‘As Time Goes By’ actor Geoffrey Palmer dies aged 93

Geoffrey Palmer has died aged 93. (Photo by Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)

Geoffrey Palmer, the actor best known for his role in sitcoms including The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin and As Time Goes By, has died at the age of 93.

He died peacefully at home, according to his agent.

One of Palmer’s most notable roles saw him star opposite Dame Judi Dench in romantic sitcom As Time Goes By as Lionel Hardcastle for 13 years between 1992 and 2005, with the programme running for nine series.

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The actors played two former lovers rekindling a relationship after decades without contact.

Geoffrey Palmer and Judi Dench attend a photocall to launch the new series of the BBC Television sitcom ‘As Time Goes By’ in London in February 1995. (Photo by Larry Ellis Collection/Getty Images)

A frequent collaborator of Dench, they both also appeared in Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies in which he played Admiral Roebuck to her M as well as Mrs Brown where she played Queen Victoria and he Sir Henry Ponsonby.

When Dench presented Palmer with an Oldie of the Year award in 2018, she described him as the “naughtiest man I have ever worked with”.

Before handing over the Palmer d’Or Oldie of the Year award for services to British television to him, she said: “I wish wish wish that this was the awards for ‘most promising newcomer’ or maybe even ‘the naughtiest man I ever had the pleasure to work with’, but it’s not. It’s the Oldie awards.

“I’m going to quote Bernard Shaw as he said about Ellen Terry ‘she never seemed old to me’. Well, nor you to me.”

His other film credits include A Fish Called Wanda and The Madness of King George.

Promotional portrait of actor Geoffrey Palmer for the television show ‘The Last Song’, January 1983. First Printed in Radio Times issue 3092, page 19, February 10th 1983. (Photo by Tim Roney/Radio Times/Getty Images)

Early roles saw him make several appearances in The Avengers as a number of characters, The Saint and Wednesday Play Cathy Come Home.

Palmer also had multiple guest stints in Doctor Who over his long-spanning career, appearing in 1970, 1972 and 2007.

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He was made an OBE in 2004 for services to drama.

The actor wed Sally Green in 1963 and the pair had daughter Harriet and son Charles. He is survived by his wife and children.

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