 He also played one of the eccentric inventors in the 1968 film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968), and appeared in the musical "Pickwick" (1965) and in the TV adaptation "Pickwick" for the BBC in 1969.He was a member of the Players Theatre Company based in London in Villiers Street, appearing regularly and also on many occasions on the BBC TV series "The Good Old Days".Michael Darbyshire died in 1979, aged 62.