Peter Francis Baldwin (29 July 1933 – 21 October 2015) was an English actor. He was best known for his role as Derek Wilton in the British

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...

''.Ex-Coronation Street actor opens toy shop in Hatfield
,

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

, 3 November 2010, retrieved 24 November 2010

Early life

Peter was born in Chidham, near

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ...

, Sussex, where his father was a primary school headmaster and his mother a teacher. He attended

Horsham Grammar School The College of Richard Collyer (colloquially Collyer's ), formerly called Collyer's School, is a co-educational sixth form college in Horsham, West Sussex, England. The college was rated as being ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in 2009. It is the se ...

and then did

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

in the army.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' obituary, 26 October 2015, p. 56 His introduction to the theatre came during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

when his parents took him to see a

Chichester Festival Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin ...

production of ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

'' starring

Ann Todd Dorothy Ann Todd (24 January 1907 – 6 May 1993) was an English film, television and stage actress who achieved international fame when she starred in 1945's '' The Seventh Veil''. From 1949 to 1957 she was married to David Lean who directed h ...

and

Alastair Sim Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his d ...

Career

After training to be an actor at the

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre. BOVTS is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. ...

, Baldwin joined the West of England Theatre Company, in which he worked with future ''Coronation Street'' partner

Thelma Barlow Thelma Barlow (''née'' Pigott; born 19 June 1929) is an English television actress and writer, known for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' and as Dolly Bellfield in the BBC One sitcom '' dinne ...

. He later toured with the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

and joined the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a f ...

. Baldwin made several appearances in films (in bit parts and extras) until he landed a main role in the television comedy ''Girls About Town'', which ran from 1969 to 1971. He also made guest appearances on other television series such as ''Menace'', ''The New Dick Van Dyke Show'' and '' Spy Trap'', and had several roles in

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194– ...

. He appeared on ITV as the Hotel Manager, Mr Humfries, in an adaptation of Agatha Christie's, At Bertram's Hotel in 1986. He appeared as a Desk Clerk in the ''

Tales of the Unexpected (TV series) ''Tales of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected)'' is a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988. Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending. ...

'' episode (9/6) "Wink Three Times" (1988). In 1976 he joined the cast of ''Coronation Street'', intermittently playing the character of Derek Wilton, eventually returning as a regular character in 1988.Foster, Paul (1976)
Happy Days For Peter...
, ''

Evening Times The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.Mavis Riley for many years, but eventually the two got married. It was reported that Derek was one of the favourite characters among a certain segment of viewers of the show, but in 1997 the character was killed off.Brace, Matthew (1997)
`Street' is left deserted as soap exodus continues
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', 24 May 1997, retrieved 24 November 2010 Benjamin Pollocks Toy Shop exterior

For the year after this, Baldwin made many appearances on talk shows and quiz shows in the UK such as ''

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

'', ''

This Morning This Morning may refer to: * ''This Morning'' (TV programme), a British daytime television programme * ''This Morning'' (radio program), a Canadian radio show which aired from 1997 to 2002 * '' CBS This Morning'', an American morning show, succe ...

'' and '' Crosswits'' and also returned to the stage for the first time in a decade in ''A Month of Sundays'', as well as touring in the musical '' Summer Holiday''. He then joined the cast of the TV show ''Out Of Sight'' as Uncle Gus until 1999. He continued to appear in TV series, including ''The Court Room'' and '' Doctors''. In 2005 he was a panelist on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

quiz show ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

''. In 1988 Baldwin took over the ownership of Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop in London's

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

, where he had previously worked between acting jobs and could often be found serving behind the counter. He was married to the former '' Play School'' presenter and actress Sarah Long until her death in 1987. They met in 1961 when they appeared together in a production of ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

'' which toured Europe and America. The couple married in 1965.Peter Baldwin Obituary - ''The Scotsman'' - 26 October 2015
/ref> Baldwin made an appearance on the 1978 Boxing Day edition of ''Play School'', which Long was co-presenting with Don Spencer. Baldwin died at home in Hampstead in north London aged 82, after a short battle with cancer. He was survived by his children Julia and Matthew.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Peter 1933 births 2015 deaths 20th-century British Army personnel 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Deaths from cancer in England English male soap opera actors English male stage actors Male actors from Sussex People from Chidham and Hambrook