Robert Hardy: Harry Potter and All Creatures Great and Small star dies

[Matilda]

4. I remember him from way, way back

in a marvellous BBC production of the Shakespeare Wars of the Roses plays.

He was a very good Henry V to my teenage eyes, and I recall that his Katherine was a very young Judi Dench. And Hotspur was played by Sean Connery, who had just also done his first James Bond. He was really superb. I can't recall anyone else from the series; those were for me the most memorable performances.

I loved Robert Hardy from then on, and one thing I noticed over the years was that he never did rubbish. If he had even a smallish role in something, you knew it would be good, because he didn't waste his time on anything that was poor-quality.