnear, Brian Murphy, Murray Melvin and James Booth. 



An early role as a heavy in 'The Frightened City' (1961). At this point he was
using the stage name Stephen Cato, but soon after reverted to his own name  

     


A fleeting appearance as a scrap dealer in the gloomy and pretentious
'Negatives' (1969), which starred Glenda Jackson and Peter McEnery  

His further acting and writing ambitions appear to have been effectively sidelined when his gawping characterisation of Blakey, the miserable bus company inspector in the grimly dim-witted sitcom 'On The Buses', proved so popular that the programme became a ratings-topping British institution. His performance as Blakey was in such demand that it led to not only a direct spin-off, 'Don't Drink the Water' with Pat Coombs, but a series of near-identical portrayals of sketch-show park keepers, station masters, and traffic wardens. There were also extended spells in the nostalgic Perry & Croft railway sitcom 'Oh Doctor Beeching!' and as 'Smiler' in the long-running 'Last of The Summer Wine', both of which saw him finessing his woebegone Blakey character.            



In a typical 'On The Buses' set up with cheeky middle-aged lothario/sex-pest
Stan Butler (Reg Varney, left) and one of the endless unlikely dolly-bird
conductresses or 'clippies' in thrall to his giggly Brylcremed charms

There were a few small cinema appearances. As well as his own 'Sparrows Can't Sing' (1961), he crops up in a few Brit b-movies including a Soho thug in 'The Frightened City '(1961) and a military policeman in the Army heist movie 'A Prize of Arms' (1962). Naturally, he reprised his role as Blakey in the money-spinning big screen adaptations from the OTB franchise - 'On The Buses' (1971), 'Mutiny On The Buses' (1972) and 'Holiday On The Buses' (1973), as well as similar jobsworth personas in star-studded farces like 'Some Will Some Won't' (1970) and 'The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins' (1971).

Something a bit different was a turn as a blonde gay pick-up for Rex Harrison in the excruciating Stanley Donen camp-fest 'Staircase' (1968) with Richard Burton, to complete a spectacular hat-trick of miscasting.        



'Staircase' (1968) A blonde and booted Lewis finds himself in the middle of
another ridiculous mincing tiff between Rex Harrison and Richard Burton  

These days, he has hung up his raincoat and clipboard, and is apparently comfortably retired from acting - born in 1926, he is approaching 90 after all. At one time he was regularly spotted having a quiet lunch at Peter Jones department store off Sloane Square. Long may he continue to do so.     

Update Aug 2015: So sad to hear that Stephen Lewis has passed on at the age of 88. He was one character actor that I had hopes of meeting one day. That won't now happen, but I thank him here for his quirky contributions to British cultural identity.  

Stephen Lewis-imdb

Janet Henfrey

Janet Henfrey:

With her rather severe features - somewhere between Edith Sitwell and Geoffrey Bayldon - Janet Henfrey has been called on to play forbidding schoolmarms and formidable aristocrats, although she also has a nice line in charming English eccentricity. You may remember her from the schoolroom flashbacks in Dennis Potter's 'The Singing Detective', or have seen her quite recently in 'Dr Who' or 'Toast Of London'. 

Another scary Dennis Potter schoolteacher. This one from
'Stand Up Nigel Barton', a BBC Wednesday Play from 1965

She has a long association with the RSC and the Oxford Playhouse and her TV and film appearances were relatively sparsely distributed in the period from the early '60s until the early '80s. TV work has seen a variety of period dramas from 'Silas Marner' to 'Tipping The Velvet', and lots of Dickens adaptations. Lighter drama and comedy jobs include 'Jeeves & Wooster', 'Boon', 'Lovejoy', 'Father Brown', 'Agatha Christie's Marple', and a regular turn in 'As Time Goes By' with Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer.   

Less than a second to live... In the 2014 'Dr Who'
episode 'Mummy On The Orient Express' 

Film appearances include 'Reds' (1981), 'The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover' (1989), 'The Man Who Knew Too Little (1998), 'Les Miserables' (1998), 'Metamorphosis' (2012), and her earliest role, in Tommy Steele's 'It's All Happening' (1963). 

