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Peter Tuddenham, actor, born November 27, 1918; died July 9, 2007.
The affable actor Peter Tuddenham passed away at 88. He was content to play supporting roles and was best known for his off-screen contributions, notably providing the distinct voices of the computers in the sci-fi series Blake's 7 (BBC, 1978-81).
Born in Ipswich, Suffolk, and raised in the seaside town of Felixstowe, Tuddenham made his professional debut before World War II in repertory theatre on Hastings pier. During the war, serving in the Royal Army Service Corps, he honed his performing skills with Stars in Battledress.
After demobilization, he joined a production of Ivor Novello's The Dancing Years. By 1959, BBC productions of this and another Novello musical, Perchance to Dream, featured him among his early TV appearances. In 1950, he appeared in Noel Coward's Ace Of Cards, which toured successfully but received poor reviews in London's West End.
His television debut came in The Granville Melodramas (1955), one of ITV's earliest shows, starring then-married couple Hattie Jacques and John Le Mesurier. Tuddenham secured a regular role in Anglia Television's Weavers Green (1966), a short-lived twice-weekly soap notable for its early use of location videotape recording. As a Suffolk accent expert, he also served as Anglia's regular dialect coach.
True to form, Tuddenham was heard but not seen as the spirit of East Anglia in Akenfield (1974), Sir Peter Hall’s film adaptation of Ronald Blythe's book, featuring mainly amateur actors. Funded largely by London Weekend Television for cinema rights, the film premiered on television before a theatrical release, resulting in strong TV ratings but disappointing box office returns. Tuddenham later became dialogue coach for Hall’s 1985 Glyndebourne production of Benjamin Britten's opera Albert Herring, televised on BBC2.
After extensive radio work, including roles in the soaps Mrs Dale's Diary and Waggoner's Walk, Tuddenham lent his off-screen voice to Doctor Who stories The Ark in Space and The Masque of Mandragora (1975-76), both starring Tom Baker. He was then cast in Blake's 7, a series about interplanetary rebels battling an all-powerful Federation, created by Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks.
Tuddenham voiced the computers—Zen, Orac, and Slave—in the series featuring the ship described by Clive James in The Observer as “a tasteless light-fitting known as the Liberator.” James’s dismissive view of the series as “flaring nonsense from beyond the galaxy” was common among critics. The sets and special effects were often mocked, and although the show attracted large audiences, it was generally seen as hokum.
Nevertheless, Blake’s 7 developed a passionate cult following, with many considering it and Doctor Who the high points of British television sci-fi. Tuddenham reprised his roles in radio revivals and fan-made audio tapes.
He did not lack serious drama work, often portraying doctors and authority figures. His credits include North and South (1975), based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel; The Lost Boys (1978), supporting Ian Holm as JM Barrie; and The Burston Rebellion (1985), about two Norfolk teachers dismissed for left-wing beliefs, whose pupils then struck. In Anything More Would Be Greedy (1989), a six-part Anglia series critiquing the 1980s by Malcolm Bradbury, Tuddenham played the small but pivotal role of returning officer at local elections.
His lighter guest roles included appearances in Nearest and Dearest, Only Fools and Horses, and One Foot in the Grave. He regularly featured as the friend of academic dropout Michael Williams in the gentle comedy Double First (1988).
Tuddenham remained a warm personality and was a popular guest at sci-fi conventions. He was survived in 2007 by Rosie, his second wife, their son Julian, and a son from his first marriage. Another son had predeceased him.
