![Roger Rowland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Roger_Rowland.jpg)
Roger Rowland (1 April 1935 – 14 January 2011) was a British TV actor predominantly working in the 1970s and 1980s. He made quite a number of UK television appearances, including some well-remembered series (though none were starring roles). His best-known role was Sergeant North through the 1973 series of
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
. He was once married to the actress
Anne Stallybrass
Jacqueline Anne Stallybrass (4 December 1938 – 3 July 2021) was an English actress who trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. The television roles for which she is best known are Jane Seymour in ''The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' (197 ...
.
Rowland was born in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, England, on 1 April 1935. He died on 14 January 2011, aged 75.
Television work
On television, Rowland's career began with small roles, sometimes uncredited appearances. He had small parts in early episodes of anthology series, such as Granada Television's
ITV Play Of The Week
''Play of the Week'' is a 90-minute British television anthology series produced by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television.
Synopsis
From 1955 to 1967 approximately 500 episodes a ...
, the ABC (Associated British Corporation) Television's
Armchair Theatre
''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968.
The Canadi ...
strand, and later in ITV's Play Of The Week and
Saturday night Theatre
''Saturday Night Theatre'' was a long-running radio drama strand on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken ...
. He also made a number of appearances in the BBC's
Play For Today
''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...
strand.
Rowland also made an appearance in the significant 1958 BBC production of
Quatermass and the Pit
''Quatermass and the Pit'' is a British television science-fiction serial transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's ''Quatermass'' serials, although the chief character, Profe ...
as a journalist and appeared as Frank Hoyle in a number of episodes of
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 ...
. His appearance in
Probation Officer
A probation and parole officer is an official appointed or sworn to investigate, report on, and supervise the conduct of convicted offenders on probation or those released from incarceration to community supervision such as parole. Most probati ...
as 'First Policeman' presaged a number of roles Rowland would be given as a policeman of varying levels of seniority over the coming years.
Rowland met the actress
Anne Stallybrass
Jacqueline Anne Stallybrass (4 December 1938 – 3 July 2021) was an English actress who trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. The television roles for which she is best known are Jane Seymour in ''The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' (197 ...
in Nottingham and they married in 1963. He continued making TV appearances over the years in such series as
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 ...
,
Softly Softly and it's follow-up,
Softly Softly Task Force,
It's Dark Outside, The Villains,
Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...
, Sexton Blake,
The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder
''The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder'' is a British television series which was originally broadcast on ITV in two series from 1969 to 1971. It is based on a series of novels and short stories written by Edgar Wallace featuring the character of J.G. Re ...
and
Paul Temple
Paul Temple is a fictional character created by English writer Francis Durbridge. Temple is a professional author of crime fiction and an amateur private detective. With his wife Louise, affectionately known as 'Steve' in reference to her jo ...
. He also appeared in comedies such as
The Worker and
The Dustbinmen
''The Dustbinmen'' is a British television sitcom made by Granada Television for ITV, which starred Bryan Pringle, Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield and Tim Wylton. The show was a spin-off from a one-off 90-minute television film ''There's ...
. Anne Stallybrass was unable to have children. Though this was something she learned to live with, the couple later divorced in 1972.
Special Branch
Thames Television premiered Special Branch in September 1969, with the episode "Troika". Rowland played the part of Det. Chief Insp. Felding, an incidental character in the plot. When
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
was revamped for a third series to be made by
Euston Films
Euston Films is a British film and television production company. It was originally a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from 1971 to 1994, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network. ...
in 1973, Rowland came on board as Sergeant Bill North, sidekick to Inspector Craven (played by
George Sewell
George Sewell (31 August 19242 April 2007) was an English actor, best known for his television roles, but also active on stage and in films.
Early life and career
The son of a Hoxton printer and a florist, Sewell left school at the age of 14 a ...
). The mix of Craven's working-class character with the rather more upper-class North made for some infrequent minor class commentary, though they forged a strong and respectful working relationship. North would tend to be overshadowed in S3 episodes where
Patrick Mower
Patrick Mower (born Patrick Archibald Shaw; 12 September 1938) is an English actor who has portrayed the role of Rodney Blackstock in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' since 2000. As well as portraying Rodney, Mower has appeared in various films ...
made guest appearances as Craven's recently promoted equivalent, Detective-Inspector Haggerty.