As girls' school headmistress, Miss Mapleton, extracting Bertie from
the police station in 'Jeeves & Wooster', thanks to Jeeves's intervention  

With Benjamin Whitrow and Matt Berry in 'Toast Of London'

She has appeared in a substantial number of kids' shows, such as 'Chocky', 'Simon & The Witch', 'Mr Majeika', 'The Famous Five', 'The Worst Witch' and 'Mike & Angelo'. She also has the distinction of having been in two Dr Who stories, the Sylveste McCoy era 'Curse of Fenric' and the Peter Capaldi episode 'Mummy On The Orient Express.

Looking a bit more contemporary in the 1988 BBC
children's show 'Simon & The Witch'.

Janet Henfrey-imdb

Graham Seed

Graham Seed

Perhaps it's too much of a stretch to suggest that, like Leonard Nimoy's autobiography, 'I Am Not Spock', Graham Seed's one-man stage show, 'Don't Call Me Nigel', attempts to free the actor from the shackles of his most famous role. This pixie-faced, genteel actor - or at least, his voice - is best known in the UK for playing Nigel Pargetter in the everlasting radio serial 'The Archers' between 1983 and 2011. In fact, of course, he's acknowledging the popularity of 'The Archers', but it's true that he's been less championed for appearing in some of the better TV and film of the last four decades.      

As Britannicus, in the classic 1976 BBC serial, 'I,Claudius'

His boyish looks and public school accent and manners were put to use in popular TV dramas including 'Wings', 'The Agatha Christie Hour', 'Good and Bad at Games', 'Band of Brothers' and 'Brideshead Revisited', as well as showings in good old 'Midsomer Murders', 'Juliet Bravo', 'Bergerac' and 'Doctors'. He has also turned his hand to comedy, with the banalities of 'Allo Allo' and the silliness of 'The Kenny Everett Television Show' being substantially outweighed by quality like 'Jeeves & Wooster' and a number of Victoria Wood projects.   



In the TV drama 'Band of Brothers'

On the film front, he can be spotted in 'Gandhi' (1982), 'Little Dorrit' (1988), These Foolish Things (2005), and 'Wild Target' (2010).



A bogus curate jewel thief, thwarted by Jeeves in 'Jeeves & Wooster' 

 

Graham Seed - imdb

Bridget Brice

Bridget Brice:

A great choice for a role needing some glamour but with a confident, business-like edge, Ms Brice may be familiar as Cowley's secretary from 'The Professionals', or from some other cop shows of the '70s including 'Z-Cars' and 'The Sweeney'.  

Damsel in distress in 'Department S'

Further TV appearances include 'Department S' and three different characters in the long-running private detective series, 'Public Eye' starring Alfred Burke. In addition to those Euston Films secretary roles, she also appears in 'Doctor at Sea', 'Doctor in Charge', 'Howard's Way', 'Coronation Street', 'Man at the Top' with Kenneth Haigh, and was memorable as Sal Hawke, a criminal mistress-mind in 'Dick Turpin' with Richard O'Sullivan. She also has the distinction of playing the unlikely girlfriend, Pippa, in 'Sorry!', who finally rescues Ronnie Corbett's timid Timothy Lumsden from his manipulative mother.         

With Richard O'Sullivan in 'Dick Turpin'

Movie-wise you can catch her, uncredited, among the British talent in Mel Brooks' 'The Twelve Chairs' (1970), the ecologically apocalyptic 'No Blade of Grass' (1970), and forgotten caper movies 'Loophole' (1981) and 'Real Life' (1984), as well as a fleeting role in the movie version of 'George & Mildred' (1980). 

With a dashing Frank Langella in 'The Twelve Chairs' (1970)

Bridget Brice-imdb

Alan Dobie

Alan Dobie:

Alan Dobie seems a rather dour, astringent sort of actor, but perhaps that's because I find it a little difficult to separate him from the character of Inspector Cribb, as seen in the '80s Victorian detective series of that name. His career on the big screen has been one interesting oddities, with early roles including 'Captured' (1959), originally an army training film about resisting interrogation that has come to be seen as a classic POW drama, and the Brit-noir 'Seven Keys' (1961) in which he plays an ex-con unravelling a mystery while seeking hidden loot.    

