But the memory of Worthing actor Peter Tuddenham has now joined computer-characters Zen, Orac, Slave and Brain, of those sci-fi masterpieces Blake's 7 and Doctor Who, in that great, space-bound cyberbank.

But Mr Tuddenham, who died at his Portland Road home on July 9, aged 88, after a short illness, was so much more than a mega-byte figment of a science-fiction writer's imagination.

He was accomplished in all three mediums of theatre, radio and television.

And many older listeners' memories will be tweaked by the revelation that he played Dr Mitchell in the old radio soap Mrs Dale's Diary.

Peter was born in Ipswich and brought up in the Suffolk seaside resort of Felixstowe.

He aspired to the stage from an early age, playing Shakespearean leads in school plays and performing at social events at the local church, where his father was an organist.

After leaving school, he entered amateur dramatics and then progressed to the professional scene.

His first professional engagement was with a Hastings company in 1937, followed by appearances under the same management in theatres in Penge, Nottingham, Birmingham and Herne Bay.

In October, 1939, he was called up as a private in the Royal Army Service Corps and eventually became a member of the War Office Entertainments Unit, working with names such as Charlie Chester and Terry-Thomas.

Ten days after D-Day in June, 1944, Peter was in the first party to entertain troops on the Normandy beaches.

After the war, he went on to feature in a host of West End productions, and Ivor Novello gave him the second male lead in The Dancing Years at the Casino Theatre.

It was there that he met his first wife, Joy Harvey.

He turned to television in the mid-1950s, making his début presenting an advertising magazine on the new Southern TV.

Other commercial TV work followed, plus readings for BBC TV education programmes.

In Mrs Dale's Diary, he horrified listeners in one episode by sitting on Mrs Freeman's cat!

In all, Peter was heard in more than 300 roles on radio, including the serial Waggoner's Walk, and appearances in numerous plays.

His television career was extensive in the late 1960s, '70s and '80s, including roles in The Onedin Line, Bergerac, Doctor Who, Nanny, and Lovejoy.

He was the voice of the computer in the Doctor Who adventure The Ark in Space and the alien Mandragora Helix in The Mask of Mandragora, both starring Tom Baker as the Doctor.

A decade later, he played the voice of Brain in Sylvester McCoy's first adventure, Time and the Rani.

Peter received world-wide recognition with Terry Nation's SF series Blake's 7 (1978-81).

The producers did not want a Dalek voice or a tinny or metallic tone, so Peter just put on a matter-of-fact, solicitor-type voice and that became Zen.

After Zen was blown up with the spaceship Liberator, Orac and Slave became his other computer personalities.

Peter loved his life in the entertainment world, and at the time of his death he was looking forward to more work as a Suffolk dialect coach with Britten's Peter Grimes, both at Glyndbourne and on tour.

He moved from London to Worthing in 1961. He had two sons, Mark, 46, and Jamie, who died in a motorcycle accident in Scotland, aged 17, in 1983.

Peter lived in Worthing with his second wife, Rosie, with whom he had a third son, Julian, aged 29.

The funeral service took place at Worthing Crematorium on Tuesday, July 17.