Obituary, Timothy West (1934-2024)

The actor and presenter Timothy West has died aged 90. Known both as one of the finest Shakespearean actors of his generation and more recently for his appearances in the 2010s on popular television shows such as Coronation Street and EastEnders, as well as his ten-series love-letter to canals around the world filmed in collaboration with his wife, he also has a distinguished discography to his name – taking narrative roles on recordings that drew on his gravitas as an actor of the highest calibre. 

Born in Bradford to a father who was also an actor, he briefly worked as a recording technician before, perhaps inevitably, the theatre called. First as an assistant stage manager and then as an increasingly successful actor, he performed in theatres around England and by his mid-20s had also begun to make inroads into the world of film and television. Two Macbeths, four Lears and more formed the basis of a remarkable career on both stage and screen.

As a result of this growing familiarity and acclaim, West became a highly sought-after voice for musical recordings that required a narrator. From co-starring with his son Samuel in Vaughan Williams’s Pan’s Anniversary and Elgar’s Falstaff to enlivening Vaughan Williams’s Sinfonia antartica with the original quotations written at the head of each movement; from grounding Biber’s Rosary Sonatas in the actual recitation of seventeenth-century Rosary prayers to engagingly re-telling the tale of Beowulf in Toby Young’s recent oratorio of the same name; and of course providing atmospheric readings in Christmas compilations inspired by the traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, West’s legacy on disc – while far smaller than his catalogue of on-screen appearances – is nevertheless greater than one might initially have thought.

Among his other musical achievements include singing the role of Sir Joseph Porter in the Carl Rosa Opera Company’s 2004 production of HMS Pinafore (which he also directed), and a number of roles supporting theatre and music – with his wife the actress Prunella Scales, who survives him, he was patron of several theatres and concert series, as well as serving as president of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Timothy West - a selected discography