Anthony Thomas Jackson was an English actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, who reached his widest audiences as founder of the eponymous ghost hiring agency in the long-running BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 children's comedy series Rentaghost

Rentaghost

Rentaghost is a British children's television comedy show, broadcast by the BBC between 6 January 1976 and 6 November 1984. The show's plot centred on the antics of a number of ghosts who worked for a firm called Rentaghost, which rented out the ghosts for various tasks.-Background:The company,...

. Jackson began his career with the Birmingham Repertory. He studied at Rose Bruford College

Rose Bruford College

Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance is a British drama school, offering university-level and professional vocational training for theatre and performance and the BA and MA degrees, based in Sidcup, Southeast London.-History:Founded in 1950, Rose Bruford "pioneered the first acting degree...

 and won the BBC Radio Drama Award at the age of 21. Later he joined the BBC Repertory and played at the Mermaid Theatre and the Nottingham Playhouse.

Jackson played the part of The Tale Bearer (a narrator not included in the original story) in the 1968 BBC Radio dramatisation of J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's The Hobbit

The Hobbit

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...

.

Jackson also provided the voice for Dai the station in animated children's series Ivor the Engine

Ivor the Engine

Ivor the Engine is a British children's animation by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It is a children's television series relating the adventures of a small green locomotive who lived in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and worked for The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway...

and went on to have roles in many long-running British television series. He also appeared in the sitcoms Bless This House, All Our Saturdays

All Our Saturdays

All Our Saturdays is a British sitcom starring Diana Dors that aired in 1973. Stuart Harris wrote two episodes, while Oliver Free, Eric Geen, Anthony Crouch and Peter Robinson & David Rutherford all wrote one each...

, Mind Your Language

Mind Your Language

Mind Your Language is a British comedy television series, that premiered on ITV in late 1977. Produced by LWT and directed by Stuart Allen, it is set in an adult education college in London and focuses on the English as a Foreign Language class taught by Mr. Jeremy Brown, portrayed by Barry Evans,...

, Citizen Smith

Citizen Smith

Citizen Smith is a British television sitcom. The show was written by John Sullivan, who later wrote Only Fools and Horses. The pilot was transmitted on 12 April 1977 in the Comedy Special series of one-off plays, and the series proper ran from 3 November 1977 to 31 December 1980.Citizen Smith...

, Dynasty

Dynasty (TV series)

Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...

, The Detectives

The Detectives

The Detectives is a British comedy television series, starring Jasper Carrott, Robert Powell, and George Sewell. It was a spoof of police dramas, which were numerous in the 1990s, and it was aired on BBC One...

, Lovejoy, Softly, Softly

Softly, Softly (TV series)

Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern - supposedly in the Bristol and Chepstow area of the UK...

, Barlow at Large

Barlow at Large

Barlow at Large is a British television programme broadcast in the 1970s, starring Stratford Johns in the title role.Johns had previously played Barlow in the Z-Cars, Softly, Softly and Softly, Softly: Taskforce series on BBC television during the 1960s and early 1970s...

and Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

. In his final years, he appeared in The Bill

The Bill

The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...

, Casualty

Casualty (TV series)

Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...

, Footballers' Wives

Footballers' Wives

Footballers' Wives is a British television drama surrounding the fictional Premier League Association football club Earls Park F.C., its players, and their wives. It was broadcast on the ITV network from 8 January 2002 to 14 April 2006...

, Walker Texas Ranger and Doctors

Doctors (BBC Soap Opera)

Doctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional Midland town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the City of Birmingham. It was created by Chris Murray; Mal Young drove its development, and Carson Black was the original producer. The first episode was broadcast on...

.

Jackson has also done voiceovers for children's animated television shows including The Dreamstone

The Dreamstone

The Dreamstone is a British animated television series that ran for 4 series of 13 episodes each between 1990 and 1995. The original concept and artwork were created by Michael Jupp. The series was animated by the FilmFair animation studio as a Central production for ITV...

, Budgie the Little Helicopter

Budgie the Little Helicopter

Budgie the Little Helicopter is a series of children's books and animated television series relating to a fictional character 'Budgie' and his friends. The characters were based on the books by Sarah, Duchess of York , who was influenced by her flight training in the Royal Navy...

, The Adventures of Paddington Bear

The Adventures of Paddington Bear

The Adventures of Paddington Bear was a Canadian/French animated childrens television series. It was based on the book Paddington Bear by Michael Bond and written by Bruce Robb. It was produced by Cinar and Protecrea. The show had 117 episodes....

, Shakespeare: The Animated Tales

Shakespeare: the Animated Tales

thumb|right|[[Banquo]] and [[Fleance]] from the "Macbeth" episode. Shakespeare: The Animated Tales comprised two six-part television series, first broadcast in 1992 and 1994...

, Watership Down

Watership Down (TV series)

Watership Down is an animated television series, adapted from the novel of the same name by Richard Adams. It was a co-production of Alltime Entertainment of the United Kingdom and Decode Entertainment of Canada, and produced by Martin Rosen, the director of the 1978 feature film...

, Preston Pig

Preston Pig

Preston Pig is a children's cartoon show, that aired on CITV, based on a series of books by Colin McNaughton. It starred Nicky Croydon as Preston, and Hugh Laurie as Mr. Wolf....

