Doctor Who and Wombles actor Bernard Cribbins have died at 93, his agent confirmed.
During a seven-decade career, Cribbins narrated the 1970s children’s program The Wombles. He played the Doctor’s companion Tom Campbell in the 1966 film Daleks’ invasion of Earth in 2150 AD, returning 41 years later in the revived TV series.
Cribbins returned to the show as Wilfred Mott, the grandfather of Katherine Tate’s character Donna. He played Wilfred from 2007 to 2010. Generations knew the children’s actors. He also played station porter Albert Perks in the 1970 film The Railway Children.
Dame Floella Benjamin, who appeared alongside Cribbins on children’s television, tweeted: “He was a creative genius, a great storyteller and knew just how to communicate with an audience.”
As an actor, comedian, singer and raconteur, he tried his hand at everything, from Shakespeare to pantomime, Jackanory to Top of the Pops.
Born in Oldham in 1928, Cribbins left school at 13 and found work as an assistant stage manager at a local theatre club, taking on minor acting roles before serving an apprenticeship at the Oldham Repertory Theatre.
The actor became well-known in the UK for having a string of successful novelty records in the 1960s, such as Right Said Fred and The Hole in the Ground – a monologue that Noel Coward selected as one of his Desert Island Discs.
In the 1970s, he landed some major big-screen roles, including playing barman Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy.
