The actor played the Reverend George Stevens on the BBC soap for 10 years.
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Michael Keating, an actor known for his roles in the British TV series “Blake’s 7” and “EastEnders,” has died. He was 79 years old.
Keating’s agent, Dan Ireson, confirmed Keating’s death in a statement to USA TODAY on Thursday, May 21, saying that Keating “recently passed away.” Additional details about Mr. Keating’s death were not available.
Originally from Edmonton, England, Keating began his acting career in the late 1960s and 1970s with guest appearances on television shows such as “A Special Brunch,” “Carousel,” “Omnibus,” “Dragon’s Companion,” and the British science fiction drama “Doctor Who.”
Keating’s big break came in 1978 when he landed the lead role in Blake’s 7, a BBC space drama about a dystopian power struggle between a group of rebels and a totalitarian regime that had taken over Earth. His character, the cunning petty thief Villa Lestal, was the only person to appear in all 52 episodes of the series.
The actor was also beloved for his decade-long appearance on the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders. Keating played Reverend George Stevens for 54 episodes from 2005 to 2017. Stevens, a vicar in the show’s main city of Walford, often oversaw various milestones for the other characters, including baptisms, weddings, and funerals.
Keating reprized his role as “Blake’s 7” in several podcast series in the 2010s and early 2020s, “Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles” (2012-2016), “Blake’s 7: The Classic Adventures” (2013-2020), and “The World of Blake’s 7”, this time behind the microphone. (2021-2022).
“I was sitting in the back of the control room at Audio Sorcery, laughing at his comic timing during the recording,” Peter Angelides, sound producer for “Breaks 7,” said in a statement released by Big Finish Productions. “When we recorded the first full-cast audio for ‘Warship,’ he jokingly said in the dressing room that there should be a planet named ‘Velle’ after his old colleague, TV director and producer Vere Lorimer, so obviously I smuggled that idea into a later script, and Michael was thrilled.
“Michael was an absolute pleasure to work with,” Angelides added. “His cheerful presence in the studio was always very welcome.”
