Born: 29th December 1928 (as Bernard Joseph Cribbins)
Died: 27th July 2022 (aged 93 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 2007-2010, 2023

Bernard Cribbins was born in Oldham, Lancashire. His schooling interrupted by the Second World War, he began acting in fundraisers for the war effort, which led to professional work as a performer and assistant stage manager. Cribbins' career was interrupted by his National Service in 1947, for which he joined the Parachute Regiment and had a posting in Palestine. Returning to civilian life, he was soon back on the stage. During Cribbins' time with the Hornchurch Repertory Company, he met assistant stage manager Gillian McBarnet, whom he married in 1955. The next year, he made his first appearance in the West End with A Comedy Of Errors at the Arts Theatre. It became an ITV Play of The Week in May 1956, giving Cribbins his television debut. More work in front of the camera followed, including the 1956 adaptation of David Copperfield. His first movie credit came in 1957's Yangtse Incident: The Story Of HMS Amethyst.

Cribbins' career took off in the Sixties, with his talent for both comedy and drama making him well-suited to a variety of projects. Indeed, he even recorded novelty singles like 1962's Right Said Fred, which later inspired the name of the band responsible for Nineties earworm I'm Too Sexy. Cribbins' television roles included The Army Game, The Troubleshooters, The Avengers, and the start of a recurring run on Jackanory which would stretch to more than a hundred episodes over the next three decades. He also fronted his own variety show, appropriately called Cribbins.

Cribbins played Tom Campbell, a police officer who was plunged into a comedic version of The Dalek Invasion Of Earth

On the silver screen, 1960's Two Way Stretch was the first of a pair of movies starring Peter Sellers. Cribbins starred in two 1964 installments of the popular Carry On series of comedy films: Carry On Jack and Carry On Spying. He worked with Peter Cushing on Hammer Films' 1965 adaptation She, made a cameo appearance in the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale, and appeared with Jerry Lewis in 1968's Don't Raise The Bridge, Lower The River. He was reunited with Cushing in 1966 for Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD, the second of two Aaru Pictures adaptations of Doctor Who serials. Here Cribbins played Tom Campbell, a police offer who stumbled into Tardis, the invention of Cushing's human scientist, called Dr Who. Whisked away to the future, Tom was plunged into a decidedly comedic version of 1964's The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

During the Seventies, Cribbins' contributions to television more often took the form of voice work, although he could be seen on-screen in an episode of Fawlty Towers. He was the narrator of The Wombles, and could also be heard in an installment of Space: 1999. Movie roles became less frequent, but still included 1970's The Railway Children, Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy in 1972, and 1978's animated The Water Babies. Cribbins was considered for the role of the Fourth Doctor in 1974, but his ideas for the character were at odds with those of producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks. In the Eighties, he starred in shows like Cuffy, Langley Bottom and High & Dry, while amongst his guest roles was an episode of Worzel Gummidge with the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee.

Cribbins was one of numerous Carry On alumni who returned for the 1992 movie Carry On Columbus. But although he was still sought after for voiceover roles, Cribbins could only rarely be seen on television outside of light entertainment during the Nineties; exceptions included episodes of Tonight At 8.30 and Dalziel And Pascoe. That turned around after the turn of the century. Having recovered from a triple heart bypass in 1998, Cribbins racked up appearances in Last Of The Summer Wine, Down To Earth, and thirteen installments of Coronation Street. In 2007, Doctor Who returned to the orbit of Cribbins' career when he joined the cast of Horror Of Glam Rock, an audio drama from Big Finish Productions starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. Later the same year, he finally added televised Doctor Who to his extensive resume with a small part as a newsvendor named Stan in the 2007 Christmas special, Voyage Of The Damned.

Cribbins' Voyage Of The Damned character, Stan, was reimagined as Wilfred Mott

That probably would have been the extent of Cribbins' involvement with Doctor Who, were it not for the untimely death of actor Howard Attfield. Attfield had played Geoff Noble, the father of Catherine Tate's Donna, in 2006's The Runaway Bride. It was intended that he would reprise the role when Tate returned to Doctor Who as a full-time companion for its 2008 season. However, Attfield sadly succumbed to cancer after recording just a small amount of material for the premiere adventure, Partners In Crime. Producer Phil Collinson suggested recruiting Cribbins in Attfield's stead, and the actor agreed. His Voyage Of The Damned character, Stan, was now reimagined as Wilfred Mott, grandfather to Donna and father to the widowed Sylvia Noble, played by Jacqueline King. Cribbins had a memorable role in six episodes of Doctor Who's 2008 season. He then returned for Tennant's final story, The End Of Time, where he was effectively promoted to full companion status.

Despite his advancing years, Cribbins remained active throughout the 2010s. He fronted children's series Old Jack's Boat, on which former Doctor Who companion Freema Agyeman was one of his co-stars. He appeared in episodes of Midsomer Murders and New Tricks, as well as a 2016 adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream from Russell T Davies, who had been Doctor Who's executive producer during Cribbins' time on the show. He and his wife made cameo appearances in the 2012 comedy movie Run For Your Wife, and he also had a small role in the 2018 family film Patrick. In 2019, Cribbins reprised Wilfred Mott for Big Finish Productions in the Tenth Doctor audio drama No Place. His services to drama were recognised when he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2011. Bernard Who?: 75 Years Of Doing Just About Anything, an autobiography co-written with James Hogg, was published by Constable in 2018.

Cribbins died on July 27th, 2022, a year after his wife passed away. He was an actor to the very end: just a few weeks earlier, Cribbins filmed new material as Wilfred Mott for Wild Blue Yonder, Tennant and Tate's return to Doctor Who for its sixtieth anniversary. Sadly, his passing meant that an additional appearance in the following episode, The Giggle, was never recorded. The broadcast of Wild Blue Yonder on December 2nd, 2023 was dedicated to Cribbins' memory.