With the RSC from 1968 until the 1980s Hutchings played many roles in Shakespeare, including Launce, Octavius Caesar and Pandar.[3] He played Bosola in the 1971 RSC production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. Hutchings made his name particularly in Shakespeare's comic roles, including Dromio of Syracuse, Bottom, Feste, Lavache, Autolycus and Doctor Caius. Hutchings' singing voice often featured in his comic roles, with his appearance in 1982 as Lady Dodo in the musical Poppy winning a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance.
On television, his most notable role has probably been in Our Friends in the North (1996), in which he played corrupt building contractor John Edwards, a character closely based on the real-life figure of John Poulson. He also had a semi-regular role as Bobby Hollamby in the ITV prison drama Bad Girls from 2000 to 2003. Earlier, he had played second fiddle to Michael Gambon in 12 episodes of Maigret in 1992–1993. He also narrated several audiobooks based on Georges Simenon's Maigret stories.
In 2005 he played Lionel Morris in ITV's Heartbeat. In 2007, Hutchings made a guest appearance in ITV drama Wild at Heart.
In 2010 he appeared in the BBC medical drama Casualty and the sitcom Grandma's House, both of which were screened after his death.
He was a regular, as Mel Harvey, in the popular TV show Benidorm as the owner of five sunbed shops in the Greater Manchester, appearing in Series 2 (2008), Series 3 (2009) and a 2009 special. His sudden death, just before the shooting of the 2010 Christmas special, meant that the script had to be heavily rewritten, with his character's death said to have occurred off-screen on a business trip abroad.
Death
Hutchings died suddenly, in hospital, on the morning of 1 July 2010. The cause of death was meningitis.[2] He was surrounded by his family: second wife Andi Godfrey, and the three children of his first marriage – one son (Nathan Hutchings) and two daughters (Octavia Hutchings and Holly Hutchings).
He was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery, West London.