Edwards was born in Penang, Peninsular Malaysia, on 2 February 1931. His father, who spent little time on him, was a rubber planter at the time of his birth and died later in 1946. His mother died shortly after his birth and he was raised first by his grandparents in Southsea, Hampshire, and then by his father and stepmother, who ran a pub in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

In 1964 he appeared in the role of Corporal William Allen, V.C. in Cy Endfield’s cinema film Zulu, having opted for the part over another offer of a role in Joan Littlewood’s stage show Oh! What a Lovely War. He later said: “I earned 10 times as much money from (later in his career) advertising Bran Flakes as I did from the movie Zulu.”

In 1985, he appeared in the rock music band Marillion’s music video for its single release “Heart of Lothian”, in which he played a barman, and starred in a popular TV commercial for McVitie’s rich tea biscuits as “Jacko”, saying, “Yeah, I’ll make a statement. A drink’s too wet without one!”

After the end of the Minder series in 1994 he retired from acting in his mid-sixties, and in his final years divided his time between living in Spain and Scotland.

Edwards died at his home in Edinburgh, Scotland on 23 May 2018 at the age of 87.