Bill Maynard, the comedy actor who has died aged 89, first came to public notice with Terry Scott in the television series Great Scott – It’s Maynard! (1955-56); he survived several reversals of fortune before re-emerging in the title role of Oh No – It’s Selwyn Froggitt (1974-78), a sitcom written for ITV by Alan Plater, and subsequently as the lovable rogue Claude Jeremiah Greengrass in Heartbeat (1992-2010).
Maynard was in his early twenties when he made his stage debut with Scott in 1951, subsequently forming a touring partnership with him.
In Great Scott – It’s Maynard! the pair were heralded as the new young blades of television comedy when they starred in a sketch-based show for the BBC...