Farewell, Mr Derek ...Yes Minister and Heartbeat star dies
ACTOR Derek Fowlds, who starred in Yes Minister and Heartbeat, died yesterday aged 82.
He found fame in 1969 as Mr Derek on The Basil Brush Show, in which he played the straight man to the glove puppet fox known for his catchphrase ‘boom boom!’
Fowlds later became a familiar face as Jim Hacker’s Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley in the BBC’s hit political sit comes Yes Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister.
He was also known as sergeant-turned-publican Oscar Blaketon in Heartbeat, ITV’s long-running police drama set in 1960s Yorkshire.
The actor died at Royal United Hospitals Bath in the early hours of yesterday after suffering from pneumonia which led to heart failure caused by sepsis. He was surrounded by his family when he died and is survived by his sons Jamie and Jeremy.
Fowlds, who was born in Wandsworth, south-west London, trained as an apprentice printer, but got into acting after joining the RAF theatre group while doing his national service in Malta.
His first professional acting job was appearing in weekly rep at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Colwyn Bay in 1958, while on summer holiday from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
He appeared on The Basil Brush Show from 1969 to 1973, replacing actor Rodney Bewes. Basil’s official Twitter account paid tribute to the actor yesterday in a message that read: ‘I don’t know what to say, I’m so desperately sad. Such times we had, rest in peace Mr Derek, my best friend for ever.’ Fowlds made his West End debut in The Miracle Worker before taking roles in films such as Tamahine, East Of Sudan and Hotel Paradiso, and TV series including Z Cars and The Liver Birds.
But he is best- known for starring in Yes Minister opposite Paul Eddington as Jim Hacker and Sir Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphrey Appleby from 1980 to 1984 before the sequel Yes, Prime Minister, which ran from 1986 to 1988.
The comedies, which were written by Sir Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, were a particular favourite of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
In tribute, film director Edgar Wright tweeted a clip of the famous scene about the importance of the newspapers and who reads each one. He posted: ‘RIP Derek Fowlds AKA “Mr Derek” AKA Sir Bernard Woolley. This is as classic a scene in British comedy as they come.’
Fowlds appeared in the muchloved Heartbeat for all of the 18 years the show was on television until 2010. He played police sergeant Blaketon, who after he retired ran the post office and then the Aidensfield Arms pub.
The actor released his autobiography, A Part Worth Playing, in 2015, and his most recent credited TV appearance was in Doctors in 2017.
He was married twice; first to actress Wendy Tory and then later to Blue Peter presenter Lesley Judd.
Speaking to The Stage last year, he said: ‘ My advice to young actors today would be to work hard whenever you can, but also to have fun and, whatever you do, don’t take yourself too seriously. Always remember that an acting career is a marathon, not a sprint.’
Following his death Helen Bennett, his personal assistant and friend of many years, said: ‘He was the most beloved man to everybody who ever met him, he never had a bad word to say about anybody and he was so well respected, adored by everyone. You couldn’t have met a nicer person ever, he was just a wonderful man and I will miss him terribly.’
Jason Durr, who starred with Fowlds in Heartbeat, said he was ‘a great actor and a kind, intelligent man’ and that he would ‘treasure the memories’ of working with him.
Actor Larry Lamb wrote on Twitter: ‘A dear old colleague passed on today... Derek Fowlds was a truly lovely man and a fantastic actor... a real legend.’