Mark Eden obit

Mark Eden obituary

Prolific screen actor who found TV soap fame as the Coronation Street villain Alan Bradley 

He was not on the list.

The actor Mark Eden, who has died aged 92, brought high drama to Coronation Street when he played Alan Bradley, who defrauded the singer-turned-newsagent Rita Fairclough, then terrorised her – before meeting his death under a Blackpool tram.

Eden joined the TV soap in 1986, when Alan visited his estranged daughter, Jenny, while she was being fostered by Rita, following his ex-wife’s death. Alan dated Rita, played by Barbara Knox, but two-timed her with the barmaid Gloria Todd. He was eventually dumped by Gloria and set up Weatherfield Security Systems – funded by stealing the deeds to Rita’s house and posing as her late husband Len to remortgage it – and tried to rape his receptionist, Dawn Prescott. When Rita found out, he tried to suffocate her, was interrupted by Jenny, then fled. Although sentenced to two years in prison, he was freed immediately after six months on remand.

Alan took a job on a building site opposite Rita’s home and started to torment her. When she disappeared, residents speculated that he had killed her, but she had suffered a breakdown and gone to Blackpool. He tracked her down, chased her across the prom and was fatally hit by a tram. Twenty-seven million viewers tuned in on 8 December 1989 for the story’s climax.

The actor was born Douglas Malin in London, the second of four children, to Mag (nee Tompkins) and Charles Malin. Charles, a painter and decorator, was frequently unemployed. When the second world war broke out, Douglas was evacuated to Northamptonshire, then Derbyshire.

He finished his education at St Aloysius’ Catholic school, Highgate, London. He left aged 14, to deliver telegrams for the Post Office, then had several jobs, from builder’s labourer and tailor’s presser to packing reels for a film distributor.

At the age of 18, he contracted tuberculosis and, during almost two years recovering in a sanatorium, spent much of his time in its library. “I started to read Shakespeare and plays and the great writers, and realised there was a whole world I didn’t know about,” he recalled.

Then, in 1950, while working for a mail-order company between half a dozen seasons as a fairground worker, then photographer, in Margate, he saw Donald Wolfit playing Svengali in Trilby at the Bedford theatre, Camden, north London. When he told his mother he wanted to become an actor, she replied: “Who’s going to look at you?” That became the title of his 2010 autobiography.

He joined the Everyman amateur theatre group in Ramsgate in 1956, three years after marrying Joan Long, a dental nurse. Two years later, he became an assistant stage manager at Swansea Grand theatre’s rep company, and changed his name to Mark Eden. He made his professional acting debut at the Grand theatre, Llandudno.

Playing Sergeant Mitchum in Willis Hall’s The Long and the Short and the Tall (Richmond theatre, 1959) brought him to the attention of the Royal Court theatre’s casting director and he was signed up to play the struggling Dave Simmonds in Arnold Wesker’s Chicken Soup With Barley the following year. Two years later, he was Edward Sterne in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Aldwych theatre production of A Penny for a Song – and said that his love for his fellow star Judi Dench was unrequited. He turned down an offer by Peter Hall to join the company, seeing his future on screen – although he starred in the West End as T Lawrence Shannon, opposite Siân Phillips, in The Night of the Iguana (Savoy theatre, 1965).

Eden’s first TV appearance was as a journalist in Nigel Kneale’s sci-fi serial Quatermass and the Pit (1958). He quickly became a prolific screen actor, with character roles in many popular series. He was Inspector Parker in four of Dorothy L Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey dramas (1972-74) with Ian Carmichael in the title role, Jack Rufus in London Belongs to Me (1977) and Superintendent Wilf Penfield in The Detective (1985).

In the first season of Doctor Who, with William Hartnell, he took the title role in the now lost fourth serial, Marco Polo (1964), set in 1289. He later played the BBC executive Donald Baverstock in Mark Gatiss’s Doctor Who biopic An Adventure in Space and Time (2013), with David Bradley as Hartnell.

Starring roles came in Catch Hand (1964), as one of two itinerant labourers (with Anthony Booth), and Crime Buster (1968), as Ray Saxon, a cycling champion turned reporter investigating murder and corruption in the sports world.

In a rare foray into comedy, Eden was Spencer alongside David Jason’s clueless agent in The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs (1974). There were also film parts as Terry in The L-Shaped Room (1962), the laxative company boss Geoffrey Despard in Heavens Above! (1963) with Peter Sellers, and an engineer talking to Alec Guinness in the opening scene of Doctor Zhivago (1965).

