William Nicholson Simpson (11 September 193121 December 1986)
''thePeerage.com'' website. Retrieved on 10 March 2008. was a Scottish actor, best remembered for his portrayal of the title role in the long-running

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

series '' Dr. Finlay's Casebook''.

Career

Beginnings

Simpson began his career as an

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...

for

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irelan ...

and

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation ...

. His only appearance in a movie was as a non-speaking extra (his name was missing from the film credits) playing a bridegroom in the first remake of

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career, ...

's story '' The 39 Steps'' (1959), which starred

Kenneth More Kenneth Gilbert More, CBE (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was an English film and stage actor. Initially achieving fame in the comedy ''Genevieve'' (1953), he appeared in many roles as a carefree, happy-go-lucky gent. Films from this peri ...

Richard Hannay Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist John Buchan and further made popular by the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film '' The 39 Steps'' (and other later film adaptations), very loosely b ...

. He devoted the rest of his career to television,

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

and stage. In 1962 BBC Television adapted

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', '' Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

's novel '' The Master of Ballantrae'' in which Simpson played the part of Hastie in six 30-minute episodes. Later that year, he took the role of Mr. Ogilvie in "Appearance in Court", an episode of the popular BBC police drama, '' Z Cars''.

''Dr Finlay's Casebook''

On 16 August 1962 the BBC began broadcasting its long-running

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...

'' Dr Finlay's Casebook'', with an episode called "It's All in the Mind". Simpson played the title role of Dr Alan Finlay, and was supported by Andrew Cruickshank as Dr Cameron, his older partner at the Arden House surgery in Tannochbrae, and Barbara Mullen as their housekeeper, Janet. With locations at

Callander Callander (; gd, Calasraid) is a small town in the council area of Stirling, Scotland, situated on the River Teith. The town is located in the historic county of Perthshire and is a popular tourist stop to and from the Highlands. The town se ...

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, Scotland, the show ran for eight

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

s, the final episode, "The Burgess Ticket", being shown on 3 January 1971. Simpson also starred in 104 audio episodes of the A. J. Cronin story, made by

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

, from 1970 to 1975.

Later work

After ''Dr Finlay'' finished its television run Simpson continued to work for the BBC. In 1973 he took a role as MacNair in the Scottish independence

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

series ''Scotch on the Rocks'', which was broadcast in five 40-minute episodes. In 1975 he appeared in one instalment of the BBC TV series '' Quiller''. He played Sir Andrew Kilbrane, alongside Michael Jayston as Quiller, in an episode called "Target North", which involved the death of a government minister. He also took the part of Rob Dow in the BBC's ''

Play of the Month ''Play of the Month'' is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays (or adaptations) which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different wo ...

'' series on 2 November 1975, in an adaptation of J. M. Barrie's play '' The Little Minister'', in which he co-starred with

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdo ...

and Ian Ogilvy. Simpson had a feature part in "Happy New Year, Some Say", a 1976 episode of the

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authori ...

drama ''

When the Boat Comes In ''When the Boat Comes In'' is a British television period drama produced by the BBC between 1976 and 1981. The series stars James Bolam as Jack Ford, a First World War veteran who returns to his poverty-stricken (fictional) town of Gallows ...

'', playing Sandy Lewis. Simpson then made a complete series of ''The Mackinnons'', taking the starring role of Donald, head of the Mackinnon family, who live in the Western Islands of Scotland, and feel threatened by the influx of new people with new lifestyles into their community. "Whose Side Are You On?" was the first instalment of 13. Only one series was made. In 1977–78 Simpson appeared on stage at the Bradford Alhambra Theatre in the

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'', alongside Charlie Drake and

Dora Bryan Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.Return of the Saint'', which starred Ian Ogilvy as Simon Templar. He next travelled to France and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

to shoot the 1979 television

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

', a co-production between HTV in England, Technisonor of France and Tele-München of Germany. Simpson played James of the Glens. In 1980 he was one of the stars who took part in the ITV

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a com ...

performed in front of

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

, ''Night of One Hundred Stars'', hosted by

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 week ...

