David Daker, the character actor best known for playing Harry Crawford in the ITV comedy-drama Boon, has died aged 90. He starred alongside Michael Elphick, who played Ken Boon, a former firefighter turned odd-job man and private investigator. Daker's character was a less-than-successful businessman running hotels, a ballroom, and a country club. Together they formed CBS (Crawford Boon Security), drawing audiences of up to 15 million over seven series (1986-92) and a final episode in 1995.
Memorable roles on television
Daker's television career took off with over 80 episodes of the BBC drama Z Cars as PC Owen Culshaw (1967-68), though he later described the character as “a rather colourless character.” He appeared in beloved sitcoms such as Only Fools and Horses (as Tommy Mackay in 1982) and Porridge (in a 1977 episode), and also had roles in Coronation Street and Doctor Who.
In Only Fools and Horses, Daker played the violent estranged husband of a woman dating Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst), leading to a fight with Del Boy (David Jason). In Porridge, he was involved in a brawl with Godber (Richard Beckinsale). He appeared twice in Doctor Who: as Irongron in The Time Warrior (1973-74) and as Commander Rigg in Nightmare of Eden (1979).
Early life and stage career
Born in Bilston, West Midlands, on 29 September 1935, David was the youngest of five children of Olive (née Cutler) and Elijah Daker, a shoe factory worker. He showed early performing talent at infant school, recalling: “I clearly remember playing a cow and falling so that its legs splayed about – and enjoying it when the others laughed and applauded.” At 13, he played Long John Silver in a school production of Treasure Island.
His parents wanted a steady job, so he trained as a draughtsman with a water softener firm, but quit after two years. “I simply came home one day and announced that I was finished with a nine-to-five job,” he said. Weeks later, he joined the Oxford Playhouse Theatre School, then did national service in the RAF and gained experience with Oldham Rep (1957-60) as stage manager, actor, and director.
Stage highlights
During a long stint at Salisbury Playhouse (1960-65), he starred as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1964). He moved to the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham (1965), the Everyman, Cheltenham (1965-67), and the Castle, Farnham (1970). His London debut was as Hephaestus in Prometheus Bound at the Mermaid Theatre (1971).
An audition with Lindsay Anderson led to roles at the Royal Court (1971-72), then with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre: Shokhin in The Zykovs, Chuck in The Iceman Cometh (both 1976), and Reg Drummond in Privates on Parade (1977). He returned to the West End in Saint Joan at the Strand (now Novello) Theatre in 1994 as De Stogumber. David Murray in the Financial Times wrote: “As Warwick’s testy chaplain, De Stogumber, David Daker for once makes the real voice of Bernard Shaw heard. A plain, thick Englishman, he fulminates and blusters vengefully, but when the chips go down he is overcome with simple horror.”
Later television and film work
Daker played roles in Dick Turpin (1979-82) as Captain Nathan Spiker, and in Coronation Street as Basil Griffin (1968-69) and Gordon Lewis (1981-85). He appeared in BBC Shakespeare productions of King Henry VI and Richard III (both 1983), and as Brother Benjamin in Hallelujah! (1984) alongside Thora Hird. Later, he starred in the BBC drama Crown Prosecutor (1995) as Ben Campbell.
In film, he played the father of the boy in Time Bandits (1981) and a police desk sergeant in I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1990), with Elphick as his boss.
Personal life and death
In 1957, Daker married Stella Newton; they later divorced. They had a son, Tim, and a daughter, Pippa, who had multiple sclerosis and died in 1997. The following year, Daker was found guilty of assault over a parking dispute but received a conditional discharge due to stress. He is survived by his second wife, Hilary (née Voisey), their daughter, Rebecca, his son, Tim, and a sister, Hazel. He died on 30 April 2026.
