Derek Waring

Derek Waring, born Derek Barton-Chapple on 26 April 1927 in Mill Hill, London, was an English actor who worked extensively across stage, television, and film before his death on 20 February 2007. His father, Wing Commander H.J. Barton-Chapple, was a television pioneer who had collaborated with John Logie Baird, and his brother Richard went on to become a television comedy scriptwriter. Waring was educated at Dulwich College and subsequently served with the army in Berlin. Rather than accepting an offered place at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, he chose to pursue a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, after which he entered repertory theatre.

His first television appearance came in a 1956 episode of The Jack Benny Programme, and a series of smaller roles followed in productions including The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, Dixon of Dock Green, Ghost Squad, and Callan. In 1959, he played Louis in the episode "The Avenger" of The Adventures of William Tell. His most prominent television role arrived in 1969, when he began playing Detective Inspector Neil Goss in the police drama Z-Cars, a part he held for 215 episodes through 1973. He subsequently played Roland Moody in Moody and Pegg, and later in the 1970s appeared in Murder Most English, Crown Court, The New Avengers, Two's Company, and George and Mildred. In 1982, he appeared as Shardovan in the Doctor Who serial "Castrovalva," and during that decade also had roles in The Enigma Files, Never the Twain, and The Professionals. In 1987, he played Harry Somers in the Scottish soap opera Take the High Road and appeared in the film Indian Summer. His final television credit was the role of Mr. Cooper-Bassett in a 1995 episode of Keeping Up Appearances.

On stage, Waring was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in productions including War of the Roses. His West End credits included Cowardy Custard, Suzie Wong, and The Boy Friend, the last of which was his final West End appearance. His Broadway career brought him to New York in 1968, where he appeared in Portrait of a Queen, playing Prince Albert opposite his wife Dorothy Tutin, who portrayed Queen Victoria.

Waring married the actress Dame Dorothy Tutin at the end of 1963, and the couple had two children, Amanda and Nick, born in 1964 and 1966 respectively, both of whom became actors. Following Tutin's death in 2001, Waring concentrated on radio work. He died from cancer at Petworth Cottage Hospital in West Sussex in 2007 at the age of 79.