. Later that year, he appeared as Dr. Hugh McFarlane in the Yorkshire Television series ''

The Good Companions ''The Good Companions'' is a novel by the English author J. B. Priestley. Written in 1929, it follows the fortunes of a concert party on a tour of England. It is Priestley's most famous novel and established him as a national figure. It wo ...

'', a "very unusual

musical Musical is the adjective of music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact def ...

comedy drama" based on the novel by J. B. Priestley, adapted by Alan Plater. Given his history of heart problems, it is perhaps not surprising that Simpson became less busy around this time. He contributed less to television drama, and more to factual subjects, introducing the TV coverage of the British Open Golf Championship at Royal Troon in 1982, with Peter Alliss, and presenting "Leadership Matters", a

middle management Middle management is the intermediate management level of a hierarchical organization that is subordinate to the executive management and responsible for ‘team leading’ line managers and/or ‘specialist’ line managers. Middle management is i ...

corporate video Corporate video refers to any type of non-advertisement based video content created for and commissioned by a business, company, corporation, or organization. Today, the vast majority of corporate video content is hosted online and is published o ...

on behalf of The Industrial Society in 1984. His final contributions to the performance side of television were 1983's Tyne Tees Television production, '' Andy Robson: Lost and Found'', as Dr. George McKenzie; then in 1984 the

docu-drama ''Scotland's Story: Mary and an End to the French Connection'', playing John Knox; and one more, made in 1986, which he did not live to watch. His role as a driver's boss in the TV drama, ''Shoot for the Sun'', was aired posthumously, on 16 March 1987.

Personal life

Bill Simpson was born in Dunure, Ayrshire, one of 5 children (2 girls, 3 boys, of which he was the youngest). His father was an accountant who worked in Ayr, whilst his mother was a farmer's daughter. As a result, he spent every childhood holiday on his grandfather's farm. He attended Ayr Academy and was raised an Ayr United fan, attending "every second Saturday" with his father and brothers. On 24 July 1965 Simpson married the actress Mary Miller in

, near

Menteith Menteith or Monteith ( gd, Mòine Tèadhaich), a district of south Perthshire, Scotland, roughly comprises the territory between the Teith and the Forth. Earlier forms of its name include ''Meneted'', ''Maneteth'' and ''Meneteth''. (Historically ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

and the couple bought a house there, called ''Tamavoid''. They divorced just four years later, having had no children. In the year leading up to his second marriage, to Tracy Reed on 17 April 1974, she gave birth to their first daughter, Kelly. They went on to have a second daughter, Katy, born in 1975. The couple divorced in 1982. Simpson died from

bronchopneumonia Bronchopneumonia is a subtype of pneumonia. It is the acute inflammation of the bronchi, accompanied by inflamed patches in the nearby lobules of the lungs. citing: Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition, Copyright 2014 It is ofte ...

, on 21 December 1986, at the age of 55, in

Mauchline, East Ayrshire Mauchline (; gd, Maghlinn) is a town and civil parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. In the 2001 census Mauchline had a recorded population of 4,105. It is home to the National Burns Memorial. Location The town lies by the Glasgow and South We ...

.Place of death
BFI.org.uk website. Retrieved on 10 March 2008.

Filmography

*'' The 39 Steps'' (1959) (uncredited)

References

External links

*
Memories of Bill Simpson
by

Haldane Duncan Haldane Duncan (25 July 1940 – 26 December 2018) was a Scottish television producer and director, best known for his contributions to soap operas. Career Early years In 1958, Duncan left George Heriot's School in Edinburgh to take up a care ...

, former ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffa ...

'' director {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Bill 1931 births 1986 deaths People from South Ayrshire Scottish male film actors Scottish male television actors 20th-century Scottish male actors People educated at Ayr Academy