Derek Benfield

Derek Benfield
Birth date:	11 March 1926
Death date:	10 March 2009
Work in the DWU
Main roles:	Dr John Hallam
Main jobs:	Actor
Stories:	Catch-1782
Main time period active:	2005
Career highlights
Notable non-DWU work:	Great Expectations, No Hiding Place, Coronation Street, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, The Newcomers, Doomwatch, The Brothers, Rumpole of the Bailey, Crown Court, Shine on Harvey Moon, Yes Minister, Juliet Bravo, Casualty, First of the Summer Wine, Only Fools and Horses, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Lovejoy, Peak Practice, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
IMDb profile

Derek Benfield (11 March 1926-10 March 2009) voiced Melanie Bush's uncle, Dr John Hallam, in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio story Catch-1782.

A stalwart of British television, his career stretched back to at least the mid-1950s. He was known for several recurring characters from the 1960s to the 1990s, including: "Higgenbottom" in 1961's Three Live Wires, a series that is now mostly lost; "Tom Collis" in 1965's Paul Bernard-directed science fiction programme, R3; "Andrew Parsons" in 1965's The Mask of Janus; "Walter Greenhaigh" from 1967 to 1969 on Coronation Street; "Frank Skinner" on 1970's Timeslip; "Bill Riley" on The Brothers, with Colin Baker and Kate O'Mara; "Albert Handyside" on 1979's Rumpole of the Bailey; the lead on First of the Summer Wine in 1988; and "Robert Wainthropp" on Hetty Wainthropp Investigates in the late 1990s.

His list of guest-starring credits is exceptionally long. Amongst the higher-profile shows on which he appeared were: Peak Practice, Lovejoy, Only Fools and Horses, Remington Steele, Yes Minister, Hi-de-Hi!, Z-Cars, and Dixon of Dock Green, a show for which he also wrote a few episodes.

External link

• Derek Benfield at the Internet Movie Database