Geoffrey Beevers
Geoffrey Beevers (born 15 January 1941, in Chichester, Sussex, England) is a British actor, writer, and director with a career spanning over five decades across stage, television, and film. The only son of D. Beevers, he was educated at Tonbridge School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he read History and took a B.A. in 1962, before training at LAMDA. He made his London stage debut in 1964 with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Peter Brook's production of The Screens, and went on to perform at the National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, and the West End. He is best known to Doctor Who fans as the third actor to play the Master in the 1981 serial The Keeper of Traken (credited on-screen only as "Melkur" to keep the reveal a surprise), a role he has since reprised in numerous Big Finish Productions audio dramas. He was married to actress Caroline John, who played Liz Shaw in Doctor Who, from 1970 until her death in 2012; they had three children. His film credits include Victor/Victoria (1982), Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), Goodnight Mister Tom (1998, as the vicar), Clash of the Titans (2010), Miss Potter (2006), The Edge of Love (2008), Legend (2015), and The Sandman (2022). On television, he has appeared in over two hundred productions including The Jewel in the Crown (1984), A Very British Coup (1988), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981), Yes, Prime Minister (1986), Red Dwarf (1988), Jonathan Creek (1997), Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989), The Railway Children (2000), The Tudors (2007), Plebs (2013), and Slow Horses. In theatre, Beevers has worked extensively at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, both as an actor (including the title role in Jules Romain's Doctor Knock, 1994) and as an adaptor/director of George Eliot's Adam Bede (1990, for which he won a Time Out Award), Silas Marner (1998), and Balzac's Père Goriot (1994). He has also done extensive radio work for the BBC, and published his autobiography, One Man In His Time — The Life of a Working Actor, in 2025.
Photos
Movies (42)
The Doctors: Heroes and Villains!
2020
National Theatre Live: Amadeus
2017 · Baron Gottfried Van Swieten
Carry On: The Life of Caroline John
2013
National Theatre Live: The Audience
2013 · Equerry
Foster
2011 · Man in Suit
The Kid
2010 · Headmaster
Clash of the Titans
2010 · Noble (Basilica)
On Expenses
2010 · Douglas Hogg MP
Adrift
2009 · Bill
Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley
2008 · Head Panelist
The Ties That Bind Us
2008 · The Master (archive footage)
Cass
2008 · Vicar
Miss Potter
2006 · Mr. Copperthwaite
Fragile
2005 · Father Tom
My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117
2002 · Cleric
Los niños del tren
2000 · District Superintendent
G:MT Greenwich Mean Time
1999 · Building Society Manager
The Mystery of Men
1999 · Dr Littleton
Goodnight, Mister Tom
1998 · Vicar
Monk Dawson
1998 · Paterson
The Woodlanders
1998 · Agent
Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse
1997 · Father Gorman
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders
1996 · Judge
PROBE: Unnatural Selection
1996 · Right Hon. Brian Rutherford
PROBE: The Devil of Winterborne
1995 · Brian Rutherford / Wittaker
The Stranger: Eye of the Beholder
1995 · Hunter
Downtime
1995 · 'Harrods' Haroldson
Measure for Measure
1994 · Friar Thomas
The Eligible Bachelor
1993 · Insp. Montgomery
After the Dance
1992 · Arthur Power
The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
1988 · Jim Kitteridge
Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun
1988 · Oliver Hatton
The Marlowe Inquest
1986 · Ingram Frizer
Link
1986 · Mr. Miller
Curse of the Pink Panther
1983 · Concierge
Victor/Victoria
1982 · Police Inspector
Ivanhoe
1982 · Beaslin
Doctor Who: The Keeper of Traken
1981 · Melkur (voice) / The Master
Growing Pains
1980 · Gravedigger
Hamlet
1980 · Third Player / Lucianus
The Nativity
1978 · Eleazar
Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death
1970 · Private Johnson
TV shows (59)
Sandman
2022 · Alex Burgess (Elder)
Doctor Who: Behind the Sofa
2018 · Self
Plebs
2013 · Phoenix
Bad Education
2012 · Vicar
Reggie Perrin
2009 · Vicar
Acts of Passion
1999 · Dr Roberts
Boyz Unlimited
1999 · Mr Hornchurch
The Vice
1999 · Fielding
The Last Salute
1998 · Minister of Transport
Jonathan Creek
1997 · Neville Spivey
Bodyguards
1997 · DAC James Henty
Midsomer Murders
1997 · Newscaster
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders
1996 · Judge
Dalziel and Pascoe
1996 · Vicar, Catholic Priest
Silent Witness
1996
The Ghostbusters of East Finchley
1995 · Mr Wheatley Jnr
The Queen's Nose
1995 · Registrar
Peak Practice
1993 · Stuart Johnson
A Time to Dance
1992 · Christopher Pearson
Stanley and the Women
1991 · Television Guest
Performance
1991 · Arthur Power, Friar Thomas
In Suspicious Circumstances
1991 · Maj Burnand
Prime Suspect
1991 · Coroner
The Darling Buds of May
1991 · Mr. Gibbins
The Stranger
1991 · Hunter
The Chief
1990 · Prof. Hawthorne
A Sense of Guilt
1990 · Dr Walcot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
1989 · Seddon
War and Remembrance
1988 · Denton Shairpe
A Very British Coup
1988 · Wainwright
Red Dwarf
1988 · Doctor
Bust
1987 · Ron Pemberton
Inspector Morse
1987 · Peter Foster
Casualty
1986 · Francis Twine
Kit Curran
1986
ScreenPlay
1986 · Ingram Frizer
A Very Peculiar Practice
1986 · Sodd
Lovejoy
1986 · Alfred Mason
Yes, Prime Minister
1986 · Arts Minister
The Bill
1984
Sherlock Holmes
1984 · Inspector Montgomery
The Jewel in the Crown
1984 · Kevin Coley
Taggart
1983
Stalky & Co
1982 · Mr Hartopp
Bergerac
1981 · Bishop
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
1981 · Number Three
Magnum, P.I.
1980 · Mortuary Attendant
Hammer House of Horror
1980 · Gravedigger
Escape
1980
Breakaway
1980 · Osgood
The Legend of King Arthur
1979 · Graminore
Tales of the Unexpected
1979 · The Health Inspector
Anna Karenina
1977
Churchill's People
1974 · Philip, (voice)
The Jensen Code
1973 · Dr Verney
Van der Valk
1972 · Kroll
Budgie
1971 · Phillips
Public Eye
1965 · Ralston
Doctor Who
1963 · Melkur (voice), Private Johnson