Mower joined Special Branch as full-time co-star for Series 4, with DCI Haggerty and Craven developing a more antagonistic partnership which was of more interest to the viewer. (This dynamic would be carried on with the Regan-Carter relationship in Special Branch's successor,
The Sweeney
''The Sweeney'' is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Ins ...
.) To make way for Haggerty, the character of North became subject to a mental breakdown as series 3 drew to a close and would leave Special Branch.
There would be one final appearance for the character in series 4, episode 2 "Catherine The Great", where Craven ad Haggerty are on the hunt for an assassin. North - now promoted to a Detective Inspector in CID - is canvassed for assistance.
Further television work
Other appearances around this period included well-known series such as
A Family At War
''A Family At War'' is a British drama Television program, series that aired on ITV (TV network), ITV from 1970 to 1972. It was created by John Finch and made by ITV Granada, Granada Television for ITV. The original producer was Richard Doubled ...
,
Man At The Top,
Hine
''Hine'' is a surname deriving from Middle English.
Etymology
According to the '' Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland'', the modern name ''Hine'' and its variants derive from the Middle English word ''hine'' (with the addit ...
,
Emmerdale Farm
''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...
,
The Edwardians
''The Edwardians'' (1930) is one of Vita Sackville-West's later novels and a clear critique of the Edwardian aristocratic society as well as a reflection of her own childhood experiences. It belongs to the genre of the Bildungsroman and descri ...
and
Strangers
A stranger is a person who is unknown to another person or group. Because of this unknown status, a stranger may be perceived as a threat until their identity (social science), identity and Character structure, character can be ascertained. Differ ...
.
In the 1974
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More, Order of the British Empire#Current classes, CBE (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was an English film and stage actor.
Initially achieving fame in the comedy ''Genevieve (film), Genevieve'' (1953), he appeared in many ...
detective series
Father Brown
Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective who is featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936 written by English author G. K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuiti ...
, Rowland played Carstairs K.C. in episode 6, "The Mirror of the Magistrate".
He appeared in very few films, the most famous of which would be the comedy-horror film,
An American Werewolf In London, where he played the role of a policeman.
Rowland played Exton Waite MP in the opening episode of
Floodtide
''Floodtide'' is a 1949 British romantic drama film directed by Frederick Wilson and starring Gordon Jackson, Rona Anderson, John Laurie and Jimmy Logan.
The film was one of the four of David Rawnsley's films that used his "independent frame" ...
(1987), written by
Roger Marshall. Exton's death in episode 1 (titled "The Call") dies from a heart attack supposedly brought on after taking cocaine, which opens up the rest of the thriller.
Perhaps a mark of Rowland's sometime ability of playing forgettable characters, was by being given two separate minor roles in 1986's
First Among Equals. In episode 6 he played Robin Oakley, while later in episode 9 he appeared as the Chairman of the
1922 Committee
The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The committee, consisting of all Conservative backbench member ...
.
Other small roles were in
Auf Weidersein Pet,
Boon
Boon may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Boon (game), a trick-taking card game
* ''Boon'' (novel), a 1915 satirical work by H. G. Wells
* ''Boon'' (TV series), a British television series starring Michael Elphick
* The Ultimate Boo ...
,
The Return Of Sherlock Holmes
''The Return of Sherlock Holmes'' is a 1905 collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903–1904, by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The stories were published in the '' Strand Magazine'' in Britain and ''Collier's'' i ...
,
The Monocled Mutineer
''The Monocled Mutineer'' is a 1986 BBC television drama series starring Paul McGann about the Étaples mutiny in 1917 during the First World War. The four-part serial, which was the first historical screenplay written by Alan Bleasdale, dramat ...
.
In 1989, Rowland appeared in Tales of Sherwood Forest Episode 4, as Detective Sergeant Renwick.
His last-known credit was in the Canadian series ''
Traders''.
Death
Rowland died in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
on 14 January 2011, aged 75. He was survived by his wife Elspeth Alexandra Carling, whom he'd married in 1983.
References
* https://en.kinorium.com/name/560233/
External links
*
Roger Rowland - actor - biography, photo, best movies and TV shows (kinorium.com)Avelyman.com - Roger Rowland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowland, Roger
2011 deaths
English male television actors
English male film actors
English male stage actors
1935 births