 At Oxford, he read history, rowed cox for the Wadham College Boat Club during Eights Week and performed in the Oxford University Dramatic Society.Bateson's stage credits included the first British production of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" in 1955 at the Arts Theatre in London in a production directed by Peter Hall.He appeared in many film, television and radio productions including "The Cadfael Chronicles", "Doctor Who" (in the serial entitled "The Ribos Operation") and "Labyrinth".