
Maurice Colbourne (24 September 1939 – 4 August 1989) was a British stage and television actor who specialised in playing villains and hard men until 1985, when he took the key role of Tom Howard in the BBC Television serial, Howards' Way. Colbourne was born Roger Middleton but took his stage name after reading about the death of actor Maurice Colbourne who shared the same birthday as he did. Colbourne's biggest success in the 1970s was as the lead in the crime drama series Gangsters. In the 80s he starred in Johnny Jarvis and the acclaimed adaptation of John Wyndham's classic sci-fi novel, The Day of the Triffids. Staying with sci-fi, he had a recurring guest role in Doctor Who as the mercenary Lytton, playing opposite the fifth and sixth doctors (Peter Davison and Colin Baker) in adventures featuring the timelords deadliest foes; the Daleks and the Cybermen. But it was the leading role in Howards' Way that he will perhaps best be remembered for. He played Tom Howard until 1989, when he died suddenly aged 49 from a heart attack. The show ended a year later.

Doctor Who
TV • 1963

Doctor Who
TV • 1963

Play for Today
TV • 1970

Van der Valk
TV • 1972

Churchill's People
TV • 1974

Howards' Way
TV • 1985

Shoestring
TV • 1979

Return of the Saint
TV • 1978

Strangers
TV • 1978

Gangsters
TV • 1976

The Day of the Triffids
TV • 1981

The Duellists
MOVIE • 1977

Gangsters
MOVIE • 1975

Bloodline
MOVIE • 1979

Johnny Jarvis
TV • 1983

Venom
MOVIE • 1981

Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks
MOVIE • 1984

Jesus of Nazareth
TV • 1956