Trevor Bannister
Encyclopedia
Trevor Gordon Bannister (14 August 1934 14 April 2011) was an English
actor
best known for playing the womanising junior salesman Mr. Lucas in the sitcom
Are You Being Served?
from 1972 to 1979, and for his role as Toby Mulberry Smith in the longest-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine
, from 2003 until it ended its run in 2010. He died the following year.
in London
in Billy Liar
, which starred Albert Finney
. He starred as Darkie Pilbeam, a wartime spiv
, in the 1968 television series The War of Darkie Pilbeam
, and from 1969 to 1970 he appeared as "Heavy Breathing" in Jack Rosenthal
's sitcom, The Dustbinmen
. Shortly afterwards, he was asked to play Mr Lucas in a Comedy Playhouse
pilot
called Are You Being Served?
and took the part in the series.
In 1972 he appeared as the weak bladdered Producer of a local theatre company in "Steptoe and Son", Episode 2 series 7 - "A Star is Born".
He played Peter Pitt in the 1988 BBC sitcom Wyatt's Watchdogs
. Other TV appearances include Keeping Up Appearances
, Call Earnshaw, Gideon's Way
, The Saint
, The Tomorrow People
, Only on Sunday and The Avengers
. Bannister played three different characters in the ITV
soap
Coronation Street
. From 2001 he played a recurring character (The Golf Captain) in Last of the Summer Wine
. becoming a regular in the 30th series in 2009, finally receiving a name (Toby Mulbery-Smith), moving in next door to Barry and Glenda (Mike Grady and Sarah Thomas) and befriending Morton (Christopher Beeny
).
He worked mostly in the theatre, with credits including Billy Liar and the farce Move Over, Mrs Markham. Bannister also performed in Shakespeare
and was a regular in pantomime
for more than 35 years, nearly always playing the dame
. In 2007, he guest starred in the Doctor Who
audio adventure, Nocturne
.
His last appearances was in the TV series New Tricks episode "Old Fossils" broadcast 4 July 2011.
at the time of his death. He is survived by all of his sons and his brother, John.
in Thames Ditton
, Surrey. Are You Being Served?
and Last of the Summer Wine
co-star Frank Thornton
said that the last event Bannister had attended had been his own 90th birthday in January 2011, three months before he died.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
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...
best known for playing the womanising junior salesman Mr. Lucas in the sitcom
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John...
from 1972 to 1979, and for his role as Toby Mulberry Smith in the longest-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
, from 2003 until it ended its run in 2010. He died the following year.
Career
In 1960, Bannister appeared on stage at the Cambridge TheatreCambridge Theatre
The Cambridge Theatre is a West End theatre, on a corner site in Earlham Street facing Seven Dials, in the London Borough of Camden, built in 1929-30. It was designed by Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie; interior partly by Serge Chermayeff, with interior bronze friezes by sculptor Anthony Gibbons...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in Billy Liar
Billy Liar
Billy Liar is a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse, which was later adapted into a play, a film, a musical and a TV series. The work has inspired and featured in a number of popular songs....
, which starred Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
. He starred as Darkie Pilbeam, a wartime spiv
Spiv
In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices...
, in the 1968 television series The War of Darkie Pilbeam
The War of Darkie Pilbeam
The War of Darkie Pilbeam written by Tony Warren, produced by Richard Everitt, was first a 3-part period drama set in the North of England. It originally aired on British television in 1968....
, and from 1969 to 1970 he appeared as "Heavy Breathing" in Jack Rosenthal
Jack Rosenthal
Jack Morris Rosenthal CBE was an English playwright, who wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations.-Biography:...
's sitcom, The Dustbinmen
The Dustbinmen
The Dustbinmen was a British television sitcom made by Granada Television for ITV, which starred Bryan Pringle, Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield and Tim Wylton. The show was a spin-off from a one-off 90-minute TV movie "There's a Hole in Your Dustbin, Delilah" written by Jack Rosenthal and...
. Shortly afterwards, he was asked to play Mr Lucas in a Comedy Playhouse
Comedy Playhouse
Comedy Playhouse was a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served?...
pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
called Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John...
and took the part in the series.
In 1972 he appeared as the weak bladdered Producer of a local theatre company in "Steptoe and Son", Episode 2 series 7 - "A Star is Born".
He played Peter Pitt in the 1988 BBC sitcom Wyatt's Watchdogs
Wyatt's Watchdogs
Wyatt's Watchdogs was a 30 minute BBC1 situation comedy that starred Brian Wilde and Trevor Bannister. Created and written by Miles Tredinnick, the six episode series was transmitted in the autumn of 1988...
. Other TV appearances include Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society...
, Call Earnshaw, Gideon's Way
Gideon's Way
Gideon's Way is a British television crime series made by ITC Entertainment in 1964/65, based on the novels by John Creasey . The series was made at Elstree in twin production with The Saint TV series...
, The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People is a British children's science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran between 1973 and 1979. The series was re-imagined in 1992, Roger Price acting as executive producer...
, Only on Sunday and 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...
. Bannister played three different characters in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
soap
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
. From 2001 he played a recurring character (The Golf Captain) in Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
. becoming a regular in the 30th series in 2009, finally receiving a name (Toby Mulbery-Smith), moving in next door to Barry and Glenda (Mike Grady and Sarah Thomas) and befriending Morton (Christopher Beeny
Christopher Beeny
Born in London, Beeny began his career at the age of six when he danced for the ' Ballet Rambert. He spent several years at the ' Arts Educational School before later progressing to 'RADA.His first screen role was in the 1952 film The Long Memory...
).
He worked mostly in the theatre, with credits including Billy Liar and the farce Move Over, Mrs Markham. Bannister also performed in Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
and was a regular in pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
for more than 35 years, nearly always playing the dame
Pantomime dame
A pantomime dame is a traditional character in British pantomime. It is a continuation of en travesti portrayal of female characters by male actors in drag. They are often played either in an extremely camp style, or else by men acting 'butch' in women's clothing...
. In 2007, he guest starred in the 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...
audio adventure, Nocturne
Nocturne (Doctor Who audio)
Nocturne is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:The Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex arrive on a human colony world beloved by the Doctor for its art and music.-Cast:...
.
His last appearances was in the TV series New Tricks episode "Old Fossils" broadcast 4 July 2011.
Family
Bannister was the youngest of three siblings. His first marriage was to actress Kathleen Cravos in 1959. They had three sons together - Jeremy, Simon and Timothy - and divorced. He married Pamela Carson in 1982 and lived with her in SurreySurrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
at the time of his death. He is survived by all of his sons and his brother, John.
Death
Bannister died on 14 April 2011, at the age of 76, after a heart attack at his allotmentAllotment (gardening)
An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
in Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton is a village in Surrey, England, bordering Greater London. It is situated 12.2 miles south-west of Charing Cross between the towns of Kingston upon Thames, Surbiton, Esher and East Molesey...
, Surrey. Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John...
and Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
co-star Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton is an English actor who is best known for playing Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Truly in Last of the Summer Wine.-Early life:...
said that the last event Bannister had attended had been his own 90th birthday in January 2011, three months before he died.