In 'Captured' (1959), a military training film that remained
unseen by the general public until 2004

He also appears in the popular Disney adventure serial, later released as a feature film, 'Dr Syn, Alias The Scarecrow' (1963) opposite Patrick McGoohan as the eponymous smuggler, and he's in the curiously seedy Kenneth More drama, 'The Comedy Man' (1964).

In the Walt Disney adventure serial 'Dr Syn' (1963)

For much of the '60s and '70s, he became a stalwart of the television play, appearing in various strands such as 'The Wednesday Play', 'BBC Sunday-Night Play', 'Theatre 625', and 'Play For Today'. He also in some heavy drama serials like 'Resurrection',  'The Plane Makers', 'War and Peace' and 'Hard Times', before getting the starring role in 'Cribb', itself a spin-off from an original play. Other highlights of the '80s include the post-'Secret Army' series 'Kessler', the highbrow, but rather fleshy, drama-documentary about the life of Ingres, 'Artists and Models', and the tour-de-force portrayal of Rabbi Moses Ben Nachman in the medieval religious debate of 'The Disputation'.           

As Prince Bolkonsky in the 1972 BBC epic 'War and Peace' 

As befits such an accomplished actor, he's more often been seen on the stage and is a regular of the Peter Hall Company at the Old Vic Theatre in London and the Theatre Royal, Bath.

Alan Dobie - imdb

John Castle

John Castle:

A serious actor, strikingly handsome in a sullen way, looking rather like a cross between Derek Jacobi and Oliver Reed. Trained at RADA, he hit the acting scene with a modest bang, securing early appearances in 'Blow Up' (1966), 'The Lion in Winter' (1968), and the most talked-about TV show of the day, 'The Prisoner', though he didn't seem to quite grab the public imagination like some of his illustrious young contemporaries. He played Caesar in Charlton Heston's unloved film version of 'Antony & Cleopatra' (1972) and the Duke in 'The Man of La Mancha' (1972), but then things seemed to go a little bit quiet.  

As Number 12 in 'The Prisoner' episode 'The General'

At the circus with Charlton Heston in 'Antony & Cleopatra' (1972)

There was a certain amount of television drama in the late '60s and early '70s, such as Johnny Speight's 'If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have to Invent Them' and a sprinkling of one-offs like 'ITV Sunday Night Theatre', and 'The Wednesday Play'. His next high profile role was as Postumus in the BBC's toga-ripper 'I, Claudius', which seemed to kick-start another spate of varyingly prestigious work. There are quite a few costume dramas and period pieces, which seem to suit his austere, brooding presence, such as 'The Fight Against Slavery', 'King John', 'Lillie', 'Penmarric' and a Jeremy Brett 'Sherlock Holmes'. He also plays Teddy, the destructive love-interest in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' with Geraldine McEwan. There were also a few action and police jobs like 'Strangers', 'The New Avengers', 'Softly, Softly' and 'The Professionals'. Not much in the way of comedy.

In the BBC's 2013 Christmas ghost story, MR James's "The Tractate Middoth'

The '80s and beyond have seen more of the same on TV, with the emphasis on providing some slightly sinister class to cosy crimes, ho-hum hospitals and political potboilers. Less cosy, perhaps, was the unenviable job of portraying racist historian David Irving in 'The Holocaust on Trial'. The big screen has also not been as forthcoming with good parts as one might hope, offering only the likes of 'RoboCop 3' (1995), Finnish mid-ocean thriller 'Merisairas' (1996), the Richard Gere Old Testament epic, 'King David (1985) and a few others.   

He is, however, in the excellent Mark Gatiss adaptation of the MR James ghost story, 'The Tractate Middoth', which is where I was reminded of his great presence and ability. 

Salvte. 

John Castle - imdb