Hubert Rees

Hubert Rees (27 April 1928 – 20 October 2009) was a Welsh character actor born in Abergavenny, Wales. He worked across British television, film, and stage, accumulating a career that spanned several decades and included a Broadway presence between 1981 and 1986.

Rees built his early career through supporting and bit parts on British television, frequently cast as police officers. His first appearance in the long-running science fiction series Doctor Who came in 1968, when he played Chief Engineer across all six parts of Fury from the Deep. The following year he returned to the series in a different role, portraying Captain Ransom in The War Games. His final Doctor Who appearance came in The Seeds of Doom, in which he appeared alongside Tom Baker.

In 1971 Rees appeared in the film thriller Unman, Wittering and Zigo, and in 1972 he was part of the Welsh ensemble cast in the film adaptation of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood, taking the role of Butcher Beynon. Throughout the 1970s he continued working in prominent British television productions, including Softly, Softly: Taskforce, The Sweeney, The Sandbaggers, and Van der Valk.

The 1980s brought Rees further television work alongside his Broadway activity. In 1982 he appeared opposite Tom Baker again, this time as Inspector Lestrade in the television mini-series The Hound of the Baskervilles. The following year he played Doctor Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series The Baker Street Boys. He also took character roles in Bergerac, Howards' Way, and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet during this period.

On Broadway, Rees appeared in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, part of his stage work during his 1981 to 1986 Broadway tenure. Later film credits included the Welsh productions The Angry Earth (1989) and Darklands (1996). Rees died on 20 October 2009 in Ilminster, Somerset, England.