The actor Michael Keating, who has died aged 79, appeared as the wily yet hapless thief Vila in the popular BBC science-fiction television series Blake’s 7 (1978-81), which at its peak pulled in audiences of more than 10 million viewers.
The writer Terry Nation, who had created the Daleks for Doctor Who, conceived Blake’s 7 as “the Dirty Dozen in space”, it was an adventure series with morally ambiguous protagonists, aimed at an older audience. The “seven” were an uneasy alliance of rogues led by a freedom fighter, Roj Blake (Gareth Thomas), in a battle against the evil totalitarian Federation.
Vila was a genial character – a somewhat cowardly operator with a knack for self-preservation and for picking locks. Keating was cast on the spot, so good was his audition: in lesser hands the role might have been just one-note comic relief, or even annoying, but Keating’s comedic gifts, light touch and innate likability made him increasingly popular. In fact, when it was decided to slim the cast down during its second season, Nation wanted to write Vila out, but an audience poll showed that the viewers loved him and he was granted a reprieve. The gentle giant Gan, played by David Jackson, was killed off instead: an important development for the show, emphasising its adult tone by illustrating that no one was safe.
When Thomas left in 1979, the unscrupulous Avon (Paul Darrow) became the lead character – and his sparring with Keating became one of the series’ highlights. Darrow loved working with Keating, declaring him “a born comedian if ever there was one – with exquisite timing, particularly adept at the wry, throwaway one-liner”. Sometimes under-served by the writers, Keating nevertheless shone when given the opportunity. In the episode City at the End of the World, Vila fell in love, but sacrificed his chance of happiness to save the rest of the crew; another episode, Orbit, found the terrified thief being stalked by Avon, intent on throwing him off their plummeting spaceship in order to reduce its weight. Both adventures showcased Keating’s value as an actor, while behind the scenes his gentle nature and good humour meant he was a popular cast member too. He was the only actor to appear in every episode of the show – which ended memorably when Blake returned and the whole crew were apparently gunned down.
Keating enjoyed his time on Blake’s 7 – later revisiting it in several audio books for Big Finish Productions (2013-23). He and Darrow also joined forces to win an episode of Pointless Celebrities in 2018.
Keating was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, the younger child of Gwendoline (nee Barker) and her husband, Frank, a printer. In 1957 the family went to Australia as ten-pound poms but they returned to the UK after only six months and settled in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. Michael attended the Mount Grace secondary school there, but left aged 16 to work in the offices of the United Artists talent agency. Having attended Saturday morning drama classes in 1964 he won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won the gold medal for his year. He got work immediately on graduation – as an assistant stage manager playing small parts at the Nottingham Playhouse. After some years in repertory in Pitlochry, Perthshire, the Manchester Library theatre and the Belfast Lyric theatre (where he played Romeo in 1971), he joined the National Theatre in 1974, going on to appear in its first season at the South Bank (1976).
On screen he played a plebeian during Charlton Heston’s rendition of the “Friends, Romans, countrymen” speech in the 1970 film of Julius Caesar: it was a play Keating knew well and he had the temerity to correct the star when he got a line wrong. A gracious Heston checked the script: Keating was quite right and a retake was duly ordered. But it was to be his only film.
He had more luck on television – playing a grubby rebel in Doctor Who (1977) and appearing in Yes Minister (1981), The Bill (1994) and two episodes of Casualty (1995 and 2000, reuniting with Thomas in the first). In 2005 Keating was cast as the Rev George Stevens in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, little realising that his association with the programme would last for 13 years. He ultimately clocked up more than 50 episodes, with Stevens conducting the weddings and funerals of key characters and providing counsel to Dot Cotton (June Brown). The character eventually retired to Australia to live with his daughter.
Keating also played some good roles on stage: Marty in the original West End production of Alan Bleasdale’s Elvis Presley musical Are You Lonesome Tonight? (1985), Sidney Bruhl in Ira Levin’s Deathtrap (Everyman theatre, Cheltenham, 1991), Eddie in A View from the Bridge (Palace theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea), Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank (Wolsey theatre, Ipswich, 1998) and Robert in the European premiere of David Auburn’s Proof (Vienna’s English Theatre, 2002).
His first marriage, to Tina Hutchinson, came to an end during Blake’s 7 but Keating continued to live in Stoke Newington, north-west London, in order to be close to their daughter, Lisa. He loved travel and, having joined a local rambler’s club in 1992, he met Sue Conner, a teacher, in 1998. They were soon leading walks together and enjoying hiking holidays abroad, and were married in 2006, settling in Peckham, south-east London.
Sue survives him, as do Lisa, his sister Ann and the seven grandchildren that he and Sue had between them.
• Michael Frank Keating, actor, born 10 February 1947; died 26 April 2026
