Michael Keating

Michael Keating is a British actor. He is best known as for his role as Vila Restal in the science fiction television series Blake's 7.

One of Michael Keating's first prominent roles was as Goudry in a 1977 Doctor Who story, entitled The Sun Makers. A year later, Keating won the role of Vila Restal in the BBC TV seriesBlake's 7, which aired from 1978 to 1981. Vila Restal was the only character to appear in all fifty-two episodes of the series. In 1981, Keating appeared in an episode of the BBC sitcom Yes Minister entitled The Death List, playing the role of Police Constable Ross.

Some years later Michael Keating reunited with his Blake's 7 co-star Gareth Thomas, in an episode of the BBC drama series Casualty. In 2004, Keating returned to the Doctor Who franchise, guest starring as Major Koth in the Big Finish Productions audio adventure The Twilight Kingdom. In 2006, Keating starred in another Doctor Who audio adventure, this time as Inspector Chardalot in Year of the Pig. In 2009, he had a brief role in the BBC one-off drama Micro Men about the rise of the British home computer market in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Since 2005, Keating has played Reverend Stevens in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Although Keating has never been a permanent cast member in the soap, he continues to appear as the local vicar in EastEnders, usually for a single episode at a time, in connection with another character's christening, marriage, or funeral.