Colin Jeavons
Encyclopedia
Colin Jeavons is a Welsh
television actor.
in the Granada
television serials The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
, or the part of the undertaker, Shadrack, in the television situation comedy written by Keith Waterhouse
and Willis Hall
from Waterhouse's novel Billy Liar. He narrated the series Barnaby the Bear
and sang the theme tune.
Pete Stampede and Alan Hayes wrote of Jeavons in The Avengers
Guest Biography page as "one of those under-rated, ever-present supporting actors who never turn in a bad performance." and as a recurring UFO-obsessed character in the sci-fi comedy Kinvig
, "frankly stole the show each and every week."
His most critically acclaimed role was as the neglected and abused child, Donald, in Dennis Potter
's Blue Remembered Hills
(1979). He also featured prominently in the 1990 dramatisation for television of House of Cards
by Michael Dobbs
, as Tim Stamper, Tory Whip and ally of Ian Richardson
's Francis Urquhart. The character returned - promoted initially to Chief Whip, then to Party Chairman - in the sequel, To Play the King
. He was already a well-known character in the sixties following his definitive portrayal of Uriah Heep
in the BBC TV's first television
adaptation of Charles Dickens
' David Copperfield
in 1965. He had roles in other Dickens adaptations including The Old Curiosity Shop
, Great Expectations and Bleak House
.
In 1963 he played the extremely reluctant hero Vadassy forced into espionage in Epitaph For a Spy for BBC Television. He is known as a regular character actor on television classical adaptations; he hosted Play School for a time. He played "with chilling authority" in the words of writer David Stuart Davies
, Professor Moriarty
in The Baker Street Boys
(1982), and "with great panache" Inspector Lestrade
in the Granada Television
series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
(featuring Jeremy Brett
as Holmes). Producer Michael Cox
of the Granada Television
series for Sherlock Holmes
stated frankly that they were given the best Lestrade of his generation.
In 1984, he played the existentialist philosopher Soren Kierkegaard in the "Prometheus Unbound" episode of Don Cupitt
's Sea of Faith (TV series)
for BBC.
In 1986 he acted in Paradise Postponed
. In 1985, he played Adolf Hitler
in Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
. He also appeared in Doctor Who
in the 1966 story The Underwater Menace
and the 1981 spin-off K-9 and Company
; as Briggs, the lawyer who halts the marriage between Jane and Rochester in the 1983 BBC version of Jane Eyre
, twice in cult TV series The Avengers
(in "A Touch of Brimstone" and "The Winged Avenger")and once in Adam Adamant Lives! as a murderous fashion designer.
His elder son, Barney Jeavons, managed the British rock band Reuben
. In 2007 he emerged from retirement and, heavily bearded, starred as the enigmatic General in Reuben's pop video "Blood, Bunny, Larkhall". In the behind-the-scenes short, Jeavons explained briefly some of the highlights of his acting career.
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
television actor.
Career
Jeavons is best known as Inspector LestradeInspector Lestrade
Inspector G. Lestrade is a fictional character, a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle used the name of a friend from his days at the University of Edinburgh, a Saint Lucian medical student by the name of Joseph Alexandre Lestrade....
in the Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
television serials The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the name given to the TV series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994, although only the first two series bore that title on screen. The series was broadcast on the ITV network in the UK,...
, or the part of the undertaker, Shadrack, in the television situation comedy written by Keith Waterhouse
Keith Waterhouse
Keith Spencer Waterhouse CBE was a novelist, newspaper columnist, and the writer of many television series.-Biography:Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
and Willis Hall
Willis Hall
Willis Hall was an English playwright and radio and television writer who drew on his working class roots in Leeds for much of his writings....
from Waterhouse's novel Billy Liar. He narrated the series Barnaby the Bear
Colargol
Colargol is a fictional bear created by French writer Olga Pouchine in the 1950s. Colargol first became famous through a series of children's recordings by Philips in the 1960s...
and sang the theme tune.
Pete Stampede and Alan Hayes wrote of Jeavons in The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
Guest Biography page as "one of those under-rated, ever-present supporting actors who never turn in a bad performance." and as a recurring UFO-obsessed character in the sci-fi comedy Kinvig
Kinvig
- Synopsis :Des Kinvig runs an electrical repair shop in the small town of Bingleton.One day his store is visited by Miss Griffin , who is from the planet Mercury and in need of Des' help...
, "frankly stole the show each and every week."
His most critically acclaimed role was as the neglected and abused child, Donald, in Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
's Blue Remembered Hills
Blue Remembered Hills
Blue Remembered Hills is a television play by Dennis Potter, originally broadcast on January 30, 1979 as part of the BBC's Play for Today series....
(1979). He also featured prominently in the 1990 dramatisation for television of House of Cards
House of Cards
House of Cards is a 1990 political thriller television drama serial by the BBC in four parts, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised from 18 November to 9 December 1990, to critical and popular acclaim...
by Michael Dobbs
Michael Dobbs
Michael Dobbs, Baron Dobbs is a British Conservative politician and best-selling author.-Background:Michael Dobbs was born on 14 November 1948 in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, the son of nurseryman Eric and Eileen Dobbs. He was educated at Hertford Grammar School and Christ Church, Oxford University....
, as Tim Stamper, Tory Whip and ally of Ian Richardson
Ian Richardson
Ian William Richardson CBE was a Scottish actor best known for his portrayal of the Machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's House of Cards trilogy. He was also a leading Shakespearean stage actor....
