The great British comedian character actor Geoffrey Palmer died today. While known for many, many television and film roles, most notably As Time Goes By with Judi Dench, he's also one of a select group of actors to appear in both classic and modern Doctor Who. He played Permanent Under-Secretary Masters in The Silurians, the Administrator in The Mutants, and Captain Hardaker in "Voyage of the Damned." I've always been a big fan of him, between his Doctor Who appearances and As Time Goes By, as well as his appearances on Fawlty Towers, Blackadder Goes Forth, Agatha Christie's Poirot, and Ashes to Ashes. He'll be greatly missed.
I've seen him in The Silurians, Voyage of the Damned, and few episode of As Time Goes By. Very sad news.
A superb comedy actor, one of those who made it look so easy. The diner in Fawlty Towers who just wanted his sausages, Reggie Perrin’s brother Jimmy - he just utterly excelled in those roles.
As a side note, his son Charles has directed many nu-Who episodes. Charles was married to Clare Skinner (of Widow and Wardrobe) till she and her Outnumbered co-star Hugh Dennis hooked up.
I would not have thought Palmer was 93. I'd have said he was early 70s at most in "Voyage of the Damned." He seemed like a person who'd hit a certain look around the age of 40 and stayed that way until the end of his life. (My grandfather was that way; in photographs he looked the same at 40 as he did at 78.)
Oh, damn, I didn't know his son directed episodes of the modern show. Pity he didn't do his father's episode although, after looking it up on IMDb, he did direct his father in Poirot episode "The Clocks."