Pickup played Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury in the BBC Television Shakespeare version of "Henry VIII" (1979). He played Lt. Harford in "Zulu Dawn" (1979), Igor Stravinsky in "Nijinsky" (1980), Prince John in "Ivanhoe" (1982), and a government official in the James Bond film "Never Say Never Again" (1983) opposite Sean Connery. He portrayed Portuguese governor Don Hontar in "The Mission" (1986). Three years later, he played Captain Lancaster, a very strict teacher in "Danny, the Champion of the World", and also appeared as a state advocate in "A Dry White Season" the same year.