John Alderton married his co-star, Jill Browne, but they later divorced. After an uncredited role in "Cleopatra" (1963), and appearing in British films such as "The System" (1964), "Assignment K" (1968), "Duffy" (1968) and "Hannibal Brooks" (1969), he played the lead in the comedy series "Please Sir!", as hapless teacher Mr Hedges, which later resulted in him also playing the character in the 1971 feature film of the same name. In 1972 he appeared with Hannah Gordon in the BBC comedy series "My Wife Next Door" which ran for 13 episodes, and for which he won a Jacob's Award in 1975. He
Deryck Guyler Rat, Potter would often complain to John Alderton, who played the part of schoolteacher Mr Hedges, about class '5C' and their 'dreadful behaviour'. Other television appearances include those in "That's My Boy", a comedy series starring Mollie Sugden and Christopher Blake, and the short-lived political comedy "Best of Enemies". He also played a drunken surgeon in the film "Carry On Doctor". During the 1980s he voiced an animated skeleton in UK adverts for Scotch Video Tapes. He was the narrator of the BBC documentary about Fred Dibnah - "Fred Dibnah, Steeplejack" Guyler had been a devotee of washboard playing since