Cast & creator

Geoffrey Palmer

1927-06-04 (died at 93) Finchley, Middlesex, England, UKIMDb

Best known for Doctor Who, Doctor Who, Agatha Christie's Poirot

Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE (4 June 1927 - 5 November 2020) was an English actor known for his roles in British television sitcoms playing Jimmy Anderson in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–79), Ben Parkinson in Butterflies (1978–1983) and Lionel Hardcastle in As Time Goes By (1992–2005). His film appearances include A Fish Called Wanda (1988), The Madness of King George (1994), Mrs. Brown (1997), and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Geoffrey Dyson Palmer was born on 4 June 1927 in North Finchley, Middlesex. He was the son of Frederick Charles Palmer, who was a chartered surveyor, and Norah Gwendolen (née Robins). He attended Highgate School from September 1939 to December 1945. He served as a corporal instructor in small arms and field training in the Royal Marines during his national service from 1946 to 1948, following which he briefly worked as an unpaid trainee assistant stage manager. Palmer's early television appearances included multiple roles in episodes of The Army Game (Granada Television), two episodes of The Baron and as a property agent in Cathy Come Home (1966). After a major break in John Osborne's West of Suez at the Royal Court with Ralph Richardson, he acted in major productions at the Royal Court and for the National Theatre Company and was directed by Laurence Olivier in J. B. Priestley's Eden End. Palmer found the play so dull, however, that he was deterred from a stage career. Two BBC sitcom roles brought him attention in the 1970s: the hapless brother-in-law of Reggie Perrin in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–79), and the phlegmatic dentist Ben Parkinson in Butterflies (1978–1983). In 1978, Palmer appeared as organized crimelord Simon Sinclair in London Weekend Television's hard-hitting police drama The Professionals, the episode entitled "Where the Jungle Ends". Palmer played Doctor Price in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Kipper and the Corpse" (1979), determined to have breakfast amidst the confusion caused by the death of a guest and Fawlty's inept way of handling the emergency. In 1986, Palmer appeared as Donald Fairchild in the first series of an ITV sitcom, Executive Stress, alongside Penelope Keith. He later left, and was replaced by Peter Bowles. Palmer later starred opposite Judi Dench for over a decade in another BBC sitcom, As Time Goes By (1992–2005). In 1997, he also appeared with Dench in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, in which he portrayed Admiral Roebuck to Dench's M, and Mrs Brown, playing Sir Henry Ponsonby to Dench's Queen Victoria. Palmer married Sally Green in 1963. They had a daughter, Harriet, and a son, Charles, a television director. Palmer was a longtime resident of Lee Common in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, and enjoyed fly fishing in his spare time. At the time of his death, he resided in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. Palmer died peacefully at his home on 5 November 2020, aged 93.

Also known as: Geoffrey Dyson Palmer

Movies

film credits

Series

101

television credits

Career

169

1956–2021 · acting roles

Credit score

7.0

average across scored titles

Signature credits

Known for

Ordered by popularity

★ 7.9

Doctor Who

Administrator · 1963

★ 7.9

Doctor Who

Masters · 1963

★ 8.2

Agatha Christie's Poirot

Vice Admiral Hamling · 1989

★ 4.3

The One Show

Self · 2006

★ 6.6

Play for Today

Acting · 1970

Across film & television

Filmography (169)

Showing 169 of 169 credits

Geoffrey Palmer

Known for

Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Agatha Christie's Poirot

The One Show

Play for Today

Filmography (169)

Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Agatha Christie's Poirot

The One Show

Play for Today

Play for Today

Play for Today

The Avengers

The Avengers

The Avengers

The Wednesday Play

Crown Court

The Saint

BBC Play of the Month

ITV Playhouse

ITV Playhouse

ITV Playhouse

ITV Playhouse

ITV Playhouse

Natural World

The Professionals

The Professionals

Bergerac

Thirty-Minute Theatre

No Hiding Place

An Audience with...

Inspector Morse

The Alan Titchmarsh Show

Blackadder

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

The Sweeney

The Expert

Van der Valk

Angels

Screen One

Churchill's People

Drama 61-67

The Troubleshooters

Ashes to Ashes

Out of the Unknown

Softly, Softly

As Time Goes By

The Goodies

Gideon's Way

The Hollow Crown

Doomwatch

Fawlty Towers

Tomorrow Never Dies

Dalgliesh

Paddington

The Kenny Everett Television Show

Peter Pan

Butterflies

Detective

Suspense

A Fish Called Wanda

The Human Jungle

The Man in Room 17

Mr. Men and Little Miss

Colditz

Mystery and Imagination

The Honorary Consul

Bill Brand

The Pink Panther 2

Six Days of Justice

Londoners

Happy Ever After

Happy Ever After

Oxbridge Blues

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

The Further Adventures of the Musketeers

Anna and the King