{"id":45242,"date":"2024-02-05T16:10:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T15:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1986532"},"modified":"2024-02-05T18:29:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T17:29:10","slug":"doctor-who-legend-michael-jayston-dies-aged-88-after-short-illness","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-who-legend-michael-jayston-dies-aged-88-after-short-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who legend Michael Jayston dies aged 88 after \u2018short illness\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"> The actor was also known for appearing in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. <\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By Molly Moss\n                \t\t<\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Monday, 05 February 2024 at 15:05 PM<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doctor Who star Michael Jayston has died aged 88 after a \u201cshort illness\u201d, his agent has confirmed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>M&amp;M Famous Faces said in a statement on behalf of his family on Monday <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(5th February): <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt is with great sadness that I have been asked by his family to share the news: Michael Jayston sadly passed away this morning after a short illness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The statement continued: \u201cThose who knew Michael will know he was full of love, laughs and happiness. He adored meeting his fans all over the world\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHis family and friends would appreciate privacy at this time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The British actor is best known for playing antiques expert James Turner in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He is also known for starring in the historical film Nicholas and Alexandra, which told the story of the last days of the tsars in Russia and the relationship between Nicholas II and his wife.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Born in West Bridgford in Nottingham, Jayston trained in acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and began <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">his career in 1962 performing at the Bristol Old Vic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He went on to star as Captain Von Trapp in the 1981 stage revival of The Sound of Music at the Apollo Victoria in London alongside Petula Clark, who portrayed the role of Maria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jayston also <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">starred as Edward Rochester in a 1970s TV adaptation of Charlotte Bronte\u2019s novel Jane Eyre, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/doctor-who\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Doctor Who<\/a> fans will recognise him from his role as the Valeyard in fourteen episodes of the sci-fi series.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Other acting credits include Emmerdale, EastEnders, Coronation Street and more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1990, he played the role of Ian Fleming\u2019s James Bond in a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of You Only Live Twice.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I just got a message to say the incredible Michael Jayston has left us! He was an absolute gentleman, with the biggest twinkle in the business. An extraordinary raconteur and one of the loveliest men I\u2019ve ever met. No more long lunches\ud83e\udd72<br\/>My thoughts are with his lovely wife Ann. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SeXcshfviv\">pic.twitter.com\/SeXcshfviv<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Nicola Bryant \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\udf3b (@thenicolabryant) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thenicolabryant\/status\/1754513848608944625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 5, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"\/>\n<p>Tributes have been flooding in for the late star following the news of his passing, with actress Nicola Bryant writing on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thenicolabryant\/status\/1754513848608944625\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>, which was recently rebranded as X: \u201c<span class=\"css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">I just got a message to say the incredible Michael Jayston has left us! He was an absolute gentleman, with the biggest twinkle in the business. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">\u201cAn extraordinary raconteur and one of the loveliest men I\u2019ve ever met. No more long lunches.<\/span><span class=\"css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"> My thoughts are with his lovely wife Ann.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Colin Baker, who played the Sixth Doctor, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SawbonesHex\/status\/1754492601506373676\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">penned<\/a>: \u201cMy dear dear friend, Michael Jayston has left us today. I am absolutely devastated. He was warm witty, clever naughty and a very fine actor &amp; wonderful man. My thoughts and love go to his wife Ann and daughter Katie. Heartbroken Goodbye my friend.\u201d<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> The actor was also known for appearing in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":45243,"template":"","categories":[6,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/doctor-who-legend-michael-jayston-dies-aged-88-after-short-illness-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/doctor-who-legend-michael-jayston-dies-aged-88-after-short-illness-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/doctor-who-legend-michael-jayston-dies-aged-88-after-short-illness-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/doctor-who-legend-michael-jayston-dies-aged-88-after-short-illness-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/doctor-who-legend-michael-jayston-dies-aged-88-after-short-illness-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/doctor-who-legend-michael-jayston-dies-aged-88-after-short-illness-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/doctor-who-legend-michael-jayston-dies-aged-88-after-short-illness-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The actor was also known for appearing in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/45242"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}