FRIDAY HALL OF FAMER - CARTER, MR. CARTER

From the Guardian:
Brimming with mischief, the gloriously uproarious Dudley Sutton was an actor who epitomised the Elizabethan view of thespians as rogues and vagabonds, “cony-catchers and bawdy-baskets”. His face provided theatre critics with years of poetic inspiration.

Sutton, who has died aged 85, was powered by stern beliefs and a desire to upset the applecart, traits that produced well-observed turns in a vast rogues’ gallery of colourful supporting roles. His most famous television part was in the BBC’s 'Lovejoy' (1986-94), which starred Ian McShane as a scallywag East Anglian antiques dealer and Sutton as his friend Tinker the tout.

Unfortunately, Tinker Dell isn’t eligible to be inducted into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  But one of Sutton’s characters does make the grade…..  

From Wikipedia:

“The Beiderbecke Trilogy” centres on two schoolteachers – Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn) – who teach at a comprehensive school in Leeds, in West Yorkshire. Jill is a keen conservationist, interested in the environment as well as social issues. Trevor on the other hand is interested in jazz, football and snookerand has little interest in conservation. Jill being the more headstrong of the pair, often coaxes Trevor into involvement in her political activities.

In each of the three serials – ‘The Beiderbecke Affair’, ‘The Beiderbecke Tapes’ and ‘The Beiderbecke Connection’ – Jill and Trevor inadvertently become embroiled in a series of unlikely adventures involving such things as political corruption, nuclear waste dumping and serious fraud. In each serial, the plot rambles, moving from one seemingly unrelated event to another, all of which are eventually shown to be interconnected. However, it is the clever interplay between the characters that is the core of each these stories.

Here’s where Dudley Sutton comes in. 

Again from Wikipedia:
Only ever referred to as Mr Carter, his first name is never revealed. Mr Carter is a history teacher at the same school as Jill and Trevor. Mr Carter is a solitary character, whose only friends appear to be Trevor and Jill. Mr Carter openly fancies Jill, often asking if he can sit next to her and 'kindle my desires'. The character seems to find company in Trevor and Jill as the three of them all hate Mr Wheeler, the headmaster. Mr Carter appears to be completely world-weary and jaded with his job.

As we can see from two of those pictures, Mr. Carter does his best to come between Trevor and Jill.

Well, it’s not the tribute I wanted to give, to Tinker Dill, but ‘twill serve for at least this one character of Dudley Sutton.

Welcome to the Hall, Mr. Carter.