Colin Jeavons

Colin Abel Jeavons (born 20 October 1929) is a Welsh retired actor and television presenter, having trained at the Old Vic Theatre School. He is known for his character roles and has worked in theatre, television and film, especially in literary adaptations and roles related to the works of Charles Dickens.

Career Jeavons' started his career in Birmingham Repertory Theatre in a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in 1946, and also worked for such companies as the Bristol Old Vic, Royal Court Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His earliest television role was as Jules Neraud in an episode of the 1956 anthology series of teleplays Nom-de-Plume.

Jeavons began appearing in BBC literary adaptation roles including a production of Pride and Prejudice, an association with Dickens productions on BBC Television began in 1959 with Bleak House as Richard Carstone, and Great Expectations (for the first time) as Herbert Pocket. The same year he played Prince Hal/Henry V in the BBC's The Life and Death of Sir John Falstaff. In 1963 he played the extremely reluctant hero Vadassy forced into espionage in Epitaph for a Spy for BBC Television.

Jeavons portrayed Uriah Heep in the BBC's David Copperfield (1966). Only one episode featuring him (episode 11, "Umble Aspirations") is known to exist. He appeared in a host of 1960s and 1970s TV programmes including Doctor Who (in The Underwater Menace), Adam Adamant Lives! as a murderous fashion designer, as the undertaker Shadrack in Billy Liar (1973), as businessman Leonard Gold in The Sweeney (in the 1978 episode "The Bigger They Are"), as shop owner Ellery in Shoestring in the episode "Where Was I?" (1980) and The Avengers (in "A Touch of Brimstone" and "The Winged Avenger"). Pete Stampede and Alan Hayes wrote of Jeavons in the latter series as "one of those under-rated, ever-present supporting actors who never turn in a bad performance." On children's TV, he hosted Play School for a time, and read "The Black Vicar" on Jackanory. He also appeared in the 1981 Doctor Who spin-off K-9 and Company, and he narrated two BBC children's animated series, namely Barnaby and Joe.

He appeared in the Play for Today production of David Edgar's play about British neo-Nazis, Destiny (1978). The same year he played the part of Mr. Johnson, a schoolteacher, in Peter McDougall's BBC supernatural drama Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man. He appeared as Samson Brass in another BBC Dickens production, The Old Curiosity Shop (1979), and in another version of Great Expectations (1981), this time as Wemmick. The same year he played a recurring UFO-obsessed character in the sci-fi comedy Kinvig. His most critically acclaimed role during this period was as the neglected and abused child, Donald, in Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills (1979).

In the 1980s, Jeavons was involved with two dramatisations of Sherlock Holmes stories. He played "with chilling authority" in the words of writer David Stuart Davies, Professor Moriarty in The Baker Street Boys (1982), and "with great panache" Inspector Lestrade in the Granada Television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (featuring Jeremy Brett as Holmes). Producer Michael Cox of the Granada Television series stated frankly that they were given the best Lestrade of his generation. In the 1981 TV production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, he portrayed Max Quordlepleen, an entertainer who hosts at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Jeavons was Briggs, the lawyer who halts the marriage between Jane and Rochester, in a BBC version of Jane Eyre (1983). In 1984, he played the existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in the "Prometheus Unbound" episode of Don Cupitt's Sea of Faith for BBC. The following year he played Adolf Hitler in Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil. He played the solicitor Vholes in another BBC adaptation of Bleak House in 1985. In 1986 he was seen in Paradise Postponed.

Jeavons featured in the 1990 television drama House of Cards by Michael Dobbs, as Tim Stamper, Tory Whip and ally of Ian Richardson's Francis Urquhart. The character returned – promoted initially to Chief Whip, then to Party Chairman – in the 1993 sequel, To Play the King. Jeavons played Del Boy's lawyer, Solly Atwell, in Only Fools and Horses. He also played the role of Genrikh Yagoda in the 1992 television film Stalin.

Jeavons also appeared in many films over the years, often as priests or vicars. These included roles in The Devil's Daffodil (1961), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Sleep Is Lovely (1968), The Oblong Box (1969), The Games (1970), Bartleby (1970), Diagnosis: Murder (1975), Schizo (1976), The Island (1980), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Absolute Beginners (1986) and Secret Friends (1991). Jeavons retired from acting in 1993; his final role was a reprise of Tim Stamper in To Play the King.

Personal life Jeavons' elder son Barney managed the British rock band Reuben, and in 2007 Jeavons emerged from retirement, heavily bearded, to appear as the enigmatic General in Reuben's Rock video "Blood, Bunny, Larkhall". In a behind-the-scenes short, Jeavons explained briefly some of the highlights of his acting career.

