Brian Wilde

Brian Wilde
Born	Brian George Wilde
Years active	1953–1997
Spouse	Eva Stuart

Brian George Wilde (13 June 1927 – 20 March 2008) was an English actor, best known for his roles in television comedy, notably Mr Barrowclough in Porridge and "Foggy" Dewhurst in Last of the Summer Wine. His lugubrious world-weary face was a staple of British television for forty years.

Career

Whilst born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, he was brought up in Devon and Hertfordshire and attended Richard Hale School. He trained as an actor at RADA.

He had a small part in the horror film Night of the Demon (1957) and early television roles included the series The Love of Mike (1960) and supporting Tony Hancock in episodes of his ATV series in 1963. He also played Detective Superintendent Halcro in a series of two-part thrillers about undercover Scotland Yard officers, The Men from Room Thirteen (BBC, 1959-61). He had minor roles in films such as The Jokers (1967) and Carry On Doctor (1968), and on television in Room at the Bottom (1966-67) as Mr Salisbury. His first major television success was in 1970 as refuse depot manager "Bloody Delilah" in the ITV sitcom The Dustbinmen. He showed his sinister side as the mischievous magician Mr Peacock in the children's drama series Ace of Wands between 1970 & 1972. In 1971, he starred as a murderer in The Uninvited, an episode of the BBC's supernatural thriller series Out of the Unknown. Also in 1971, in the television drama Elizabeth R, Wilde played the efficient, merciless 'rackmaster' Richard Topcliffe, who was charged with the torture of prisoners in the Tower of London.

Porridge

In 1973, he starred as a different kind of gaoler in the second episode of Seven of One, a series of seven individual stories, all of which starred Ronnie Barker. In the episode, entitled "Prisoner and Escort", Wilde played Mr Barrowclough, a prison officer whose job it is to escort Barker's character Fletch across the moors to his prison. The episode proved popular and a series was commissioned by the BBC, called Porridge. Wilde reprised his role as the timid and eager-to-please Barrowclough. Porridge was popular and successful; it ran until 1977, with a film version being made in 1979.

File:Mrbarrowclough.JPG

Brian Wilde as prison warder Mr Barrowclough

Last of the Summer Wine

Wilde established another famous role in 1976, when he took over from Michael Bates as the third member of a trio of old men in the BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. The character, Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst, was a determined ex-army man who planned the group's misadventures with military precision and a painstaking eye for detail. Wilde saw the long-running series gather momentum and continue its success. He stayed with the series for 9 years before leaving in 1985, to work on other projects. Foggy was written out of the series - it was said that he had moved to Bridlington to take over the family egg painting business - and was replaced by Michael Aldridge as Seymour Utterthwaite until 1990.

Other works

In 1988 he starred in his own BBC series, Wyatt's Watchdogs as Major Wyatt, a retired soldier, who forms his own neighbourhood watch group. As a stuffy ex-army member who leads a motley bunch of comic characters, Wyatt was quite similar to Foggy. The programme, which co-starred Trevor Bannister, was written by Miles Tredinnick and ran for one series of six episodes.

When Aldridge left Last of the Summer Wine, Wilde returned as Foggy in 1990, reuniting the series' most popular and enduring line-up. Suffering from a mild infection, Wilde stood down for the first five episodes of the 1997 series in case his illness worsened. His temporary absence was covered by Frank Thornton; Wilde himself suggested Thornton as a replacement. The filming of a Christmas Special made to introduce Thornton's character resulted in a scheduling problem that made it impossible for Wilde, who was by then fully fit, to return in that series. Producer Alan JW Bell said, "Since then, he has been invited to return many times, but says he feels he has 'done it now' and doesn't want to go back. I am sure that one day he will make an appearance - we still have his costume standing by," but Wilde never did return to the role.

Wilde suffered a fall in January 2008 from which he never recovered. He passed away in his sleep on the morning of 20 March, 2008 at his home in Ware, Hertfordshire.

Television roles

Year	Title	Role
1966 to 1967	Room at the Bottom	Mr Salisbury
1969 to 1970	The Dustbinmen	Bloody Delilah
1973	Secrets	Major Forster
1973 to 1977	Porridge	Mr Barrowclough
1976 to 1985 1990 to 1997	Last of the Summer Wine	Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst
1984 to 1986	Kit Curran	Roland Simpson
1988	Wyatt's Watchdogs	Major John Wyatt

External links

• Brian Wilde at IMDb
• The Brian Wilde Date of Birth Scandal
• Interview with Wilde 1995
• Wyatt's Watchdogs site

• Obituaries:
  • The Independent, 21 March 2008
  • The Times, 21 March 2008
  • The Daily Telegraph, 22 March 2008
  • The Guardian, 24 March 2008