Derek James Fowlds (2 September 1937 – 17 January 2020) was an English actor. He was best known for his appearances as "Mr Derek" in '' The Basil Brush Show'' (1969–1973), Bernard Woolley in the

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' Yes Minister'' (1980–1984) and its sequel ''

Yes, Prime Minister ''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fro ...

'' (1986–1988), and as Oscar Blaketon in ''

Heartbeat A heartbeat is one cardiac cycle of the heart. Heartbeat, heart beat, heartbeats, and heart beats may refer to: Computing *Heartbeat (computing), a periodic signal to indicate normal operation or to synchronize parts of a system *Heartbeat, clus ...

'' (1992–2010).

Early life

Fowlds was born on 2 September 1937 in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

, London, the son of Ketha Muriel (née Treacher) and James Witney Fowlds, a salesman. In early life he and his mother and sister went to live in

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, at the home of his maternal grandmother. There Fowlds attended

Ashlyns School Ashlyns School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. The school was established in 1935 as the final location of the Foundling Hospital, a children's charity founded in London in 1739. The ...

, a former Secondary Modern School. After leaving school aged 15, Fowlds worked at a printer's firm as an apprentice and also, as his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

, spent two years in the RAF as a wireless operator.

Career

After success in amateur acting, his teacher encouraged him to take it up as a career and Fowlds won a scholarship to

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

in 1958. He made his debut on the West End stage in ''

The Miracle Worker ''The Miracle Worker'' refers to a broadcast, a play and various other adaptations of Helen Keller's 1903 autobiography '' The Story of My Life''. The first of these works was a 1957 ''Playhouse 90'' broadcast written by William Gibson and st ...

''. He appeared in various film roles, including ''

Tamahine ''Tamahine'' is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Philip Leacock and starring Nancy Kwan, Dennis Price and John Fraser. It is a film about a Polynesian woman who believes she can change the culture of Hallow School, a British boys' boardin ...

'' (1963), ''

East of Sudan ''East of Sudan'' is a 1964 British adventure film directed by Nathan Juran and featuring Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Syms and Derek Fowlds. The storyline is spliced with various sections of African wildlife. Much of this stock footage makes no sens ...

'' (1964), ''

Hotel Paradiso ''Hotel Paradiso'' is a 1966 British comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Panavision. It was directed by Peter Glenville and based on the play ''L'Hôtel du libre échange'' by Maurice Desvallières and Georges Feydeau. The film allowe ...

'' (1966), '' Frankenstein Created Woman'' (1967), '' The Smashing Bird I Used to Know'' (1969), ''

Tower of Evil ''Tower of Evil'', also known by the titles ''Horror on Snape Island'' and ''Beyond the Fog'', is a 1972 British horror film directed by Jim O'Connolly. Plot The movie opens with a boat cruising through heavy fog, on a spooky night. The boat ...

'' (1972) and ''

Mistress Pamela ''Mistress Pamela'' is a 1973 British sex comedy drama film directed by Jim O'Connolly and starring Ann Michelle, Dudley Foster, Anna Quayle and Anthony Sharp. It was loosely based on the 1740 novel ''Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded'' by Samuel R ...

'' (1974), prior to becoming familiar to British television child viewers as "Mr. Derek" in the popular British children's series ''The

Basil Brush Basil Brush is a fictional red fox, best known for his appearances on daytime British children's television. He is primarily portrayed by a glove puppet, but has also been depicted in animated cartoon shorts and comic strips. The character has f ...

Show'' for four series, replacing

Rodney Bewes Rodney Bewes (27 November 1937 – 21 November 2017) was an English television actor and writer who portrayed Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom ''The Likely Lads'' (1964–66) and its colour sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' ...

as presenter. He played the role of

Lord Randolph Churchill Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British statesman. Churchill was a Tory radical and coined the term 'Tory democracy'. He inspired a generation of party managers, created the National Union of ...

in the

ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * AT ...

series '' Edward the Seventh'' (1975). In '' Yes Minister'' and its sequel ''

'' he played the naïve and callow Bernard Woolley alongside Paul Eddington's Jim Hacker and Nigel Hawthorne's

Sir Humphrey Appleby Sir Humphrey Appleby is a fictional character from the British television series ''Yes Minister'' and ''Yes Prime Minister''. He was played originally by Sir Nigel Hawthorne, and both on stage and in a television adaptation of the stage show by ...

. From 1983 to 1985, Fowlds played the lead role in the sitcom '' Affairs of the Heart''. He featured in a more sinister role in the 1990 political thriller '' Die Kinder''. Fowlds then played old and curmudgeonly Oscar Blaketon in the long-running Yorkshire Television police drama nostalgia series ''

'' set in the sixties for its entire eighteen-year run beginning in 1992. The character first appeared as the local police sergeant, then retired from the force and ran the post office before becoming a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

lican.

Personal life and death

Fowlds married, and later divorced, Wendy Tory, and later wed and divorced (in 1978) the ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

'' presenter and dancer

Lesley Judd Lesley Judd (born 20 December 1946) is an English former television presenter and dancer, best known as a long-serving host of the BBC children's programme '' Blue Peter'' (1972–1979). Background Born in London, the daughter of Leslie T. Judd ...

. His partner of 36 years, Jo Lindsay, died in 2012. He was the father of two sons, including the actor Jeremy Fowlds. His autobiography, ''A Part Worth Playing,'' was published in 2015. He died at

Royal United Hospital The Royal United Hospital (RUH) is a major acute-care hospital in the Weston suburb of Bath, England, which lies approximately west of the city centre. The hospital has 565 beds and occupies a site. It is the area's major accident and emergenc ...

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

on 17 January 2020 at age 82 from complications of heart failure and

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

, which had followed

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

. His funeral was held at St Katharine's Church in

Holt, Wiltshire Holt is a village and civil parish in the west of Wiltshire, England. Geography The village lies on clays of the Kellaways Formation (part of what is known as Oxford Clay), just above the alluvium of the River Avon and on a terrace of Ice Age g ...

on 17 February 2020.

Filmography

References

External links

Derek Fowlds
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

*
Derek Fowlds as Oscar Blaketon in 'Heartbeat'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowlds, Derek 1937 births 2020 deaths 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art British male comedy actors Deaths from sepsis English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors Infectious disease deaths in England Male actors from London People from Balham