A veteran actor best known for a role in Doctor Who has sadly passed away aged 86 after battling illness.

Valentine Palmer, who grew up in Thornborough, Buckinghamshire, appeared in some of Britain's most loved shows.

He played Monia in the Doctor Who serial, Day of the Daleks as well as having roles in shows such as Minder, The Saint, The Professionals, The Sweeney, Emmerdale, Dixon of Dock Green, Crossroads and The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

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The actor moved from Bucks to Malta before returning to the UK to live in Grantham.

He leaves behind five children and six grandchildren.

His son Luke Palmer said: "Valentine, Val, Dad, G-Pa Pops was always the life and soul of the party!

"Greatly missed by his five children and six grandchildren.

"He would have loved any donation to go to the homeless charities Emmaus Crisis or Crisis."

Bucks Free Press:

Valentine studied music and singing at Guildhall School of Music in London and was awarded the King George VI Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

He played leading roles in numerous West End musicals including Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella with Tommy Steele, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Dora Bryan, The King and I with Peter Wyngarde and Oliver with Helen Shapiro.

He also wrote, produced, and directed his feature film Fanny Hill which was a commercial success.

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As a result, he later worked in Hollywood as a script editor and later, in the UK, as a screenwriting coach.

Valentine established himself as a writer and was commissioned to write the screenplay for The Singer as a vehicle for Cliff Richard.

He was also commissioned to write the book for the West End musical, Zelda, about the wife of Scott Fitzgerald.

In 2012, he was commissioned to write a biography of his great uncle, Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller, the only senior officer to survive the sinking of the Titanic.

Titanic and The Strange Case of Great Uncle Bertie were published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.

Bucks Free Press:

A firm believer in the 'Titanic Switch Theory' - the theory that the Titanic's identical sister ship, Olympic, sank as part of an elaborate insurance fraud scam - Valentine went on to write several books and deliver lectures on the subject of the great ship and the mystery surrounding its loss.

His final project was working as producer and writer for the documentary The Session Man, about the life and career of legendary rock pianist, Nicky Hopkins, currently in production.

In addition to the performing arts, Valentine worked in the field of business and communication coaching as head of production for the company, Motivation Video, for 10 years with big-name clients like IBM and BP.

He also set up his own company, The Academy of Communication, which he ran for 20 years.