Filmography

YearTitleRole 1956 Nom-de-Plume (TV series) Jules Neraud (1 episode)1957–58, 1960 ITV Television Playhouse (TV series, 3 episodes) Harry Leak - Niko - Stephens 1958 Television World Theatre (TV series) Yasha (1 episode) The Black Arrow (TV series) Rutter (1 episode) Pride and Prejudice (TV series) Mr. Wickham (3 episodes) Yvette (TV movie, film debut) Xanrof The Firm of Girdlestone (TV miniseries) Farintosh The Lost King (TV series) Karl Von Ense 1959 The Life and Death of Sir John Falstaff (TV series, 6 episodes) King Henry V - Prince Henry Danton's Death (TV movie) St. Just - Executioner Great Expectations (TV miniseries) Herbert Pocket World Theatre (TV miniseries) Jack Barthwick - St. Just - Executioner Sunday Night Theatre (TV series) Hotel manager Bleak House (TV miniseries) Mr Vholes, solicitor (2 episodes) 1960 A Matter of Degree (TV series) Julian Boyd Q.C. (TV series) 1 episode The Small House at Allington (TV series) John Eames 1961 Saturday Playhouse (TV series) John Gourley. Jnr. Solitaire (TV movie) Philippe The Devil's Daffodil (English version) Peter Keene 1960–1961 ITV Play of the Week (TV series) Patrick Oman - Steven Channer - Frederick Ellis 1962 Sir Francis Drake (TV series) Spanish Officer Maigret (TV series) Jean Metayer 1963 Epitaph for a Spy Joseph Vadassy 1961–1963 BBC Sunday-Night Play (TV series) The Intruder - Joseph Conrad - John Horner 1963 The Odd Man trilogy (TV series) Harry Kapp 1964 Moonstrike (TV series) Guillaume Theatre 625 (TV series) Colonel Levin1965 The Wednesday Play (TV series) Barry Raines The Villains (TV series) Nicholls The Man in Room 17 (TV series) Dr. Jim Pearson Wednesday Theatre (TV series) Albert 1966 The Liars (TV series) David The Baron (TV series) Tom Stirling David Copperfield (TV series) Uriah Heep Emergency Ward 10 (TV series) John Edwards Adam Adamant Lives! (TV series) Roger Clair 1966–1967 The Avengers (TV series, serial: The Underwater Menace) Stanton - Darcy 1967 Uncle Charles (TV series) M. de Grochy Doctor Who (TV series) Damon Mr. Rose (TV series) Lucius Prentiss Frankenstein Created Woman Priest St. Ives (TV series) Major Chevenix The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim (TV series) Brian 1968 Man in a Suitcase (TV series) Gaoler The Ronnie Barker Playhouse (TV series) Gosling The Jazz Age (TV series) Perry Sleep Is Lovely Butler Dixon of Dock Green (TV series) George Sanders 1969 The Oblong Box Doctor Detective (TV series) Dr. Glyn Lawrence 1970 The Hero of My Life (TV movie) Wilkie Collins The Games Earnest Man Thirty-Minute Theatre (TV series) Conspirator The Doctors (TV series) Frank Ogden Bartleby Tucker 1971 Doomwatch (TV series) Botting Paul Temple (TV series) Vasili Paradeisianos Bless This House Vicar Frankie Howerds Hour (TV mini-series)Actor ITV Saturday Night Hour (TV series) Ken Winters 1972 The Shadow of the Tower (TV series) Sir Robert Clifford The Dick Emery Show (TV series)Actor 1970–1972 Scott On... (TV series) 1973 All Star Comedy Carnival (TV series) Mr. Shadrack (segment: "Billy Liar") 1973–1974 Billy Liar (TV series) Mr. Shadrack (23 episodes) 1974 Barnaby (TV series) Narrator (English Version) Fall of Eagles (TV mini-series) Printer Diagnosis: Murder Bob Dawson 1966–1975 BBC Play of the House (TV series) Snake - Kislytsin 1975 Wodehouse Playhouse (TV series) Stranger Churchill's People (TV series) Hon. Robert Boyle Centre Play Charles Kingsley 1971–1976 Z Cars (TV series) Ambulance Man - Potter1980Lady KillersMr. A.T. Lawrence1981K-9 and Company (TV pilot)George Tracey1981 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series) Max Quordlepleen 1984–1994 Sherlock Holmes (TV series) Inspector G. Lestrade