, The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends

The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends

The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends is an animated television series based on the works of Beatrix Potter, featuring Peter Rabbit and other anthropomorphic animal characters created by Potter. It was originally shown in the UK on BBC between 1992 and 1995 and subsequently broadcast in the USA on...

, Testament: The Bible in Animation

Testament: The Bible in Animation

Testament: The Bible in Animation was a 1997 animated series produced by Sianel 4 Cymru . It featured animated versions of stories from the Bible, each story using its own unique style of animation, including stop-motion animation. It ran for two seasons in the United Kingdom and won one Emmy,...

, Zombie Hotel

Zombie Hotel

Zombie Hotel is an animated children's program about a hotel run by zombies, produced by French production company Alphanim and shown internationally. The main characters are Fungus and Maggot, two child zombies who pretend to be human to get into their local school, and their family and boarders...

, The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows (TV series)

The Wind in the Willows is a 52-episode TV series that was originally broadcast between 1984 and 1987, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows and following the 1983 film The Wind in the Willows. It was made by animation company Cosgrove Hall for Thames...

(Cosgrove Hall version) and The Baskervilles

The Baskervilles

The Baskervilles is an animated children's TV show about a British family living in the most twisted theme park in the world. The show was originally created by series co-director Nick Martinelli and series co-writer Alastair Swinnerton, and eventually distributed and co-financed by CINAR and...

.

He also did voices in live-action shows and films including The Storyteller

The Storyteller

The StoryTeller is a live-action/puppet television series. It was an American/British co-production which originally aired in 1988 and was created and produced by Jim Henson....

, Labyrinth

Labyrinth (film)

Labyrinth is a 1986 British/American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, produced by George Lucas, and designed by Brian Froud. Henson collaborated on the screenwriting with children's author Dennis Lee, Terry Jones from Monty Python, and Elaine May .The film stars David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin...

and A.D.A.M.

He found a niche in The Godot Company, and became one of its principal members.

He died suddenly in London on 26 November 2006, having been taken ill during rehearsals of "Waiting for Godot" whilst the company was touring in Ireland.

Television roles

Year	Title	Role
1959	Ivor the Engine Ivor the Engine Ivor the Engine is a British children's animation by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It is a children's television series relating the adventures of a small green locomotive who lived in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and worked for The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway...	Dai
1970	Softly, Softly Softly, Softly (TV series) Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern - supposedly in the Bristol and Chepstow area of the UK...	Corry
1971	Bless This House	Trevor Lewis
1973	All Our Saturdays All Our Saturdays All Our Saturdays is a British sitcom starring Diana Dors that aired in 1973. Stuart Harris wrote two episodes, while Oliver Free, Eric Geen, Anthony Crouch and Peter Robinson & David Rutherford all wrote one each...	Frank Bosomworth
1976	Rentaghost Rentaghost Rentaghost is a British children's television comedy show, broadcast by the BBC between 6 January 1976 and 6 November 1984. The show's plot centred on the antics of a number of ghosts who worked for a firm called Rentaghost, which rented out the ghosts for various tasks.-Background:The company,...	Fred Mumford
1977	You're Only Young Twice	Benny
1978	Mind Your Language Mind Your Language Mind Your Language is a British comedy television series, that premiered on ITV in late 1977. Produced by LWT and directed by Stuart Allen, it is set in an adult education college in London and focuses on the English as a Foreign Language class taught by Mr. Jeremy Brown, portrayed by Barry Evans,...	Mr Jarvis
1980	Citizen Smith Citizen Smith Citizen Smith is a British television sitcom. The show was written by John Sullivan, who later wrote Only Fools and Horses. The pilot was transmitted on 12 April 1977 in the Comedy Special series of one-off plays, and the series proper ran from 3 November 1977 to 31 December 1980.Citizen Smith...	Italian Waiter
1981	Dynasty Dynasty (TV series) Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...	Bartender
1982	Only Fools and Horses Only Fools and Horses Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...	Spanish police officer
1986	Lovejoy Lovejoy Lovejoy is a TV series about the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer and faker based in East Anglia, a less than scrupulous yet likeable rogue. The episodes were based on a series of picaresque novels by John Grant...	Brian - Car Mechanic
1990	The Dreamstone The Dreamstone The Dreamstone is a British animated television series that ran for 4 series of 13 episodes each between 1990 and 1995. The original concept and artwork were created by Michael Jupp. The series was animated by the FilmFair animation studio as a Central production for ITV...	Nug, Mr. Blossom (voice)
1994	The Tale of Pigling Bland The Tale of Pigling Bland The Tale of Pigling Bland is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1913...	The Policeman
1996	The Detectives The Detectives The Detectives is a British comedy television series, starring Jasper Carrott, Robert Powell, and George Sewell. It was a spoof of police dramas, which were numerous in the 1990s, and it was aired on BBC One...	First Copper
1997	Backup Backup (TV series) Backup was a BBC drama series about the work of a police Operational Support Unit .It ran for two series, between 1995 and 1997.*Series One - Eight episodes , 1995...	Talbot
2001	Watership Down Watership Down (TV series) Watership Down is an animated television series, adapted from the novel of the same name by Richard Adams. It was a co-production of Alltime Entertainment of the United Kingdom and Decode Entertainment of Canada, and produced by Martin Rosen, the director of the 1978 feature film...	Keeharr, Cowslip, Additional Voices (Series 3 only)

External links