TV actor Warren Clarke died 'penniless' despite 50 years on TV

Actor Warren Clarke (Dalziel) and Colin Buchanan (Pascoe) from Dalziel and Pascoe TV series.

Dalziel and Pascoe star Warren Clarke enjoyed a TV and film career spanning five decades - but he died penniless, probate records show.

The Poldark actor, who died last year at 67, left a gross estate of just £13,056 (NZ$30875). And after outstanding matters were settled, this was reduced to nil.

Oldham-born Mr Clarke often spoke out about the low salaries given to BBC TV actors, once admitting he had to borrow money from colleagues.

His second wife Michele once had to sell her engagement ring to pay bills.

He explained: "In those days the BBC didn't pay you until you had done the first studio recording, so I had been working on the show for two months without any money.

"I went to the cashpoint, put my card in the machine and it spat it out. A few months later I noticed that my wife wasn't wearing her engagement ring. I asked her where it was and she explained it was being repaired."

Documents show his estate would have gone to his children Georgia and Rowan in the event of Michele's death. His watches were left to Rowan.

The star of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is understood to have lost a large sum of money after investing in 2013's The Numbers Station, a film flop starring John Cusack.

Mr Clarke employed his renowned blunt and defiant style to play the politically-incorrect detective superintendent Andrew Dalziel, alongside Colin Buchanan's Pascoe, for 11 years.

His final role was as Charles Poldark in the BBC costume drama, with the character's death-bed episode broadcast after the actor's passing.

- Daily Mail