An early role was that of PC "Fancy" Smith in the BBC police drama "Z-Cars" from 1962 to 1965. In 1966, Blessed appeared in "Incident at Vichy" at the Phoenix Theatre in London. Blessed had small roles in such cult shows as "The Avengers" (1967, 1969) and the original "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)" (1969). He portrayed Caesar Augustus in the BBC series "I, Claudius". He portrayed Basileos in the BBC mini-series Michael J. Bird's The Aphrodite Inheritance (1979). He portrayed the father of Robin Hood, Lord Locksley, in the blockbuster "" (1991).