Tributes have been paid to the Welsh actor Tony Adams, who has died at the age of 84. He was best known for playing the accountant Adam Chance on the British daytime soap opera Crossroads, which at its peak attracted audiences of above 15 million.
Adams began his career in the theatre, then made his name as Dr Neville Bywaters in the 1970s ITV soap General Hospital and appeared in the Doctor Who series The Green Death. Anthony Sawley Adams was born in Anglesey in Wales in 1940, and later trained as an actor at the Italia Conti theatre school.
In 1978, he joined Crossroads, where he stayed until the show ended in 1988, after more than 4,500 episodes. He and several other cast members, including Jane Rossington and Kathy Staff, returned when the soap was revived in 2001.
After Crossroads ceased transmission, Adams acted in stage roles, appearing as Grandpa Potts in a version of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium theatre in 2004. His last role of note was in 2023, when he had a cameo in Nolly, a three-part drama produced by the Doctor Who creator Russell T Davies that tells the story of Crossroads actor Noele Gordon.
Adams died at Sussex county hospital in Brighton on Saturday, with his wife, Christine, by his side. The theatrical producer Michael Rose paid tribute to Adams as an “absolute joy” and a talented actor, dancer and singer. He said: “He was one of the warmest gentlemen you could wish to work with. He was an absolute joy. He was a dancer originally, but there was nothing Tony couldn’t do.”