's Francis Urquhart. The character returned - promoted initially to Chief Whip, then to Party Chairman - in the sequel, To Play the King
To Play the King
To Play The King is a 1993 BBC television serial, the second part of the House of Cards trilogy. Directed by Paul Seed, the serial was based on the Michael Dobbs novel of the same name and adapted for television by Andrew Davies...
. He was already a well-known character in the sixties following his definitive portrayal of Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep is a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his novel David Copperfield.The character is notable for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own "'umbleness". His name has become synonymous with being a yes man...
in the BBC TV's first television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
adaptation of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' David Copperfield
David Copperfield (novel)
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery , commonly referred to as David Copperfield, is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial...
in 1965. He had roles in other Dickens adaptations including The Old Curiosity Shop
The Old Curiosity Shop (1979 miniseries)
The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1979 BBC miniseries based on the novel by Charles Dickens. It was directed by Julian Amyes, and adapted by William Trevor.- Cast :*Natalie Ogle - Little Nell*Trevor Peacock - Daniel Quilp*Sebastian Shaw - Grandfather...
, Great Expectations and Bleak House
Bleak House (1985 TV serial)
Bleak House was the second adaptation by the BBC of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. The novel was adapted by Arthur Hopcraft....
.
In 1963 he played the extremely reluctant hero Vadassy forced into espionage in Epitaph For a Spy for BBC Television. He is known as a regular character actor on television classical adaptations; he hosted Play School for a time. He played "with chilling authority" in the words of writer David Stuart Davies
David Stuart Davies
David Stuart Davies is a British writer. He worked as a teacher of English before becoming a full-time editor, writer, and playwright. Davies has written extensively about Sherlock Holmes, both fiction and non-fiction...
, Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
in The Baker Street Boys
The Baker Street Boys
The Baker Street Boys is a British television series made by the BBC and first shown in 1983. The series is based around a gang of street urchins living in Victorian London who assist the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes in solving crimes and find themselves tackling cases of their...
(1982), and "with great panache" Inspector Lestrade
Inspector Lestrade
Inspector G. Lestrade is a fictional character, a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle used the name of a friend from his days at the University of Edinburgh, a Saint Lucian medical student by the name of Joseph Alexandre Lestrade....
in the Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the name given to the TV series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994, although only the first two series bore that title on screen. The series was broadcast on the ITV network in the UK,...
(featuring Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett , born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.-Early life:...
as Holmes). Producer Michael Cox
Michael Cox
Michael Cox may refer to:* Michael Cox , Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics* Michael Cox , Irish Palmarian Archbishop...
of the Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
series for Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
stated frankly that they were given the best Lestrade of his generation.
In 1984, he played the existentialist philosopher Soren Kierkegaard in the "Prometheus Unbound" episode of Don Cupitt
Don Cupitt
Don Cupitt is an English philosopher of religion and scholar of Christian theology. He is an Anglican priest, heretic and an emeritus professor of the University of Cambridge, though is better known as a popular writer, broadcaster and commentator...
's Sea of Faith (TV series)
Sea of Faith (TV series)
Sea of Faith was a six-part documentary television series, presented on BBC television in 1984 by Don Cupitt. The programme dealt with the history of Christianity in the modern world, focussing especially on how Christianity has responded to challenges such as scientific advances, political atheism...
for BBC.
In 1986 he acted in Paradise Postponed
Paradise Postponed
Paradise Postponed is a 1986 TV serial based on a novel by John Mortimer. The plot focused on inquires into why the leftist Reverend Simeon Simcox left the Simcox brewery millions to the loathsome Leslie Titmuss, a city developer and Conservative cabinet minister...
. In 1985, he played Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
in Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil is a 1985 TV film about two German brothers, Helmut and Karl Hoffmann, and the paths they take during the Nazi era of Germany...
. He also appeared in Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in the 1966 story The Underwater Menace
The Underwater Menace
The Underwater Menace is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 14 January 1967 to 4 February 1967. The story constitutes Jamie McCrimmon's first journey with the Doctor as a travelling companion.-Plot:The TARDIS...
and the 1981 spin-off K-9 and Company
K-9 and Company
K-9 and Company was a proposed television spin-off of the original programme run of Doctor Who . It was to feature former series regulars Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist played by Elisabeth Sladen, and K-9, a robotic dog. Both characters had been companions of the Fourth Doctor, but...
; as Briggs, the lawyer who halts the marriage between Jane and Rochester in the 1983 BBC version of Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre (1983 TV serial)
Jane Eyre is a 1983 British television serial adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel of the same name, produced by BBC and directed by Julian Amyes. The serial stars Zelah Clarke as the title character, and Timothy Dalton as Edward Rochester...
, twice in cult TV series The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
(in "A Touch of Brimstone" and "The Winged Avenger")and once in Adam Adamant Lives! as a murderous fashion designer.
His elder son, Barney Jeavons, managed the British rock band Reuben
Reuben (band)
Reuben were an English three-piece musical group from Camberley, Surrey. Their music was a fusion of alternative rock and heavy metal, as their songs cover a variety of styles, ranging from heavy and upbeat, such as their 2005 single "Blamethrower" to slower, more melodic songs such as their 2004...
. In 2007 he emerged from retirement and, heavily bearded, starred as the enigmatic General in Reuben's pop video "Blood, Bunny, Larkhall". In the behind-the-scenes short, Jeavons explained briefly some of the highlights of his acting career.