Derek Benfield (11 March 1926 – 10 March 2009) was a British playwright and actor.
He was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, and educated at Bingley Grammar School. He was the author of the stage farce Running Riot and played Patricia Routledge's character's husband in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996–1998).
Arguably, Benfield's best known character portrayal was as transport company foreman Bill Riley in the UK television series The Brothers in the early 1970s. Before this, he starred as Frank Skinner in the 1970 cult sci-fi series broadcast on UK ITV, Timeslip. Some of his other television roles included Walter Greenhalgh in Coronation Street (1961–1969), Albert the Clerk in Rumpole of the Bailey (1978–80), and characters in Breakaway (1980) and First of the Summer Wine (1988).
His film credits include small roles in Crossplot (1969), I Don't Want to Be Born (1975) and Lifeforce (1985). His plays included the farces Post Horn Gallop and Wild Goose Chase, both about the fictional exploits of the eccentric Lord and Lady Elrood and visitors to their castle.
He also appeared with Colin Baker as John Hallam in the Doctor Who audio play Catch-1782 produced by Big Finish Productions.
Plays
- The Young in Heart, 1953
- The Way the Wind Blows, 1954
- Champagne for Breakfast, 1954
- Wild Goose Chase, 1955
- Running Riot, 1958
- Out of Thin Air, 1961
- Fish out of Water, 1963
- Down to Brass Tacks, 1964
- Third Party Risk, 1964
- The Party, 1964
- Post Horn Gallop, 1965
- Murder for the Asking, 1967
- Off the Hook, 1970
- A Bird in the hand, 1973
- Panic Stations, 1975
- Caught on the Hop, 1979
- Beyond a Joke, 1980
- In for the Kill, 1981
- Look Who's Talking, 1984
- Touch and Go, 1984
- Flying Feathers, 1987
- Bedside Manners, 1990
- Toe in the Water, 1991
- Don't Lose the Place, 1992
- Anyone for Breakfast?, 1994
- Up and Running, 1995
- A Fly in the Ointment, 1996
- Two and Two Together, 1999
- Second Time Around, 2000?
- Funny Business, 2005
- In At the Deep End, 2005
- Over My Dead Body, 2005?
- First Things First, 2007
Personal life
Benfield was married to actress Susan Lyle Grant from 1953 until his death in 2009. They had two children together and two grandchildren.
Death
Benfield died of Stomach cancer on 10 March in 2009 at the age of 82 the day before his 83rd birthday.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
- Derek Benfield at the British Film Institute
- Derek Benfield at IMDb
- Obituary in The Times
- Obituary in The Daily Telegraph
- Obituary in The Guardian
- Obituary in The Independent
- http://www.timeslip.org.uk/whoswho/derekbenfield.php Archived 15 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine
