Actor Warren Clarke died 12 Nov, aged 67, after a short illness. Warren Clarke appeared in several BBC Pebble Mill dramas including: Battle of Waterloo 1983, Nice Work 1989, and perhaps most famously, Dalziel and Pascoe 1996-2007.
Warren was born in Oldham, and began acting at the Liverpool Playhouse. He appeared in the controversial, 1971, Stanley Kubrick film, A Clockwork Orange. He has been described as having a ‘hangdog’ expression, perfect for rather grumpy character parts, like Vic in Nice Work, and the detective, Dalziel, in Dalziel and Pascoe.
I remember seeing Warren Clarke at several Midlands, Royal Television Society Awards ceremonies, where he was frequently nominated, and often won awards – he seemed to enjoy a good party!
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The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:
Julia Jones: ‘Very sad. I worked with Warren on four series of Dalziel and Pascoe. He certainly did enjoy a party and was always a great supporter of Pebble Mill.’
Mark James Southall: ‘Was a great friend of Pebble Mill and was one who was always fond of the talent that was in the area.’
Chris Marshall: ‘Nice Work was fabulous and Warren Clarke was fabulous in everything he did.’
Steve Peet: ‘Was lucky enough to see the great man at work on D and P back in 2002/3, a complex soul and totally committed to the role, but in a sometimes difficult arena when you’re the trainee he found time for a chat and words of encouragement.’
Patricia Hodge Robinson: ‘He also starred in ‘The Locksmith’ with Chris Gascoyne and a very young John Simm. Made by Fair Game Films but staffed out of Pebble Mill. I have very fond memories of working with him on this and D & P. He leaves behind an impressive body of work and was an excellent character actor.’
Veronica Butt: ‘I went to meet Warren from B’ham New Street when he appeared as a guest on the pilot series of The One Show, created in Birmingham! He insisted we had a couple of drinks at the bar at the Malmaison before we went through! He was a lovely, down to earth man and a great actor.’
Nick Hennegan: ‘My partner was an actor in The Locksmith and a mentor produced D and P. He was a lovely man.’
Roulla Xenides: ‘He and Nigel Havers were guests on Pebble Mill together when they appeared as Soviet agents in the BBC1 comedy drama Sleepers in 1991. I remember we used some outtake clips of them talking in Russian. I think the series concept was Warren’s.’