Peter Baldwin: Actor who made his name as Derek Wilton, Mavis's sweet, eccentric husband in 'Coronation Street'

Between acting roles he worked at Pollock's Toy Museum and took over the running of the toy shop in Covent Garden when Benjamin Pollock died

'Jezebel!': Baldwin's Derek, centre, catches Mavis getting a foot massage from her old flame, Victor (ITV)

The twerpy Derek Wilton, half of the longest courtship in the history of Coronation Street, made the innocuous actor Peter Baldwin a household face throughout the 1980s and '90s. Though never quite on the level of the most endearing couple in the programme's history, Stan and Hilda Ogden, Derek and Mavis were a gently appealing pair of eccentrics who had something in common with another Darby and Joan of the schedules in that era, the matching sweater-wearing Howard and Hilda from the BBC sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles.

Both couples were childlike and yet old before their time, twee but with occasional signs of a saucy side. The writers had great fun dropping hints of this; when Derek caught Mavis in flagrante with old flame Victor Pendlebury, he called her a “jezebel”; later, when passions had cooled, he turned the remark into a compliment towards her.

Derek and Mavis first met in 1976, although in reality it was a reunion for Baldwin and actress Thelma Barlow, who had first met in 1960 when they appeared in Congreve's The Way of the World at Exmouth for the West of England Theatre Company; they even both occupied a shared house with other members of the cast at the time. Their Coronation Street alter egos were a perfect match – too perfect in the eyes of Derek's mother, who described Mavis to him as “you in a tweed skirt”. The pair dithered along for years, both failing to show up to their wedding in 1984, but finally took the plunge in 1988.

The elder son of schoolteachers, Peter Baldwin was born in 1933 in Chidham, near Chichester in West Sussex. During the war he and his brother were sent to live with their grandparents in Horsham and attended the local grammar school. He fell in love with the theatre after seeing Alastair Sim in Peter Pan, and being given a toy theatre as a Christmas present. He joined a local amateur dramatics society, and then after National Service with the army at Aldershot, trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

He was a busy if unassuming actor in repertory, at his best in comedy. He spent four years with the Bristol Old Vic, and Franco Zeffirelli cast him in his production of Romeo and Juliet which toured the US and Europe in 1961. He was appearing in The Browning Version at the King's Head in Islington when he auditioned for Coronation Street.

He came and went as Derek and Mavis's romance blew hot and cold over the next 12 years, and after years commuting to Manchester via sleeper train, he finally became a regular in 1988, after Derek tempted Mavis away from his love rival, Victor, memorably proposing to her through a letterbox. Shortly before this he had given an enjoyable performance as the gusty Arthur Birling opposite Tom Baker's malevolent Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls at the Westminster Theatre in 1987.

His wife, the Play School presenter Sarah Long, whom he had met at the Bristol Old Vic in 1961 and married in 1965, was diagnosed with cancer; now a Street regular, he commuted back and forth during her illness, and after she died confessed he was grateful he had “something I could immediately concentrate on.”

Away from the Street, his television roles were mainly a variety of doctors and policemen. His sacking from the Street, as the first of five victims of new producer Brian Park in 1997, was hugely publicised for its ruthlessness. Baldwin was devastated by the decision, saying, “This was 21 years of a life. I wish people would stop saying 'as one door closes another one opens'. I would rather the old door stayed open.”

It did allow for a superb funeral episode, however, which contrasted a hilariously inappropriate funeral speech with his widow's touching reproach to the congregation: “some of you might have found him a figure of fun, but it doesn't really matter to me, because I loved him and I know he loved me”.

Terribly typecast by the role, he returned to the stage with a national tour of A Month of Sundays, Cinderella at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham and the musical Summer Holiday at Blackpool in 1998.

Sweetly, the toy theatres of his childhood which inspired his career never lost their magic for him. Between acting roles he worked at Pollock's Toy Museum and took over the running of the toy shop in Covent Garden when Benjamin Pollock died. He also published a beautiful book on the subject, Toy Theatres Of The World. It was an appropriate passion for someone who made his mark playing one of life's innocents.

Peter Francis Baldwin, actor and author: born Chidham, West Sussex 29 July 1933; married 1965 Sarah Long (one daughter, one son); died London 22 October 2015.