Malcolm McFee


Malcolm Raymond McFee was an English actor best known for his role as Peter Craven in the TV series Please Sir!, the film of the same name, and the spin-off TV series The Fenn Street Gang.

Career

Malcolm McFee made his first appearance on television in 1967. In 1968, he began a three-season stint in the London Weekend Television situation comedy series Please Sir! playing the part of smooth wide-boy Peter Craven. He continued the role into the 1971 feature film comedy version, also called Please Sir!. McFee had made his film debut in the 1969 satirical anti-war musical Oh! What a Lovely War.
The Please Sir! TV series spawned a comedy sequel called The Fenn Street Gang, which ran from 1971 to 1973. McFee was unavailable for season one as he was appearing in the West End play Forget-Me-Not-Lane and the part of Craven was played for that season by Leon Vitali. McFee returned for seasons two and three. He appeared on television many times in the 1970s but was only rarely seen after this, until 1993.
After turning to the stage, McFee made a career as an actor and director, working as a theatre director in small theatres in Greater London and the provinces.
His last TV role was in an episode of the long-running Thames Television police drama series The Bill, in 1997.
Apart from Please Sir! and The Fenn Street Gang, McFee appeared in the following television programmes:
YearsProgrammeEpisode
1967Associated-Rediffusion's drama series SanctuarySisters & Brothers
1968BBC children's drama series Ramshackle RoadEpisode 1 onwards.
1969Long-running BBC police drama series Z CarsSunday... Sunday... Parts 1 and 2
1970BBC anthology drama series Play For TodayI Can't See My Little Willie, by Douglas Livingstone
1971BBC2's historical drama series Elizabeth REpisode 5, The Enterprise of England
1971Thames Television's detective anthology series The Rivals of Sherlock HolmesThe Case of Laker, Absconded
1973Thames Television's situation comedy series Bless This HouseA Girl's Worst Friend is Her Father
1976Yorkshire Television's drama series HadleighRecurring character in Season 4 but episodes not known
1978Thames Television's crime panel series Whodunnit!Which Way Did he Go?
1978ITV family comedy The Chiffy KidsJam Session
1978Euston Films' police drama series for ITV The SweeneyMessenger of the Gods
1979BBC Schools programme Everyday MathsTen Per Cent Per Ted
1979BBC children's comedy adventure series Graham's GangMildred's Party
1980Euston Films' long running comedy/drama series for ITV MinderMonday Night Fever
1993Thames Television's crime drama series The BillThe Hard Sell
1996Alomo Productions' BBC situation comedy series Goodnight SweetheartIt Ain't Necessarily So
1997BBC police drama spoof The DetectivesMine's a Large One
1997Alomo Productions' BBC situation comedy series Birds of a FeatherRelative Strangers
1997The Bill Playing with Fire

McFee also appeared as a guest on This is Your Life for John Alderton in 1974, and presented three episodes of BBC pre-school programme You and Me in 1978. He was the reporter and clown in the 1980s BBC schools science programme Science Workshop.
Popular opinion says that McFee is the subject of Morrissey's song "Little Man, What Now?" from his 1988 album Viva Hate, although previous opinions have suggested Jack Wild or Roger Tonge as the subject. The song mentions an ATV series axed after four years, and Morrissey watching it on a Friday night, and tells of the fall of a TV star of the 1960s to an unknown of the 1970s.

Personal life

From 1960 to 1965, McFee attended Plaistow County Grammar School. He was briefly the drummer in a band called The Abstracts with some schoolfriends before devoting himself to acting.
In 1971, he married Margaret Kearnan. They divorced in 1995. McFee had three children, including a daughter, Victoria, born to Margaret in 1980. See footnote.
In an interview in 1973, McFee admitted to driving a Ford Capri and having a cat called Perdita Pusscat.
McFee died suddenly on 18 November 2001, at the age of 52, at his home in Braintree, Essex, shortly before he was due to appear as a dame in a pantomime of Beauty and the Beast at the Elgiva Theatre in Chesham. He had been suffering from cancer. McFee had been raising money for the Oncology Department of Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex as a "Thank you" for the treatment he received from them. David Barry and Penny Spencer, who both appeared with McFee in Please Sir!, attended his funeral.

Filmography