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8 roles that show Timothy West's acting greatness
The multi-talented actor has died at the age of 90. Here are his best roles.
Timothy West, who has died aged 90, was one of our most versatile and beloved actors. Over a career that stretched over 60 years, he became one of TV's most recognisable faces, bringing charisma to every part he played. His versatility and talents were evident whether appearing in highbrow drama, sitcoms and soap operas.
“I love the variety of my career very much," he once told The Scotsman. "And I think as actors we have a mission to show that we can do different things because there is a tendency now among the management and casting directors to categorise you, to say ‘oh, he’s more of a classical actor, will he be able to do the accent?’ Of course you can, if you’re an actor you’ve learnt to do everything.”
Here are just eight of the performances that Timothy West gave over the years that explain why he was seen as one of our most gifted actors…
Read more:
Stage and screen star Timothy West dies aged 90 surrounded by family (PA Media, 2 min read)
Timothy West, British Star of Stage and Screen Known for ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘EastEnders,’ Dies at 90 (Variety, 2 min read)
Timothy West on Prunella Scales’ dementia: I miss her companionship (PA Media, 2 min read)
Albert Edward, Edward The Seventh (1975)
West played Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, in this ITV drama from 1975, opposite Annette Crosbie, who played his mother Queen Victoria. Crosbie scooped a Bafta for her performance as the 'Grandmother of Europe', but we think West was equally deserving of an award.
Albert Taylor, Tales Of The Unexpected (1980)
West nabbed the lead in perhaps the best-known, and best-remembered episode of Roald Dahl's twist-in-the-tale anthology series. In Royal Jelly, West plays a beekeeper who feeds the honey bee secretion first to his baby daughter and then to himself, leading to… well, that would be saying. Suffice to say, it's not every actor who'd be able to sell the episode's final moments, but West nails it.
Bradley Hardacre, Brass (1982-1990)
Bradley Hardacre was one of TV's greatest monsters, a gruff, unscrupulous and psychopathically ruthless mine owner. West proved note-perfect casting for this Thirties-set soap spoof, commanding the screen as the show's JR Ewing-with-a-flat-cap.
"The pastiches – of BBC costume dramas, kitchen-sink plays, the gritty north of art, literature and legend – never let up, supplemented by plenty of visual gags," wrote The Guardian in 2012 of this cult sitcom.
Professor Furie, A Very Peculiar Practice (1986)
West appeared in just one episode of Andrew Davies' satire about life on a university campus, but his performance as the explosive Professor Furie, who's in the midst of a midlife crisis, is a scene-stealer.
"The obvious highlight of [the episode] is Timothy West’s barnstorming bewigged performance as Professor Furie," raved Archive TV Musings.
Geoffrey Adams, Not Going Out (2007-2009)
West only played the father to Sally Bretton's Lucy Adams in three episodes of Lee Mack's long-running sitcom, before being replaced by Geoffrey Whitehead, but proved certainly the most intimidating of the two portrayals.
Stan Carter, EastEnders (2014-2015)
It was a sign of West's lack of pretension that an actor of his standing was willing to sign up for a part in a soap opera, a decision especially impressive given EastEnders' gruelling filming schedule and the fact that West was 80 at the time. Introduced as the father of Shirley and Tina Carter, he stayed in the show for a year, before the character of Stan Carter was killed off in one of the soap's most heartbreaking storylines.
"When you have an actor of Tim’s calibre joining your cast, you treasure every day that you have him," said EastEnders' executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins. "And we knew from the start that Stan’s stay with the rest of the Carter family would be a finite one."
After his final episode, where Stan passed away of cancer, one viewer tweeted: "What a wonderful piece of acting by the cast of EastEnders tonight, especially Timothy West."
Himself, Great Canal Journeys (2014-2019)
West was, of course, one of our most outstanding actors, but it was in a show where he appeared as himself that he made perhaps his biggest impression. Great Canal Journeys followed the actor and his wife Prunella Scales (who had only just been recently diagnosed with vascular dementia) as they travelled the canals of the UK, Europe, India and Egypt. Over the course of five years, viewers were charmed by the couple's chemistry and their genuine enthusiasm for boating.
"Watching Prunella Scales and Timothy West pootle about on waterways," enthused The Guardian, "is charming, funny and almost unbearably poignant."
Private Godfrey, Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes (2019)
There aren't many actors who could take a role like Private Godfrey in Dad's Army and make everyone watching forget about the actor who originated the part. The gentle and woolly-headed Charles Godfrey was a million miles from the fiery, dominating characters West usually played, only confirming quite how versatile and adaptable the actor was.
“It is a special pleasure for me to be taking over Godfrey from Arnold Ridley who, coincidently, wrote The Ghost Train, the play in which my parents met,” West said at the time.
