Prentis Hancock

Scottish character actor Walter Prentis Hancock was raised and schooled in Glasgow. He initially studied architecture, but developed an early affinity for the stage and began acting with a local amateur company. After further studies at the Rose Bruford Training College of Speech and Drama in London, Hancock made his television debut in 1969 and went on to become a prolific actor in that medium. He was a regular cast member of the BBC drama Spy Trap (1972), alongside co-stars Paul Daneman, Julian Glover and Michael Gwynn, comprising "The Department", a fictional British counter-espionage organisation. Hancock later became best known as mission controller and second-in-command Paul Morrow in the first season of Gerry Anderson's Space: 1999 (1975). 'Whovians' will remember him as different characters in four Doctor Who (1963) instalments between 1970 and 1978, notably as the impulsive Dalek victim Vaber (in Planet of the Daleks) and as the similarly misguided (and equally ill-fated) Controller Salamar (in Planet of Evil).

Until the late 90s, Hancock remained steadily employed in British episodic television. An avid sportsman, he was at one time a fencing instructor.