Andrew Thomas Hutchison Burt (23 May 1945 – 16 November 2018) was a British

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, voiceover artist, and counsellor.

Early life and education

Andrew Burt was born on 23 May 1945 in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, England, to Hutchison Burt, a psychiatrist, lecturer and Medical Superintendent at

Stanley Royd Hospital The Stanley Royd Hospital, earlier named the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, was a mental health facility in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It was managed by the Wakefield and Pontefract Community Health NHS Trust. History The facility, which ...

, Wakefield, and Aileen, a teacher. When Andrew was 8 years old his father died, leaving behind also an older brother, Ian. Burt was educated at Silcoates School in Wakefield. From 1963 to 1965 he performed with Oldbury Rep. He attended Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama until 1968, and left with a bachelor's degree in English, validated by the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

Filmography

Selected Film and TV

* '' Emmerdale Farm'' (1972–73, 1976) – Jack Sugden * ''

Warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...

'' (1976-77) – Lieutenant Peek * '' The Black Panther'' (1977) – Ronald Whittle * '' The Voyage of Charles Darwin'' (1978) –

Robert Fitzroy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy, politician and scientist who served as the second governor of New Zealand between 1843 and 1845. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of ...

* '' The Legend of King Arthur'' (1979) –

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

* ''

Blake's 7 ''Blake's 7'' is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four series of thirteen 50-minute episodes were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first series, prod ...

'' (1980) – Venn Jarvik * ''Closing Ranks'' (1980) – David Maitland * ''Gulliver in Lilliput'' (1981) – Gulliver * ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' – '' Terminus'' (1983) – Valguard * ''

Miss Marple Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterised as an elderly spinster, she is one ...

'' episode " 4.50 from Paddington" (1987) – Dr John Quimper * ''Campion'' (TV series) (1989) – Inspector Oates * ''

Agatha Christie's Poirot ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', or simply ''Poirot'' (), is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2020. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, wh ...

'' episode ''The Affair at the Victory Ball'' (1991) – James Ackerley

TV series

Burt appeared in many TV series and soaps, including; ''

Angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

'', '' Bergerac'', ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'', '' Callan'', ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'', ''

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

'', ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...

'', ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'', '' Heartbeat'', '' Howards' Way'', ''

Juliet Bravo ''Juliet Bravo'' is a television in the United Kingdom, British television police procedural drama series, first broadcast on 30 August 1980, that ran for six series and a total of 88 episodes on BBC One, BBC1. The theme of the series concerned ...

'', ''

New Tricks ''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural comedy drama, created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily by Wall to Wall (until its final year, when it was handled by Headstrong Pictures), and broadcast on BBC On ...

'', '' Rock Follies of '77'', ''

Rumpole of the Bailey ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, ...

'', '' Spooks'', and '' Tales of the Unexpected''.

Comedy work

* '' I'm Alan Partridge'',(1997–2002) – Announcer of Radio Norwich * '' I'm Alan Partridge'' (2002) – Frank Raphael * ''

Harry Enfield's Television Programme ''Harry Enfield & Chums'' (originally titled ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'') is a British sketch show starring Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse and Kathy Burke. It first broadcast on BBC2 in 1990 in the 9 p.m. slot on Thursday ni ...

'' (1992) – The Judge * '' Look Around You'' (Sport) (2005) – Provastian/Ninastian * '' The Day Today'' (1994) – Martin Craste

Children's TV

* ''Stepping Stones'' (1978–1980) – Co-Presenter * '' Swallows and Amazons Forever!'' (1983) – Frank Farland * ''

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' was a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in Reading (activity), reading. The programme was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the ...

'' (1983) The Lightkeepers – Narrator * ''

'' (1983) The Dangerous Journey – Narrator * '' Super Gran'' (1985) – Desperate Desmond

Radio Plays

Burt was the first actor to play the character of

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

, starring in ''

Last Bus to Woodstock ''Last Bus to Woodstock'' is a Crime fiction, crime novel by Colin Dexter, the first of 13 novels in his ''Inspector Morse'' series. Plot summary Two young women are waiting in Oxford for a bus to the nearby town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire, Woo ...

'', in June 1985, on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. He appeared regularly in numerous BBC radio plays, including ''

Saturday Night Theatre __NOTOC__ ''Saturday Night Theatre'' was a long-running radio drama strand on the BBC Home Service and its successor, BBC Radio 4. Launched in April 1943 the strand showcased feature-length, middlebrow single plays on Saturday evenings for mor ...

'', ''The Monday Play'', '' The Afternoon Play'', ''Afternoon Theatre'', ''The Classic Serial'', and ''A Book at Bedtime''.

Voice-overs and narration

Burt was a

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, filmmaking, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice that is not part of the narrative (i.e., non- ...

artist, and provided voice-overs for numerous TV and radio commercials, documentaries and talking books, spanning five decades. He narrated books for the blind as a volunteer for the Calibre Audio Library. For over a decade, Burt was the announcer for

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

's ''

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

'' programmes, including '' News at Ten''.

Counselling career

In later years, Burt trained in counselling at the Metanoia Institute in Ealing, after which, as an accredited member of the BACP, he worked as a

humanistic Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

counsellor at his own practice, ABC Andrew Burt Counselling.

Personal life

Burt had a passion for art and a personal interest in collecting paintings and sculpture. His specific passion was the work of English artist Michael Ayrton. He was a patron of Oldbury Rep, the theatre company where he began his acting career. Burt had a continued friendship with Sheila Mercier, his on-screen mother in '' Emmerdale Farm'', which lasted until his death.Annie's Song: My Life and Emmerdale. Sheila Mercier with Anthony Hayward, Titan Books Ltd, 1994 Pp142

Death

Andrew Burt died of lung cancer on 16 November 2018, aged 73.

References

External links

*
Andrew Burt BFI FilmographyAndrew Burt at the BBC Genome websiteHutchison Burt obituary in the British Medical Journal, 9 January 1954
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burt, Andrew 1945 births 2018 deaths 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the University of Kent British people of Scottish descent British male soap opera actors Deaths from cancer in England English male television actors English male film actors English male Shakespearean actors English male stage actors Male actors from Wakefield People educated at Silcoates School