Eden’s marriage to Long ended in divorce, as did his second marriage, to Diana Smith. He is survived by his third wife, the actor Sue Nicholls – Audrey Roberts in Coronation Street – whom he married in 1993, and by a daughter, Polly, and stepson, Saul, from the second. A son, David, from his first marriage, predeceased him.

Actor

An Adventure in Space and Time (2013)

An Adventure in Space and Time

8.2

TV Movie

Donald Baverstock

2013

 

Casualty (1986)

Casualty

6.1

TV Series

Bill

2008

1 episode

 

Doctors (2000)

Doctors

4.6

TV Series

Glen Hodgkins

Arthur Lisser

2002–2006

2 episodes

 

David Suchet in Poirot (1989)

Poirot

8.6

TV Series

Boucher

1993

1 episode

 

Kate O'Mara, Ian Lavender, Derek Nimmo, David Robb, Joan Sims, and Toyah Willcox in Cluedo (1990)

Cluedo

6.5

TV Series

George Biddle

1991

1 episode

 

Peter Adamson, Jean Alexander, Johnny Briggs, Margot Bryant, and Doris Speed in Coronation Street (1960)

Coronation Street

5.6

TV Series

Alan Bradley

Wally Randle

1981–1989

232 episodes

 

Patsy Rowlands in The Collectors (1986)

The Collectors

6.2

TV Series

George Haycock

1986

1 episode

 

Deborah Raffin in Claudia (1985)

Claudia

6.1

Larry

1985

 

Tom Bell and Mark Eden in The Detective (1985)

The Detective

7.7

TV Mini Series

Supt. Wilf Penfield

1985

5 episodes

 

The Practice

6.4

TV Series

Keith Goddard

1985

4 episodes

 

Doctors' Dilemmas

TV Series

Brian Gilbey

1985

1 episode

 

Peter Chelsom and Richard Pasco in Sorrell and Son (1984)

Sorrell and Son

8.0

TV Mini Series

Oscar Wolffe

1984

1 episode

 

Gunfight at the Joe Kaye Corral

TV Movie

Joe Kaye

1983

 

Don Henderson, Diane Keen, Peter Sallis, and Don Warrington in Crown Court (1972)

Crown Court

7.3

TV Series

Andrew Corry

Douglas Blandford

Lawrence Webb

1972–1983

7 episodes

 

In Search of... (1977)

In Search of...

8.5

TV Series

Frederick Treves (uncredited)

1981

1 episode

 

Lewis Collins, Gordon Jackson, and Martin Shaw in The Professionals (1977)

The Professionals

8.0

TV Series

Ross

1980

1 episode

 

The Square Leopard

TV Series

John Purvis

1980

1 episode

 

Amanda Redman and Liv Ullmann in Richard's Things (1980)

Richard's Things

5.6

Richard Morris

1980

 

Elizabeth Bennett, Diane Keen, Ray Lonnen, Alan MacNaughtan, Roy Marsden, Richard Vernon, and Jerome Willis in The Sandbaggers (1978)

The Sandbaggers

8.8

TV Series

Bernard Tindale

1980

1 episode

 

Alan Dobie in Cribb (1980)

Cribb

7.7

TV Series

Edmund Vibart

1980

1 episode

 

Ian Hendry, Carole Mowlam, and Maureen Pryor in The Sunday Drama (1977)

The Sunday Drama

TV Series

Ken

1978

1 episode

 

The Law Centre

TV Series

Bradley

1978

1 episode

 

Julia Foster, Patrick Newell, and John Stride in Wilde Alliance (1978)

Wilde Alliance

7.5

TV Series

Mike Stewart

1978

1 episode

 

Poldark (1975)

Poldark

8.3

TV Series

St. John Peter

1977

1 episode

 

London Belongs to Me (1977)

London Belongs to Me

7.7

TV Series

Jack Rufus

1977

6 episodes

 

Robert Powell in Jesus of Nazareth (1977)

Jesus of Nazareth

8.5

TV Mini Series

Quartus

1977

1 episode

 

Fern, the Red Deer (1977)

Fern, the Red Deer

6.3

Mr. Pollard

1977

 

Murder

TV Series

Det. Insp. John Wrath

1976

1 episode

 

Warship (1973)

Warship

8.4

TV Series

Wing Cmdr. Blazey

1976

1 episode

 

Sam (1973)

Sam

8.2

TV Series

Tony Parker

1975

3 episodes

 

General Hospital (1972)

General Hospital

7.6

TV Series

Dick Butler

1975

1 episode

 

David Jason in The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs (1974)

