On television he appeared in The Saint, The Flaxton Boys, The Forsyte Saga as Michael Mont, and in six episodes of Doctor Who entitled Colony in Space.

[2] On film he appeared as Bedford in Isadora (1968), in Only When I Larf (1968) as Spencer, as an RAF pilot in Battle of Britain (1969), and as Julien in Mr. Forbush and the Penguins (1971).

[6][7] Phillips recruited Pennell to join his young company and perform in The Comedy of Errors and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

In 23 seasons he played a wide range of characters from Stephano in The Tempest, Iago, Richard II, the Fool in Lear, Sassoon in Not About Heroes to King John.

A biography was published in 2005 by Mary Z. Maher,[11] which leaves unanswered questions about what he was like off-stage in public and in private, what drove him into a gloomy reclusiveness during his final years, and how his homosexuality might have influenced his acting and his life.