Prentis Hancock

Scottish character actor Walter Prentis Hancock was raised and educated in Glasgow. He initially studied architecture but soon developed a passion for the stage, joining a local amateur group. After further training at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in London, Hancock made his TV debut in 1969 and became a prolific television actor. With his shaggy blondish-brown hair, as well as growing a luxuriant 70's 'stache, Prentiss was in demand as much for his good looks as well as his acting skill. He was a regular on the BBC drama Spy Trap (1972), working alongside co-stars Paul Daneman, Julian Glover, and Michael Gwynn of the Department, a fictional British counter-espionage agency. Hancock is best remembered as mission controller and second-in-command Paul Morrow in the first season of Gerry Anderson's Space: 1999 (1975). Whovians will remember him for different roles in four Doctor Who (1963) episodes (1970-1978), notably as the impulsive Dalek victim Vaber in Planet of the Daleks: Episode One (1973), and as the similarly misguided (and equally unfortunate) controller Salamar in Planet of Evil: Part One (1975). Until the late 1990s, Hancock was consistently active in British episodic TV. He was also an avid sportsman and once worked as a fencing instructor. He passed away on May 30 2025, aged 83.