Peter Benson

Peter Henry Benson was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, England. The first couple of decades of his acting career were filled with recurring roles on TV series and miniseries like "Trinity Tales" (BBC 1975), "The Devil's Crown" (BBC 1978), "The Borgias" (BBC 1981), and "Doctor Who" (BBC 1963-1989, 2005-), as well as TV movies like "King Henry VI" (BBC 1983). The role with which Benson's name would be forever synonymous came when the actor was past 50: that of garage operator and funeral director Bernie Scripps in the police drama "Heartbeat" (ITV 1992-2010). Benson adopted the role in 1995 and portrayed the character until the series' end. He played other parts intermittently during the program's run, and only acted in one production following the cancelation of "Heartbeat"-the hospital drama "Casualty" (BBC 1996-), in which he appeared in two episodes. Benson died on Sept. 6, 2018 at age 75 following a brief illness.