David Collings, actor who made his name in science fiction series such as Doctor Who – obituary

David Collings, who has died aged 79, was a Doctor Who fans’ favourite after taking three roles in the classic television science fiction series; he first appeared as Vorus, power-mad leader of the guardians of the mines on Voga, the “planet of gold”, in the 1975 adventure “Revenge of the Cybermen”, determined to blow up the Time Lord’s enemies with his Skystriker rocket.

“I was a sort of scientist/politician packed into a rubber mask and thinking, ‘Thank God they can’t see what I look like!’” Collings told the writer Alan Stevens. “In the end, he gets to fire his big rocket but then dies in the process.”

The actor was back two years later in “The Robots of Death”, his thick mop of red hair clearly visible this time while wearing what he described as a “very butch” costume. The role was Poul, a mining company’s undercover agent who proves useless – it emerges he has a fear of robots. In portraying the character’s breakdown, Collings memorably crawls around the floor sobbing.

He returned to Doctor Who as the mutant scientist of the title in the 1983 adventure “Mawdryn Undead”, trying to get the ever-regenerating Time Lord to give up his remaining incarnations.

Although the actor appeared in dozens of TV dramas, a legion of sci-fi fans remembered him for Doctor Who and other cult hits. A 1970 episode of UFO featured Collings as a bank clerk wreaking destruction after being taken over by aliens.

But he was a bit too eager in cutting his way through a wire fence with a karate chop. “They got a bit upset with me,” he recalled. “Although they weren’t ready, I thought I heard someone say, ‘Action,’ and chopped away, which then meant they had to build another fence.”

Later, Collings was in the middle of more mayhem for the climax of Blakes 7’s Wild Bunch-style final episode, in 1981. As Deva, the returning Blake’s loyal assistant on the planet Gauda Prime, he charges in to warn that Federation troops are about to attack – “They’ve found us, the base is under …” – only to be gunned down himself.

Collings also appeared intermittently (1981-82) in Sapphire & Steel, an imaginative supernatural series described by one critic as combining “science fiction, horror and fantasy with the time plays of J B Priestley and the absurdist work of Beckett and Pinter”.

He played Silver, assisting David McCallum and Joanna Lumley’s agents from another dimension who have special powers and communicate telepathically as they investigate strange events.

Collings, who enjoyed bringing flirtatiousness to his on-screen relationship with Lumley, described his character as “a technician who was able to conjure things out of thin air”. He was a gadgets specialist in the manner of James Bond’s Q, his skills including melting metals in his hands.

David Cressy Collings was born in Brighton on June 4 1940 to George, a greengrocer, and Lillian (née Parsons). On leaving Varndean Grammar School he performed in amateur dramatics with the Withdean Players, then at Lewes Little Theatre, while working first at an electrical shop, then in an architect’s drawing office.

He turned professional with Liverpool Rep, then made his television debut by starring as Raskolnikov in an award-winning 1964 ITV adaptation of Crime and Punishment. This opened the floodgates to further screen roles, from many character parts in plays and popular series to starring as William Wilberforce in The Fight Against Slavery (1975) and William Pitt in Prince Regent (1979).

Collings appealed to younger viewers in the dual roles of Lord Dark and the Friendly Ghost in the serial Dark Towers (1981) and voiced the title character for an English-dubbed version of the Japanese series Monkey (1978-80). He also played Bob Cratchit, alongside Albert Finney’s Ebenezer, in the 1970 film musical Scrooge, and Legolas in Lord of the Rings on radio (1981).

In 1986 he played Newman Noggs in Nicholas Nickleby for the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon and on Broadway.

David Collings’s first marriage, to Deirdre Bromfield (1962-75), ended in divorce. He was separated from his second wife, the actress Karen Archer, whom he married in 1983, but they remained close friends.

She survives him, along with their son and daughter – both actors – and a daughter and stepdaughter from his first marriage. The son and another daughter of that marriage predeceased him.

David Collings, born June 4 1940, died March 23 2020