All of Big Finish was saddened to learn of the death of actor Michael Keating.
Born in Edmonton, north London, on 10 February 1947, Michael began his acting career in 1966 and became one of the most recognizable and best-loved faces in British science fiction.
His first professional role was at the Nottingham Playhouse under the artistic direction of classical actor John Neville. After two and a half years in Nottingham, he performed in theaters across the United Kingdom, including the Library Theater Manchester, Pitlochry Theatre, the Lyceum Theater Edinburgh and the Lyric Theater Belfast, as well as in numerous repertory and touring productions throughout England.
As Willa Restall in BBC’s Blake’s 7, Michael appeared in all four series of the show from 1978 to 1981 – the only cast member to appear in all 52 episodes. Willa was nominally the gang’s thief and a self-proclaimed coward, although Michael always preferred the more accurate description: cautious, not a coward. In his hands, Villa was much more than comic relief. He was warm, smart, honest about his boundaries and almost impossible not to love.
beyond the limits of the spacecraft liberatorMichael enjoyed a long and varied career in theater and television, including stints with both the National Theater and the Old Vic. In 1985, he played Marty in the West End at the Phoenix Theater are you Lonesome TonightAlan Bleasdale’s play about Elvis Presley, starring Martin Shaw as the King.
And, away from his screen career, Michael was an avid wanderer and lover of the outdoors, an avid reader, and in every way a thoughtful and extremely spontaneous man, as generous in conversation as he was in the studio.
Michael’s first role behind the microphone at Big Finish was in the monthly Doctor Who range, in which he guest-starred in the Eighth Doctor story, The Twilight Kingdom, alongside Paul McGann and India Fisher in 2004. After sporadic appearances in other series, he eventually reprized the role of Villa in 2012’s first Big Finish Blake’s 7 production, The Turing Test, bringing the same care and craft to the character on audio that had made him so enduring. Television. Over the next decade he reunited with many of his on-screen colleagues, including Paul Darrow, Gareth Thomas and Jacqueline Pearce.
While Blake’s 7 on TV ended in 1981 with the apparent massacre of the entire crew in its disastrous final episode, Villa’s story was far from over for Big Finish listeners. In 2019, in a recording for The New Age written by Mark Wright, Michael was asked whether Willa could cope with living in a society deprived of all technology – the kind of world a living person might find herself in. His answer was completely in character: “I’m sure he’ll survive. As long as he can light a fire, stay warm and meet a young woman. He’ll learn a lot about trees on the planet, build a little hut. It would be wonderful.”
Big Finish Blake’s 7 producer, Peter Angelides, said: “What a joy it was to work with Michael. When I first met him at BBC Television Center in 1981 I didn’t realize that almost three decades later I would be writing and producing Big Finish Blake’s 7 audio stories for him as Willa Restall.
“His enthusiastic presence during studio days was always a welcome one. I used to sit in the back of the Audio Sorcery control room laughing at his comic timing on our recordings. In the green room when we recorded the first full-cast audio Warships he jokingly suggested that there should have been a planet named “Vere” after his old colleague, TV. Director/producer Vere Lorimer, so obviously I incorporated that idea into a later script, which Michael was very happy with.
“Blake’s 7 fans loved her as Willa, the only character to appear in every Blake’s 7 TV episode and both BBC radio dramas between 1978 and 1981. When planning the second series, Terry Nation thought Willa was relegated to being a ‘borderline case’. liberator regular, until the production team acknowledged the character’s popularity – due in no small part to Michael’s skillful performance as a career thief and reluctant rebel.
“Michael reprized the role for Big Finish in The Liberator Chronicles, full-cast plays and audiobook readings. He played Gaudry in the 1977 Doctor Who TV story. The Sun Makersand later roles at Big Finish Audio with Tom Baker, Colin Baker and Paul McGann. And for a generation of soap fans, he was the Reverend George Stevens in 54 episodes eastenders Between 2005 and 2017.”
Her final Big Finish credit was in The Terra Nostra with Sally Knyvett and Carl Howman, released in January 2022.
- Michael Keating, actor, born 10 February 1947; Died in May 2026.
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