Prior to his work in television and film he appeared in several stage musicals under the name Ziggy Byfield.
These included the 1970s production of Hair, where he appeared alongside Joan Armatrading, Richard O'Brien, Paul Nicholas and Floella Benjamin.
[3] Byfield featured in many popular British television programmes over several decades, these included Heartbeat, EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City, Coronation Street, Family Affairs, Doctors, Only Fools and Horses, Inspector Morse (as the title character in the episode "Who Killed Harry Field?
"), One Foot in the Grave, Birds of a Feather, The Professionals, Minder, Spooks, Lovejoy, So Haunt Me and New Tricks.
In January 2009 he suffered a broken hip and ribs as well as a collapsed lung, when a tractor that he was driving lost control on a road and hit trees before rolling down an embankment during filming of the ITV show Heartbeat near Grosmont.