In Granada Television's series "The Jewel in the Crown" (1984) Clarke played the role of the overtly homosexual 'Sophie' Dixon, and he was Colonel Krieger in the first series of LWT's "Wish Me Luck" (1988). In 1989 Clarke played Captain Lee in the film "Crusoe". The same year he played the role of Martin Fisher, the chairman of a football club, in "The Manageress" and the role of Managing Director of an engineering firm, Vic Wilcox, in the TV adaptation of the David Lodge novel "Nice Work". He also starred in an episode of "Lovejoy" entitled "Bin Diving". In 1990 he appeared in the episode "Odi, et Amo" of the situation comedy "Chelmsford 123". He played Larry Patterson in "Gone to the Dogs" (1991), which was followed by the series "Gone to Seed" (1992), in which Clarke again starred. He also appeared in "Our Mutual Friend" (the 1976 TV mini-series) as Bradley Headstone.