Donald Sinden

Obituary: Donald Sinden

Renowned for his rich, booming voice and commanding presence, Sir Donald Sinden, who has died aged 90 after a long illness, was a star of stage, television and radio for seven decades.

Never The Twain ran for ten years on ITV. Ten years! Donald Sinden and Windsor Davies were two rival antique dealers, continually trying to get the better of each other. A sample of the writing? "I started at the bottom, you need brains there." The punchline? "Well, your brains are in your bottom." This drivel ended in 1991.

The plot is even more familiar: brash American career-woman (la Stritch) employs perfect British butler (Sinden). But on the basis of its first episode I can confidently pronounce the show as fresh as a daisy. The two roles are written with no salient degree of wit, but they are properly supplied with character-points, and Stritch and Sinden are well qualified to do the rest.