[2][3] Educated at Christ's Hospital, the University of St Andrews and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art,[2] Evans first became well known for his long-running roles as Leading Seaman "Taffy" Goldstein and Admiral Ffont-Bittocks (and other occasional characters) in The Navy Lark, a popular BBC radio comedy series (1959–1977), which starred Dennis Price, Leslie Phillips, Jon Pertwee and later Stephen Murray, with Richard Caldicot, Michael Bates, Ronnie Barker and Heather Chasen.

Among Evans's most notable TV credits are The Forsyte Saga (1967), The Saint (1967), four appearances in The Avengers between 1961 and 1968, episode five of Undermind in 1965, Softly Softly, (1966, 1969), Randall and Hopkirk (1969), A Family at War (1970), Paul Temple (1970, 1971), multiple appearances in Z-Cars between 1963 and 1972, a regular role in Big Breadwinner Hog (1969), The Liver Birds (1972), The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976), Yes Minister (1980), Coronation Street (1980), Rumpole of the Bailey (1983), The Citadel (1983) and The Dancing Men (1984), an episode of the Granada series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that reunited him with Jeremy Brett.

Evans's other television credits from between the late 1980s and 2004 include Inspector Morse, Lovejoy, September Song, Peak Practice, The Bill, Pie in the Sky, Heartbeat, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Casualty and Dalziel and Pascoe.

His most prominent parts were as a murderous teacher in Walk a Crooked Path (1969), and as a detective in the thriller 10 Rillington Place (1971), the film about the infamous British serial killer John Christie starring Richard Attenborough.

In the 1990s Evans was also featured in Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre programmes, playing Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1996)[6] and a supporting role as Bishop George Bell in Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom (1997).