He was known for playing Seymour Utterthwaite in the television series Last of the Summer Wine from 1986 to 1990 and he had a long career as a character actor on stage and screen dating back to the 1930s.

In 1940, he joined the Royal Air Force and served in Africa, the United States, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, leaving the service in 1945 as a flight lieutenant.

In 1975 Aldridge appeared in the title role of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn's musical Jeeves, based on the stories by P. G. Wodehouse.

The show was a rare flop for Webber, and the negative critical reaction led to Aldridge giving up his stage career to concentrate on television and film roles.

He played Percy Alleline in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy on BBC TV in 1979, Sir Basil in the 6th episode “Neck” of 1st series of Anglia Television's Tales of the Unexpected first aired on ITV in the same year and appeared in the sitcom Yes, Prime Minister.

His obituary in The Times said, If Aldridge joined the cast of a show, it invariably meant the injection of an extra dimension of dramatic interest, however modest his role in it.