At that time he was influenced by the beat generation, novelist Jack Kerouac and singer/songwriter Bob Dylan and performed with acoustic guitar at folk music clubs in Bridgwater and Taunton.
[1] During the next several years, he appeared in a number of TV productions in the UK, including five episodes of the 1973 children's series Pollyanna.
[1][2][3] Over the next two decades, Coleby became a regular face on Australian TV; he was a cast regular on several TV series including the roles; Dr Barrett in The Young Doctors in 1977; pilot Barry Drummond on Chopper Squad (1977–79); RAN officer Lt Fisher in Patrol Boat (1979–83); Reverend Lonsdale in the mini-series Anzacs (1985); and, businessman Tom Barsby in the short-lived soap opera, Paradise Beach (1993–94).
[4][5] Coleby played Alexander Preston in the 2006 American telenovela Monarch Cove, and Howard Webb in a 2006 episode of the Australian drama McLeod's Daughters.
In 2009 Coleby appeared as "Urquart" in two episodes of the British television series Heartbeat ("Thursday's Children" and "The Middle of Somewhere") both of which were set in Australia.