Jones began his acting career at
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, He also appeared in
Crossroads (as milkman Ralph Palmer) and
The Professionals. In
The Sweeney he was cast as Detective Inspector Perrault in the 1976 episode "Bad Apple". He also played another detective, Chief Inspector Bell, in the first series of
Inspector Morse, broadcast in 1987. Jones had roles in films including
You Only Live Twice (1967),
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969),
The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970), and
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971). He also played Ernest Defarge in the 1980 TV adaptation of
A Tale of Two Cities. Jones also appeared in the title role of
The Crooked Man in the
Granada Television series
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. His last appearance was in the 1988 shot-on-video British independent production,
The Assassinator (released on DVD as
Hitman). ==Personal life and death==