Michael Jayston: 1935-2024

Michael Jayston: 1935-2024

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The Valeyard | Doctor Who | Doctor Who
Michael Jayston as The Valeyard | Doctor Who

The Gallifreyan Newsroom has just recieved the sad news about the passing of actor Michael Jayson.  Tributes have been pouring in from the Doctor Who Community!

Michael James (29 October 1935 – 5 February 2024 known professionally as Michael Jayston, was an English actor. He played Nicholas II of Russia in the film Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). He also made many television appearances, which included playing the Valeyard in all fourteen episodes of the Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord (1986) and appearing in the Only Fools and Horses episode “Time on Our Hands” (1996) as Raquel’s father, James.

Michael Jayston was born on 29 October 1935 in West Bridgford, Nottingham. His registered birth name was Michael A James. He is the only son of Aubrey Vincent James (1911–1937) and Edna Myfanwy Medcalfe (1904–1950). He attended the Becket RC School on Wilford Lane, West Bridgford. A former accountant, he trained in acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He lived in Hove, Sussex.

Jayston began his stage career in 1962 and performed at the Bristol Old Vic and at Stratford-upon-Avon. He starred as Captain Von Trapp in the 1981 stage revival of The Sound of Music at the Apollo Victoria (London) alongside Petula Clark who played the role of Maria.

Jayston played Shakespearean roles on TV including Macbeth in Macbeth (1970), Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice (1973) and Edmund in King Lear (1975).

An early recurring television role was as civil servant Dowling in the final series of boardroom drama The Power Game in 1969.

In 1972, he played Sir Henry Royce alongside Robert Powell in the episode “Mr. Rolls and Mr. Royce” of the BBC drama series The Edwardians; the following year he took the role of Mr Rochester in a BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre, opposite Sorcha Cusack.

He made two appearances in the anthology series Thriller in 1974, and in 1975 played Quiller, a spy who never used a gun, in the short-lived British TV series of the same name. He appeared as Dornford Yates’ gentleman hero Jonathan Mansel in the 1977 BBC adaptation of She Fell Among Thieves. In 1979, he played Peter Guillam opposite Alec Guinness in the series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

In 1983 Michael appeared along with Sue Cook in Arthur Marshall’s team on Call My Bluff Series 18 Episode 11 on 4 July 1983.

Jayston played Neville Badger in the 1989 television adaptation of David Nobbs’s comedy of manners A Bit of a Do. He portrayed James Bond in a radio adaptation of You Only Live Twice in 1990. In 1991, he appeared as Colonel Mustard in the television series Cluedo, and a year later made a guest appearance in the Press Gang episode “UnXpected”. Other TV appearances include in EastEnders, Coronation Street, Only Fools and Horses, The Darling Buds of May, Tales of the Unexpected, The Bill and the character of Donald De Souza in Emmerdale. He has also appeared in Foyle’s War, Holby City, Sherlock Holmes, Tracy Beaker Returns, and Midsomer Murders.

In 1986, Jayston played the role of the Valeyard in Doctor Who. Prosecutor at the Sixth Doctor’s trial, the Valeyard attempted to find the Doctor guilty of interference and genocide, a verdict that would result in the death penalty. He presented damning testimony from the Doctor’s affairs on Ravalox, blamed him for Peri’s apparent death on Thoros Beta and the genocide of the Vervoid race. As the trial culminated, the Master revealed that the Valeyard was in fact an incarnation of the Doctor himself – an amalgamation of all the Doctor’s potential darkness, from a point in the his future. After a pitched battle with the Doctor in the dreamscape of the Gallifreyan Matrix, the Valeyard died when the weapon he intended to turn on the Time Lords overloaded. However, as the Doctor departed with all charges against him dropped, it was clear that the Valeyard had survived… He later reprised the part of the Valeyard in He Jests at Scars…, Trial of the Valeyard, The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure, and The Eighth Doctor: The Time War 3, audio plays released by Big Finish Productions.

In 1968 he played Demetrius in Peter Hall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Two years later in 1970, he played Henry Ireton in Cromwell. The following year he starred as Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in the film Nicholas and Alexandra.

He appeared as Gratiano opposite Laurence Olivier as Shylock in the National Theatre’s film The Merchant of Venice (1974).

Jayston recorded most of John le Carré’s novels in audiobook format, providing a link with his role as Peter Guillam in the 1979 TV series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He was also the storyteller in the BBC radio readings of the novels Rogue Male and Rogue Justice, both written by Geoffrey Household.

In 1988 he provided the opening voiceover for the Euston Films TV drama Jack The Ripper starring Michael Caine.

In 1990, he played the role of Ian Fleming’s James Bond in a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of You Only Live Twice.

As an official United Kingdom Record Store Day 2017 release, a collaborative double vinyl album between the underground artist Ruben Vine and Jayston, including a 28-page comic, was released. Jayston featured as the narrator on the story-based album entitled The Life & Times of an Imaginary Rock Star, this alternative rock album was described by one reviewer as a punk opera.

A prolific reader for audiobooks, Jayston also recorded audio versions of many of the novels of Alexander Kent, such as the Richard Bolitho adventures set during the age of sail before and throughout the Napoleonic Wars, Winston Churchill’s history of the Second World War, and many others. In the 1970s and 1980s he was also a prolific voiceover for TV adverts in the UK.

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