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

Michael Stainton

 

Michael Stainton: 

A lot of policemen. Quite a few landlords. But a LOT of policemen. The perpetually unamused Michael Stainton must be familiar to anyone who had even a casual acquaintance with British television in the '70s and '80s. In comedy and in drama, this solidly imposing actor appeared frequently in blue as one of the quintessential portrayers of the uniformed plod. He's the  copper in 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?', 'Rising Damp', Citizen Smith',  'Only Fools And Horses', 'Never The Twain' and 'Mind Your Language', but also in 'Juliet Bravo', 'The Ruth Rendell Mysteries', 'Lord Peter Wimsey', numerous television plays and even 'Brideshead Revisited'.       

Michael Stainton as the copper who brings an end to Terry's attempt
to give Bob a stag night in 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?'

 

Michael Stainton's earliest roles were on TV back in the mid '50s, already stepping easily from historical dramas and crime shows into light entertainment and comedy such as 'Hancock', 'The Army Game', 'Benny Hill', 'Hugh & I' and Sid James's popular show 'Citizen James'.   

As the vicar in the pilot episode of 'Last Of The Summer Wine'

In the '60s and '70s, the mix of drama and comedy was still strong, with the likes of 'Softly Softly', The Plane Makers', and 'No Cloak-No Dagger' more than offset by 'The Liver Birds', 'All Gas And Gaiters', 'Dad's Army', Moody & Pegg', 'The Two Ronnies' and 'Steptoe & Son'. To these we can add old favourites of this blog, 'Shelley', 'A Sharp Intake Of Breath' and 'Ripping Yarns'. He was also a regular in Jimmy Edwards' school comedy 'Whack-O!', which seems more bizarre every time the recollection of it crops up these days.    

As Don the ever-sympathetic landlord in 'You Must Be
The Husband', with the late Tim Brooke-Taylor  

As the Beano-esque Father in the silly Mickey Dolenz-directed
kids series 'Metal Mickey', which at least featured Irene Handl

This momentum was carried into the '80s and he appears in a lot of popular shows. He was Sergeant Tipper in the genteel detective series 'Charters & Caldicott', and pops up in programmes as diverse as the TV comedy vehicles of Russ Abbott, Kenny Everett, Kelly Monteith, Les Dawson and Les Dennis and the drama potboilers of 'The Bill' and 'London's Burning'.   

 As Alleyn's implacable desk officer in 
an episode of 'The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'  

Big screen appearances have been scant, a few obscure films and an uncredited part in 'Carry On Dick' (1974). To view his TV track record though, is to scan lightly over the history of British middle-brow entertainment of five decades, and for that he is surely due a salute.     

Michael Stainton-imdb

Paul Putner

 Paul Putner:

Expert comic foil Paul Putner is a somewhat familiar face, at least in the edgier realms of UK television comedy. You may have seen him in shows with the likes of Kevin Eldon, Peter Serafinowicz, Lee & Herring, Lucas & Walliams, and the Comedy Lab.     

In the 'Peter Serafinowicz Show'

In the early '90s, LAMDA graduate Paul Putner was part of the comedy team at London's easy-listening revival hotspot The Regency Rooms, with kitsch crooner Lenny Beige and Co. A meeting of minds with Richard Herring seems to have led to a rich seam of semi-straight-man roles in TV as the fringe comics were snaffled up by the networks. He's also a successful comedy writer with credits in TV and radio.

As Curious Orange on 'This Morning With Richard, Not Judy'

A disquieting vignette with Toby Jones in
the always excellent '15 Storeys High'  

He can be spotted in 'The Glam Metal Detectives', 'Murder Most Horrid', 'This Morning With Richard, Not Judy', '15 Storeys High' and 'Spaced', as well as Peter Serafinowicz's eponymous show and his cult hit 'Look Around You', not to mention 'Little Britain', 'It's Kevin', and 'Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'.     

As the surreally practical Bob in 'It's Kevin'

With Nicholas Lyndhurst, getting the third 
degree from Mel Smith in 'Rock and Chips'

More conventional TV fare includes 'The Bill', 'Foyle's War', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Downton Abbey' and the '60s-set 'Only Fools and Horses' prequel 'Rock and Chips'. All in all, a pretty decent collection of comedy connections and a likeable screen presence - so hopefully this little salute has done something to elevate him above 'that bloke' status. 

Edit: And the more I find out about Mr Putner, the more I like him. Here's a link to a rummage through his excellent-looking record collection. 

Paul Putner-imdb