About the character
Sergeant Oscar Blaketon is the crusty sergeant in
charge of Ashfordly Police Station. His commitment to policing was to
the detriment of his marriage, and he has a son Graham who lives with
the former Mrs Blaketon in Pickering. Blaketon feels he may have given
up on the marriage too easily.
Blaketon has a kind heart, which he doesn't often allow to show.
Blaketon is obsessed with getting Claude Greengrass convicted, although this has not been played up so much in later series.
In his spare time, Blaketon loves to play golf. He worries about his age, and what he will do in retirement, particularly if he is forced to retire soon. A threat to his career in Season 7 may cause some upheavals; Oscar Blaketon had to give up his job as sergent and retire after he failed a medical. After his retiement he ran the local post office for a short while before joining Gina in running the pub. His replacement was initially Nick but now the job belongs to Raymond Craddock who joined Heartbeat shortly after Nick left.
Blaketon's police number is 424.
About the actor
Born in Balham, London, on September 2 1937, Derek Fowlds is well-known for his role until 1973 as "Mr Derek" on The Basil Brush Show (BOOM! BOOM!). It's hard to equate the counterpart to a puppet with the precise Sgt Blaketon - but Fowlds' other major role as Bernard, Principle Private Secretary to Paul Eddington's character in Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister is different again.
Fowlds left school at 15 to become an apprentice printer. From there, he joined the RAF as a wireless operator during his National Service. He later won a scholarship to RADA.
Like Blaketon, Fowlds is a keen golfer. His girlfriend of 20 years is a schoolteacher named Jo.
Recently (1999), Derek appeared as himself in Laughter in the House: The Story of British Sitcom.
Despite rumours to the contrary (late September 1997), Derek Fowlds is still alive! The post to the guestbook was a prank by someone's colleagues. (phew!)