The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs

7.7

TV Series

Spencer

1974

12 episodes

 

Norman Wisdom in A Little Bit of Wisdom (1974)

A Little Bit of Wisdom

7.0

TV Series

Doctor

1974

1 episode

 

The Nine Tailors (1974)

The Nine Tailors

8.1

TV Mini Series

Chief Insp. Parker

1974

1 episode

 

Murder Must Advertise (1973)

Murder Must Advertise

8.0

TV Mini Series

Chief Inspector Parker

1973

4 episodes

 

John Carlisle and John Woodvine in New Scotland Yard (1972)

New Scotland Yard

7.2

TV Series

Peter Royal

1973

1 episode

 

Nobody Is Norman Wisdom

8.0

TV Series

Armitage

1973

1 episode

 

Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor in Jack the Ripper (1973)

Jack the Ripper

8.3

TV Mini Series

Journalist

1973

1 episode

 

Special Branch (1969)

Special Branch

7.4

TV Series

Journalist

1973

1 episode

 

Derek Jacobi, Ronald Fraser, Charles Gray, Bernard Hepton, John Thaw, and Douglas Wilmer in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971)

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

7.2

TV Series

Roderick Varley

1973

1 episode

 

Judi Bowker in The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972)

The Adventures of Black Beauty

6.6

TV Series

Major Watkins

1973

1 episode

 

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1972)

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

8.2

TV Mini Series

Det. Insp. Parker

1973

3 episodes

 

Arthur of the Britons (1972)

Arthur of the Britons

7.6

TV Series

Morcant

1973

1 episode

 

Pathfinders (1972)

Pathfinders

7.8

TV Series

Wing Commander Purvis

1973

1 episode

 

Ingrid Pitt in Nobody Ordered Love (1972)

Nobody Ordered Love

7.3

Charles

1972

 

Clouds of Witness (1972)

Clouds of Witness

8.0

TV Mini Series

Det. Inspector Parker

1972

5 episodes

 

Spyder's Web (1972)

Spyder's Web

6.8

TV Series

Dr. Dolek

1972

1 episode

 

Suspicion

TV Series

Det.Sgt. Barron

1971

1 episode

 

Coppers End

TV Series

Paddy

1971

1 episode

 

Beyond Belief

TV Series

1970

 

John Bird and Dudley Foster in If It Moves, File It (1970)

If It Moves, File It

TV Series

Trubshawe

1970

1 episode

 

ITV Saturday Night Theatre (1969)

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

6.3

TV Series

Lewis

1970

1 episode

 

Ray Barrett, Geoffrey Keen, and Philip Latham in Mogul (1965)

Mogul

7.2

TV Series

Tommy Eastwind

1970

1 episode

 

Arthur? Arthur! (1969)

Arthur? Arthur!

5.6

Jack Parker

1969

 

Z Cars (1962)

Z Cars

7.1

TV Series

Bill Mercer

Tiger Evans

1963–1969

3 episodes

 

Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Mark Eden, and Barbara Steele in The Crimson Cult (1968)

The Crimson Cult

5.5

Robert Manning

1968

 

Crime Buster (1968)

Crime Buster

TV Series

Ray Saxon

1968

13 episodes

 

ITV Playhouse (1967)

ITV Playhouse

7.0

TV Series

David Hope

1968

1 episode

 

Attack on the Iron Coast (1968)

Attack on the Iron Coast

5.5

Lt. Cmdr. Donald Kimberly

1968

 

I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967)

I'll Never Forget What's'isname

6.2

Kellaway

1967

 

Patrick McGoohan in The Prisoner (1967)

The Prisoner

8.5

TV Series

Number One Hundred

1967

1 episode

 

Man in a Suitcase (1967)

Man in a Suitcase

7.6

TV Series

Jackson

1967

1 episode

 

Barbara Jefford and Hayward Morse in Trapped (1967)

Trapped

TV Series

Dr. Frazer

1967

1 episode

 

St. Ives

TV Series

Alain

1967

3 episodes

 

Till Death Us Do Part (1965)

Till Death Us Do Part

7.3

TV Series

Surgeon

1967

1 episode

 

Out of the Unknown (1965)

Out of the Unknown

7.5

TV Series

Stephen Kershaw

1966

1 episode

 

Thirty-Minute Theatre (1965)

Thirty-Minute Theatre

7.6

TV Series

Ted Winters

1966

1 episode

 

The Newcomers (1965)

The Newcomers

7.1

TV Series

Jeremy Crowe

1966

27 episodes

 

Emergency-Ward 10 (1957)

