Ben Roberts, who played Chief Inspector Derek Conway in The Bill, has died aged 70.

The Wales-born actor, who starred in the ITV police drama between 1987 to 2000, died on Monday, according to his agent.

Roberts was best known for playing the dogged and career-focused officer Conway, but later moved into film and appeared in features by Tim Burton and James Bond director Cary Fukunaga.

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Lizanne Crowther Management (LCM), which represented Roberts until he stopped working, confirmed his death.

A statement from LCM on Twitter said: “Remembering the wonderful Ben Roberts who sadly passed away on Monday. Best known as Chief Inspector Derek Conway in The Bill & he had an extensive career in theatre, TV & film. Our thoughts are with his wife Helen & family at this time.”

Roberts was born in Bangor in July 1950 and his first TV role was in A Woman’s Place, alongside Ralph Bates.

He appeared in crime drama The Professionals and played a minor role in Doctor Who in 1984.

In 1987 he was cast as Conway in The Bill, an old fashioned and moralistic officer acting as Chief Superintendent Brownlow’s right-hand man.

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His exit saw him killed in a car-bomb attack as part of a cast shake-up by new producer Paul Marquess.

In 2011, he played Briggs in Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre and in 2014 played Jean in A Little Chaos directed by Alan Rickman.

In 2016, he appeared in Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, directed by Burton.