Early work In the late 1950s, while still studying
shipping management at college, Sachs worked on radio productions, including
Private Dreams and Public Nightmares by
Frederick Bradnum, an early experimental programme made by the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Sachs's first film appearance was as a schoolboy in
Hue and Cry,
Ealing comedies' first film in 1947. He began in acting with
repertory theatre and made his
West End debut as Grobchick in the 1958 production of the
Whitehall farce Simple Spymen. He made his screen debut in 1959 in the film
The Night We Dropped a Clanger. He then appeared in numerous television series throughout the 1960s, including some appearances in
ITC productions such as
The Saint (1962) and
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969).
Fawlty Towers Sachs is best known for portraying
Manuel, the Spanish waiter in the critically acclaimed sitcom
Fawlty Towers (1975 and 1979), a role for which he was nominated for a
BAFTA award (the award went to co-star
John Cleese). He claimed in 1981 that Manuel was "really a very small part. In fact there was only one episode of
Fawlty Towers – the one with the hamster – in which I had anything much to do." Sachs recorded three singles in character as Manuel; the first was "Manuel's Good Food Guide" in 1977, in which he appeared, in character, on the cover. Sachs was co-author of the tracks. This was followed in 1979 by "O Cheryl" with "Ode to England" on the B side, under the name "Manuel and Los Por Favors". In 1981, at the urging of
Elton John, "Manuel" released a cover version of
Joe Dolce's worldwide hit "
Shaddap You Face", with "Waiter, there's a Flea in my Soup" on the B side. When finally released it reached 138 in the UK Chart. During the shooting of the
Fawlty Towers episode "
The Germans", Sachs was left with second degree acid burns due to a fire stunt. He was also hit with a faulty prop on the set of the show by Cleese and suffered a severe headache.
Voice work and narration Sachs was frequently heard as a narrator of television and radio
documentaries, including all five series of BBC's
BAFTA Award-winning business television series
Troubleshooter presented by Sir
John Harvey-Jones He also narrated several audio books, including
C. S. Lewis's
Narnia series and
Alexander McCall Smith's first online book,
Corduroy Mansions, as well as two audiobooks of the popular children's TV series
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends "Thomas and the Tiger" and "Thomas and the Dinosaur". He provided the voice of Puzzle the Donkey in the Focus on the Family production of
The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis. In 2000, Sachs narrated the
spoof documentary series
That Peter Kay Thing. He also narrated the documentary series
Eyewitness, based on the children's books of the same name. Sachs performed all the voices in the English-language version of
Jan Švankmajer's 1994 film
Faust. He also did voices for children's animation, including ''
William's Wish Wellingtons, Starhill Ponies
, The Gingerbread Man, Little Grey Rabbit, The Forgotten Toys, Asterix and the Big Fight. Dr. John Watson in four series of original Sherlock Holmes stories for BBC Radio 4, Jeeves in The Code of the Woosters, Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo'' on
BBC Radio 7's "Young Classics" series,
Snowy in
The Adventures of Tintin, and Tooley in
Neil Gaiman's
Neverwhere.
Later work Although no other role gained him the same attention as Manuel, Sachs continued to star in a range of productions, both comedic and dramatic. In a reversal of his
Fawlty Towers role, he was the hotel manager Don Carlos Bernardo in the 1977
Are You Being Served? movie, In addition he also played the recurring character of
Barrister Jeremy Nisbett
Q.C. in the
Granada Television daytime series,
Crown Court. In 1980, Sachs starred in the title role of a four-part BBC adaptation of
H. G. Wells's
The History of Mr Polly. The following year, he portrayed a
French Revolutionary in
Mel Brooks's
History of the World, Part I. 1988 saw Sachs and his wife Melody returning to Berlin to make a three-part BBC documentary following his early life in the city, comparing it with the divided Berlin of 1988. An excerpt exists in the BBC Archive. In 1990, he appeared as a contestant on
Cluedo, facing off against fellow actor
Keith Barron. In 1992, he voiced the titular
gingerbread man in the animated series
The Gingerbread Man. He also voiced the characters Mr. Salt, Herr Von Cuckoo and Sleek The Mouse. In 1994, Sachs appeared in the popular
Thames Television comedy drama series
Minder. He played Sidney Myers in the episode "
All Things Brighton Beautiful". In 1996, Sachs portrayed
Albert Einstein in an episode of the American
PBS series
NOVA, entitled "Einstein Revealed". In 1997, Sachs played opposite
Shane Richie in Chris Barfoot's
Dead Clean: in a tale of mistaken identity, Sachs plays airport window cleaner Kostas Malmatakis who is hired to assassinate a businessman by his greedy partner (
Mark Chapman); the British short won a Gold Remi at the Houston Worldfest in 2001. Sachs has had several roles in
Doctor Who productions. He played "Skagra" in the webcast/audio version of the
Doctor Who story
Shada, completed by
Big Finish Productions and in 2008 he played the elderly version of former companion
Adric, in another
Doctor Who story for the same company,
The Boy That Time Forgot. In the 1980s, Sachs had submitted his name to be considered for the part of the
Seventh Doctor in the television series. In 2005, Sachs served as the performer for the audiobook version of
Urchin of the Riding Stars, the first book of
The Mistmantle Chronicles. In 2007, the BBC broadcast an adaptation of ''
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency with Sachs portraying Reg (Professor Urban Chronotis, the Regius Professor of Chronology). He would later appear in another Adams adaptation as the Book in the live tour of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' during its run at Bromley's
Churchill Theatre. On 17 November 2008, it was announced that Sachs had been approached to appear in
ITV soap
Coronation Street. He later confirmed on 14 December that he was taking up the offer, saying "My wife was such a fan that I've been watching it since 1962". In May 2009 he made his debut on the street as Norris' brother, Ramsay. He appeared in 27 episodes and left in August 2009. Sachs toured with the Australian pianist
Victor Sangiorgio in a two-man show called "Life after Fawlty", which included
Richard Strauss's
voice and piano setting of
Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "
Enoch Arden". 2012 saw his last major role, as Bobby Swanson in the movie
Quartet.
Writing Between 1962 and 1985 Sachs wrote a number of plays for theatre and radio, in parallel with his acting career. His first radio play, in 1962, was
One Man and His Dog.
Till Death Do Us Join, concerning Ernest Wire's desire to murder his wife, and Ruby Drab's hope to 'dispose of her spouse', was produced by the BBC in 1964 and broadcast in Australia as
So You Want to Get Rid of Your Wife the following year. In 1978,
BBC Radio 4 broadcast
The Revenge, a ground-breaking 30-minute play totally without dialogue (an experiment in binaural stereo recording), written and performed by Sachs.
Made in Heaven, which had starred Sachs's future
Fawlty Towers co-star
Prunella Scales when produced for radio in 1971, was brought to the stage in 1975. As performed at the Chichester Festival it starred
Patricia Routledge,
Michael Bates and
Patrick Macnee. Though it was a popular success, Sachs said in 1981, "the critics really slaughtered it ... Actually, I had to agree with the critics. There was a lot wrong with the play." He professed his intention to rewrite the work and stage it again. Sachs claimed he would "concentrate on writing if anything happened to impair my acting. But I'm very much a part-time writer." ==Prank phone-call controversy==