Denis Lill

Denis Lill (born 22 April 1942) is a New Zealand-born British actor. He is best known for his roles in Survivors as Charles Vaughan, Only Fools and Horses as Alan Parry, Outside Edge as Dennis Broadley and as Consultant General Surgeon Mr Rose in the ITV1 medical drama The Royal. Career Lill joined the RNZAF as a 13–course BES cadet entrant in 1959. It was in the RNZAF that he first expressed an interest in amateur dramatics and a fondness for mimicking characters of the BBC's The Goon Show. Throughout his air force career, he involved himself in operatic and theatric productions. He left New Zealand for Britain in 1967. Some of his many film and television roles include Fall of Eagles (1974), Special Branch (1974 series 4,ep12), Edward the Seventh (1975), Survivors (1975–77), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Bad Blood (1981), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), as William Knox D'Arcy, the Australian oil pioneer in Persia, in Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983), Rumpole of the Bailey (1983–92), Mapp and Lucia (1985–86), Only Fools and Horses (1989–92), Batman, Red Dwarf (1 episode, 1990s) (1989), Bernard and the Genie (1991), Richard III (1995), Evita (1996), The Opium War (1997), Rebecca (1997) Heartbeat (2002) and The Royal (2003-2011). Lill twice appeared in the BBC's science fiction series Doctor Who: as Dr Fendelman in the 1977 serial Image of the Fendahl and as Sir George Hutchinson in 1984's The Awakening. After a one-off appearance in the first series of Terry Nation's post-apocalyptic drama Survivors as Charles Vaughan, he became the leading actor for the show's second and third series. Lill portrayed Bertie, the Prince of Wales and later Edward the VII, in the 1978 period serial drama Lillie opposite Francesca Annis as Lillie Langtry. In 1980 he appeared in the role of Josef Merhart, a member of an organised crime syndicate involved in a silver bullion robbery in the hard-hitting British police drama The Professionals; the episode titled "Hijack". In the 1990s he appeared in sitcoms Outside Edge as Dennis Broadley and Only Fools and Horses as Cassandra's father, Alan Parry.