John Robert Milton (born 13 March 1938), known professionally as Milton Johns, is an English character actor who has worked almost continuously throughout his career. A versatile talent, he specialises in sinister or obsequious roles and has featured regularly in many British popular television series for both adults and children. He trained at the
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre.
BOVTS is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. I ...
.
Biography
Johns was born on 13 March 1938 in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
. He is known for being in ''
Happy Families
Happy Families is a traditional British card game usually with a specially made set of picture cards, featuring illustrations of fictional families of four, most often based on occupation types. The object of the game is to collect complete fami ...
'' (1989) as Mr Alphonso, the café manager of Mrs Wobble, ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
'' as Brendan Scott (1991–93), the shopkeeper who died of a heart attack while pedaling along the eponymous cobbled street. Other roles have included parts in ''
Poldark
''Poldark'' is a series of historical novels by Winston Graham, published from 1945 to 1953 and continued from 1973 to 2002. The first novel, '' Ross Poldark'', was named for the protagonist of the series. The novel series was adapted twice ...
'', ''
Born and Bred
''Born and Bred'' was a British light-hearted drama series aired on BBC One which ran from 21 April 2002 to 3 August 2005. It was created by Chris Chibnall and Nigel McCrery. Initially the cast was led by James Bolam and Michael French as a fa ...
'', ''
Ever Decreasing Circles
''Ever Decreasing Circles'' is a British sitcom which ran on BBC1 between 1984 and 1989, consisting of four series and one feature-length special. It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, and it reunited them with Richard Briers, who ha ...
'', ''
Home to Roost
''Home to Roost'' is a British sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television between 19 April 1985 and 19 January 1990. Written by Eric Chappell, it stars John Thaw as Henry Willows and Reece Dinsdale as his teenaged son Matthew.
The premise is that ...
'', ''
Dempsey and Makepeace
''Dempsey and Makepeace'' is a British television crime drama made by LWT for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham. Lead roles were played by Michael Brandon (Lieutenant Dempsey) and Glynis Barber (Detective Makepeace), who later married e ...
'', ''Murder Most English'', ''
Shoestring
Shoelaces, also called shoestrings (US English) or bootlaces (UK English), are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots, and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both ends ...
'', ''
Yes 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 ...
'', ''
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC1, created and written by Raymond Allen (scriptwriter), Raymond Allen and starring Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice. It was first broadcast in 1973 and ran for two series, inc ...
'', ''
Softly, Softly'', ''
Going Straight
''Going Straight'' is a BBC sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and starring Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale. The programme was a direct spin-off to the sitcom ''Porridge'', which all four were involved in, with ...
'', ''
The Good Life'', ''
Don't Wait Up'', ''
Butterflies
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...
'', ''
Minder
A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds".
Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...
'', ''
Campion'' and ''
Z-Cars
''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...
''. He played the landlord in ''
The Basil Brush Show
''The Basil Brush Show'' is a British children's television sitcom series, starring the glove puppet fox Basil Brush. It was produced for six series by The Foundation, airing on CBBC from 27 September 2002 to 25 December 2007. The show is a s ...
'' (2002–07). He also played jobsworth Mr Cassidy in ''
Murphy's Mob
''Murphy's Mob'' is a British children's television series, created and written by Brian Finch which was produced and directed by David Foster for Central Independent Television, and screened in the UK on ITV for four series between 1 March 198 ...
'', an ITV children's television drama series (1982–85). His character helped to manage the building used by the junior supporters of the football club, Dunmore United. Johns has appeared in ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' on several occasions: as Theodore Benik in ''
The Enemy of the World
''The Enemy of the World'' is the fourth serial of the fifth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which originally aired in six weekly parts from 23 December 1967 to 27 January 1968.
The serial is set in Aus ...
''; Guy Crayford in ''
The Android Invasion
''The Android Invasion'' is the fourth serial of the Doctor Who (season 13), thirteenth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 22 November to ...
''; and Castellan Kelner in ''
The Invasion of Time
''The Invasion of Time'' is the sixth and final serial of the 15th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 4 February to 11 March 1978. It features the fin ...
''.
He also appeared in the TV mini-series ''
Moll Flanders
''Moll Flanders'' is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age.
By 1721, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, wit ...
'' in 1996. He played a pawnshop owner.
In 1972 he starred in the children's Sunday evening series ''
The Intruder'' and in 1977, appeared in another children's series, ''Midnight Is A Place''.
In the 1980s, he also starred in the ''
Grange Hill
''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...
'' spin-off ''
Tucker's Luck
''Tucker's Luck'' is a British television series made by the BBC between 1983 and 1985.
The series is a spin-off from the school drama ''Grange Hill (TV series), Grange Hill'' and capitalised on the popularity of one of the series' original char ...
''. Johns also appeared as an
Imperial Officer (Captain Bewil) in the 1980 film, ''
The Empire Strikes Back
''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...
''. He played Perker in the 1985 adaptation of ''
The Pickwick Papers
''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to s ...
''.
[ In the 1988 television mini-series '']War and Remembrance
''War and Remembrance'' is a novel by Herman Wouk, published in October 1978 as the sequel to Wouk's ''The Winds of War'' (1971). ''The Winds of War'' covers the period 1939 to 1941, and ''War and Remembrance'' continues the story of the extended ...
'', he took the role of Nazi SS officer