GNR is very sad to report the death of actor Michael Keating at the age of 79. Keating was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, on 10 February 1947. His acting career began in 1966. One of his earlier notable roles was as Goudry in Doctor Who: The Sun Makers, a 1977 story. Just over a month later, Keating first appeared in the role of Vila Restal in the BBC TV series Blake’s 7, which aired from 1978 to 1981. Vila was the only character to appear in all fifty-two episodes of the series. In 1981, Keating appeared in an episode of the BBC sitcom Yes Minister titled The Death List, playing the role of Police Constable Ross. Some years later, Keating reunited with his Blake’s 7 co-star Gareth Thomas in an episode of the BBC drama series Casualty. In 2004, Keating returned to the Doctor Who franchise, guest-starring as Major Koth in the Big Finish Productions audio adventure The Twilight Kingdom. In 2006, he starred in another Doctor Who audio adventure, this time as Inspector Chardalot in Year of the Pig. In 2009, he had a brief role in the BBC one-off drama Micro Men about the rise of the British home computer market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. From 2005 to 2017, Keating played Reverend Stevens in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. He appeared as a recurring character, usually for a single episode or a few episodes at a time, in connection with another character’s christening, marriage, or funeral, or relating to regular churchgoer Dot Branning (June Brown). Keating died in May 2026, aged 79.

at the Phoenix. In 1977 he appeared in four episodes of the Doctor Who serial “The Sun Makers” as Goudry, a member of the resistance in the ...