Character: Professor Phillips
Actor: Geoffrey Chater
Episode: Fifty Ships

Playing an Oxford don in Foyle's War reminded Geoffrey Chater of his early days in television.

"Foyle's War is set in 1940 and my first TV was in 1947 so I know a little bit about it. Professor Phillips is a man who is a bit entrenched in the past but there's no harm in him. He's a kind man, who thinks favourably about the people who come under his tuition.

"He taught Foyle's son Andrew before he enlisted. He describes him as a young man who was against the establishment but as soon as his country was under threat, he volunteered and went to the other side of the fence."

Geoffrey's scenes were filmed at Charterhouse school.

"I had a black gown and a suit that had seen better days. Like many schoolmasters in those days, Phillips was committed to his lifestyle and the boys under his tuition. He had a vocation."

Geoffrey's career spans more than 50 years, including roles in such series as Brideshead Revisited, The Darling Buds of May, The Rector's Wife, Bergerac, Mapp & Lucia, Blott on the Landscape and Tales of the Unexpected.

But he has no plans to retire. "I love acting as much as when I started and I don't want to retire at all. Parts like Professor Phillips make a lot of sense if you are one of the older crowd. It's good to do a cameo as truthfully as you can and not just let it disappear into nothing."

October 2003; Publicity Release