Emergency-Ward 10

6.4

TV Series

Tim Courtney

1966

3 episodes

 

Game for Three Losers (1965)

Game for Three Losers

5.9

Oliver Marchant

1965

 

Geraldine Chaplin, Julie Christie, and Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Doctor Zhivago

7.9

Engineer at Dam

1965

 

Armchair Mystery Theatre (1960)

Armchair Mystery Theatre

7.9

TV Series

Tom Braddock

1965

1 episode

 

The Pleasure Girls (1965)

The Pleasure Girls

5.8

Prinny

1965

 

The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1959)

The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre

7.7

TV Series

Oliver Marchant

Richard Webb

1963–1965

2 episodes

 

Man in the Dark (1964)

Man in the Dark

6.6

Mike

1964

 

Catch Hand

9.0

TV Series

Johnny Rich

1964

9 episodes

 

Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley in Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

Seance on a Wet Afternoon

7.6

Mr. Clayton

1964

 

Detective (1964)

Detective

8.4

TV Series

Bombardier Peter Bradfield

1964

1 episode

 

Benbow Was His Name

TV Movie

1964

 

Paul McGann, Colin Baker, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, William Hartnell, Sylvester McCoy, Jon Pertwee, and Patrick Troughton in Doctor Who (1963)

Doctor Who

8.4

TV Series

Marco Polo

1964

7 episodes

 

Espionage (1963)

Espionage

7.8

TV Series

Wicket

1964

1 episode

 

The Partner (1963)

The Partner

5.5

Richard Webb

1963

 

Drama 61-67 (1961)

Drama 61-67

7.3

TV Series

Kemp

1963

1 episode

 

Armchair Theatre (1956)

Armchair Theatre

7.6

TV Series

Jack Hubb

Erskine Craig

Peter

1961–1963

3 episodes

 

Bob Dylan, David Warner, Ursula Howells, Reg Lye, and Maureen Pryor in The Madhouse on Castle Street (1963)

BBC Sunday-Night Play

8.8

TV Series

Victor

1963

1 episode

 

Donald Pleasence and Betsy Blair in Love Story (1963)

Love Story

7.5

TV Series

Carl Wilson

1963

1 episode

 

Peter Sellers, Ian Carmichael, Irene Handl, Isabel Jeans, Bernard Miles, Cecil Parker, and Eric Sykes in Heavens Above! (1963)

Heavens Above!

6.7

Sir Geoffrey Despard

1963

 

24-Hour Call

TV Series

Eddy

1963

1 episode

 

Jezebel ex UK (1963)

Jezebel ex UK

TV Series

Mark Rawlinson

1963

1 episode

 

Martin Benson in The Verdict Is Yours (1958)

The Verdict Is Yours

TV Series

1963

1 episode

 

Roger Moore in The Saint (1962)

The Saint

7.5

TV Series

Bertrand Tamblin

1963

1 episode

 

Dimensions of Fear

6.2

TV Series

Dr. Leosser

1963

3 episodes

 

The L-Shaped Room (1962)

The L-Shaped Room

7.3

Terry

1962

 

Dirk Bogarde and Maria Perschy in The Password Is Courage (1962)

The Password Is Courage

6.8

2nd Prisoner of War

1962

 

The Avengers (1961)

The Avengers

8.3

TV Series

Nicholson

Jacques Beronne

1961–1962

2 episodes

 

Operation Snatch (1962)

Operation Snatch

7.1

Mosquito Pilot

1962

 

Sir Francis Drake (1961)

Sir Francis Drake

7.2

TV Series

Agila

1961

1 episode

 

ITV Television Playhouse (1955)

ITV Television Playhouse

7.9

TV Series

Giovanni Spada

Corporal Hull

Jeep driver

1960–1961

3 episodes

 

Terence Longdon in Murder on the Campus (1961)

Murder on the Campus

5.0

Police Constable

1961

 

John Newland in One Step Beyond (1959)

One Step Beyond

7.8

TV Series

Johnny Watson

1961

1 episode

 

Kay Callard and John Turner in Knight Errant Limited (1959)

Knight Errant Limited

7.5

TV Series

Lord Cambroke

1961

1 episode

 

Captured (1959)

Captured

6.8

Soldier (uncredited)

1959

 

Michael Denison in Boyd Q.C. (1956)

Boyd Q.C.

8.1

TV Series

1959

1 episode

 

Murder Bag (1957)

Murder Bag

TV Series

1959

1 episode

 

Quatermass and the Pit (1958)

Quatermass and the Pit

8.0

TV Mini Series

Second Journalist

1958

1 episode