Timothy Lancaster West CBE (born 20th October 1934 in Bradford, died 12th November 2024 in London) appeared on Coronation Street in February 2013 as rich retiree, Eric Babbage.
Educated at the John Lyon School in Harrow on the Hill, Bristol Grammar School and Regent Street Polytechnic in London, he was employed as an office furniture salesman and a recording technician prior to a role of assistant stage manager at Wimbledon Theatre in 1956. Upon retiring, West went on to a successful acting and presenting career.
Perhaps better known in his roles of Bradley Hardacre in three series of the Granada Television comedy Brass and as Stan Carter in EastEnders from 2014 to 2015, his other television credits over six decades included roles in Persuasion, Witch Hunt, Big Breadwinner Hog, Edward the Seventh, Hard Times, Crime and Punishment, The Last Bastion, Mop and Smiff, Sunday Premiere, Campion, Brother Felix and the Virgin Saint, Framed, Smokescreen, Goodnight Sweetheart, The Big Knights, Bedtime, Waking the Dead, Colditz, Bleak House, Doctor Who, Not Going Out, Going Postal, Exile, Last Tango in Halifax, Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes, Gentleman Jack and Sister Boniface Mysteries.
Film roles included The Deadly Affair, Twisted Nerve, The Looking Glass War, Nicholas and Alexandra, Hitler: The Last Ten Days, The Day of the Jackal, Soft Beds, Hard Battles, Hedda, Joseph Andrews, The Devil's Advocate, News from Nowhere, The Thirty Nine Steps, Agatha, Rough Cut, Cry Freedom, Consuming Passions, EverAfter, Joan of Arc, 102 Dalmatians, The Fourth Angel, Iris, Villa des roses, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Beyond Borders, Endgame, Run for Your Wife, Delirium and We the Kings.
On stage, he appeared in productions including Mrs Dane's Defence, Morning Departure, South Sea Bubble, Libel!, Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Housemaster, Double Image, Victoria Regina, Lucky Strike, Romanoff and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Christmas in the Market Place, Aladdin, Jane Eyre, Dark Victory, Sganarelle, The Importance of Being Earnest, Towards Zero, The Waltz of the Toreadors, The Potting Shed, A Murder Has Been Arranged, Akin to Love, Charley's Aunt, Flare Path, Touch It Light, Rogue Prince, Cinderella, Any Other Business, The Dock Brief, Gideon's Fear and The Unexpected Guest for the Salisbury Arts Theatre and Nil Carborundum, Afore Night Come, Marat/Sade, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Governor's Lady, The Jew of Malta, The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, Love's Labour's Lost, The Investigation and The Peloponnesian War for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Other works include Caught Napping, Gentle Jack, The Trigon, The Constant Couple, Edward II, Exiles, Trelawny, The Grand Tour, A Month in the Country, Othello, War Music, An Evening With Gilbert and Sullivan, Antony and Cleopatra, The Trial of Queen Caroline, Lancelot and Guinevere, Master Class, The Sneeze, The Clandestine Marriage, Long Day's Night, Death of a Salesman, Himself, Macbeth, Twelve Angry Men, King Lear, The External, Luther, The Lover & The Collection and The Winslow Boy.
Timothy was married to actress Prunella Scales, who herself appeared on Coronation Street. Together, the couple presented ten series of the Channel 4 documentary Great Canal Journeys.
He was appointed CBE for services to drama in 1984.
