He attended Hillhead High School, and in his youth he took part in BBC radio shows including Children's Hour.

[3] Jackson's film career began in 1942, when producers from Ealing Studios were looking for a young Scot to act in The Foreman Went to France[3] and he was suggested for the part.

[4] Jackson soon appeared in other films, including Millions Like Us, San Demetrio London, The Captive Heart, Eureka Stockade and Whisky Galore!.

[1] That year, he played Horatio in Tony Richardson's production of Hamlet and he won a Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actor,[2] having also taken part in the film version.

Jackson became a household name playing the stern Scottish butler Angus Hudson in sixty episodes of the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs from 1971 to 1975.

He played Noel Strachan in the Australian Second World War drama A Town Like Alice (1981), winning a Logie Award for his performance.