As an actor, Welland appeared as PC David Graham in the BBC Television series "Z-Cars" from 1962 to 1965. He was a sympathetic schoolteacher in a BAFTA-winning performance in the film "Kes" (1969), and a detective in the Richard Burton film "Villain" (1971). He appeared as a villain in one 1975 episode of "The Sweeney", and was in the series' first cinema spin-off "Sweeney!" (1977) as Frank Chadwick, a newspaper editor. His other film appearances include Dennis Potter's "Blue Remembered Hills" (1979) as the character Willie, and "Dancin' Thru the Dark" (1990). He was also in the television series "Cowboys" (1980), a comedy about a dodgy builder, with Roy Kinnear.