Whitrow will is a work of suspense

Actor Benjamin Whitrow, who died in September aged 80, never gave a bad performance, in the opinion of Laurence Olivier.

But his definitive portrayal was of Mr Bennet in BBC’s Pride And Prejudice in 1995, observing the social ambitions of his wife and the contrasting romantic fortunes of five daughters.

So it seems appropriate that his will, bequeathing £814,633, should be a small masterpiece of almost theatrical suspense.

Originally drafted in June 2011, the document lists a bequest of £50,000 to his elder son, Tom, and one of £25,000 to his younger son, Angus, with the residue ‘ to my wife Catherine’. There is no reference at all to his daughter, Hannah.

Then, in a handwritten codicil added this February, Whitrow stipulated he was leaving £ 1,000 to actress Margaret Bourgein and, finally, £ 30,000 ‘to my daughter Hannah’.

There is no mention of actress Celia Imrie, who, in her early 40s, came to an unusual arrangement with Whitrow — asking him to have a child with her but not live with her.

Their son, Angus Imrie, now better known as Josh Archer in radio 4’s saga about Ambridge, was born in 1994 — a half- brother to Tom and Hannah.