Jeavons' started his career in
Birmingham Repertory Theatre in a production of Shakespeare's
Twelfth Night in 1946, and also worked for such companies as the
Bristol Old Vic,
Royal Court Theatre and the
Royal Shakespeare Company. His earliest television role was as Jules Neraud in an episode of the 1956 anthology series of teleplays
Nom-de-Plume. Jeavons began appearing in BBC literary adaptation roles including a production of
Pride and Prejudice, an association with Dickens productions on
BBC Television began in 1959 with
Bleak House as Richard Carstone, and
Great Expectations (for the first time) as Herbert Pocket. The same year he played Prince Hal/Henry V in the BBC's
The Life and Death of Sir John Falstaff. In 1963 he played the extremely reluctant hero Vadassy forced into espionage in
Epitaph for a Spy for BBC Television. Jeavons portrayed
Uriah Heep in the BBC's
David Copperfield (1966). Only one episode featuring him (episode 11, "Umble Aspirations") is known to exist. He appeared in a host of 1960s and 1970s TV programmes including
Doctor Who (in "
The Underwater Menace"),
Adam Adamant Lives! as a murderous fashion designer, as the undertaker Shadrack in
Billy Liar (1973), as businessman Leonard Gold in
The Sweeney (in the 1978 episode "The Bigger They Are"), as shop owner Ellery in
Shoestring in the episode "Where Was I?" (1980) and
The Avengers (in "
A Touch of Brimstone" and "
The Winged Avenger"). Pete Stampede and Alan Hayes wrote of Jeavons in the latter series as "one of those under-rated, ever-present supporting actors who
never turn in a bad performance." On children's TV, he hosted
Play School for a time, and read "The Black Vicar" on
Jackanory. He also appeared in the 1981 Doctor Who spin-off
K-9 and Company, and he narrated two BBC children's animated series, namely
Barnaby and
Joe. He appeared in the
Play for Today production of
David Edgar's play about British neo-Nazis,
Destiny (1978). The same year he played the part of Mr. Johnson, a schoolteacher, in
Peter McDougall's BBC supernatural drama
Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man. He appeared as Samson Brass in another BBC Dickens production,
The Old Curiosity Shop (1979), and in another version of
Great Expectations (1981), this time as Wemmick. The same year he played a recurring UFO-obsessed character in the sci-fi comedy
Kinvig. His most critically acclaimed role during this period was as the neglected and abused child, Donald, in
Dennis Potter's
Blue Remembered Hills (1979). In the 1980s, Jeavons was involved with two dramatisations of Sherlock Holmes stories. He played "with chilling authority" in the words of writer
David Stuart Davies,
Professor Moriarty in
The Baker Street Boys (1982), and "with great panache"
Inspector Lestrade in the
Granada Television series
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (featuring
Jeremy Brett as Holmes). Producer
Michael Cox of the Granada Television series stated frankly that they were given the best Lestrade of his generation. In the 1981 TV production of ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', he portrayed Max Quordlepleen, an entertainer who hosts at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Jeavons was Briggs, the lawyer who halts the marriage between Jane and Rochester, in a BBC version of
Jane Eyre (1983). In 1984, he played the existentialist philosopher
Søren Kierkegaard in the "Prometheus Unbound" episode of
Don Cupitt's
Sea of Faith for BBC. The following year he played
Adolf Hitler in ''
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil. He played the solicitor Vholes in another BBC adaptation of Bleak House in 1985. In 1986 he was seen in Paradise Postponed''. Jeavons featured in the 1990 television drama
House of Cards by
Michael Dobbs, as
Tim Stamper, Tory Whip and ally of
Ian Richardson's Francis Urquhart. The character returned – promoted initially to Chief Whip, then to Party Chairman – in the 1993 sequel,
To Play the King. Jeavons played Del Boy's lawyer, Solly Atwell, in
Only Fools and Horses. He also played the role of
Genrikh Yagoda in the 1992 television film
Stalin. Jeavons also appeared in many films over the years, often as priests or vicars. These included roles in ''
The Devil's Daffodil (1961), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Sleep Is Lovely (1968), The Oblong Box (1969), The Games (1970), Bartleby (1970), Diagnosis: Murder (1975), Schizo (1976), The Island (1980), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Absolute Beginners (1986) and Secret Friends (1991). Jeavons retired from acting in 1993; his final role was a reprise of Tim Stamper in To Play the King''. ==Personal life==