Actor David Swift was 85

David Swift, the actor who played Henry Davenport in the Drop the Dead Donkey, has died days before his 86th birthday.

As well as making his name as the fictional anchorman – an irascible, hardened veteran journalist frustrated with his new job – Swift also founded an independent production house with investigative reporter John Pilger.

Born in Liverpool on April 3, 1931, he read law at Cambridge and qualified as a barrister before going into business management.

However he later decided to follow his younger brother, Clive into acting. Clive would go on to become known as Hyacinth Bucket's husband Richard in Keeping up Appearances.

David joined Dundee rep in 1963 and made his TV debut the following year in the soap opera Compact. Other roles included playing Napoleon in the 1970s version of War & Peace, a florist shop owner in the short-lived 1979 sitcom Bloomers and Fagin in 1980's Further Adventures of Oliver Twist.

But it was Channel 4 newsroom satire, written by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, in which he made his name, appearing in all six series from 1990 to 1998. The sitcom was groundbreaking in dropping last-minute references to real news events into its scripts.

As Davenport, he was deeply contemptuous of the way the news industry was heading, unable to conceal his disdain for the jargon-spouting chief executive Gus Hedges and airhead co-anchor Sally Smedley. The character was said to have been inspired by ITN veteran Reginald Bosanquet.

Off-screen, Swift ran West End sound-recording and film-editing businesses, and in 1969 formed Tempest Films, recruiting Pilger as the frontman.

Details of his death on April 8 have not been revealed, but his obituary appears in today's Guardian.

He is survived by his wife Paula Jacobs, also an actor, and their two children, Julia, another actor, and Matthew

Here are some of Henry Davenport's finest moments:

Published: 20 Apr 2016