However, the on-screen star’s breakthrough role was in BBC’s Law and Order 40 years ago.
He published his memoir, An East End Life: My Story in 2010.
Derek, who adopted sons, David and Jonathan, and currently lives in Hertfordshire.
He told the Express in 2018 about his upbringing, saying: “I was born just before the Second World War, in Bow, east London. It was a tough war for our family – we went through the Blitz; my mum and I were evacuated to Herefordshire at one point, and our house got bombed.
“There was a cinema on every high street back then, and my mum loved films. I grew up going to see them a great deal. I idolised stars like James Cagney.”
