having taken the role of Monsieur Jourdain "as a kind of Baroque Blackadder" in the 1912 version of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos with Scottish Opera at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival. In 1998, Kelly appeared as George Spelvin in a concert version of Strike Up the Band at the Barbican in London and also was seen in an episode of the first series of Cold Feet, playing Algernon Gifford. On radio, he played the part of Carter Brandon in the BBC Radio 4 series of the continuing adventures of Uncle Mort and Carter Brandon in Uncle Mort's South Country and Uncle Mort's Celtic Fringe. These were written by Peter Tinniswood. In 2004, he appeared in the EastEnders one-off episode Pat and Mo playing Stan Porter, and he also appeared in the comedy series Black Books as the father of Manny. In 2006 he appeared as the villain Guy Carse in New Tricks. Kelly starred in Jean-Paul Sartre's play Kean alongside Antony Sher at the Theatre Royal, Bath and in the West End in May 2007. In December 2007, a car struck and injured Kelly in the West End. He was due to have performed in the Doctor Who episode ("Midnight") filmed that month, but the role was taken by David Troughton instead. Kelly though did act in the Doctor Who audio dramas "The Holy Terror" and "Return to the Web Planet" by Big Finish Productions. In 2008, he guest starred in the Sapphire and Steel audio drama Remember Me. In November 2008, he starred in the title role of Christopher Reason's radio dramatisation of Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. From May 2009, Kelly starred as the Wizard in the West End production of the musical Wicked, replacing Desmond Barrit. From 27 March 2010 he was succeeded by Clive Carter. He worked with director Mike Leigh on several occasions, including Knock for Knock (1976), Grown-Ups (1980), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), A Running Jump (2012) and on stage at the National Theatre in Grief (September 2011). His final film role was a cameo appearance in Leigh's Mr. Turner (2014). Kelly's later roles were as the ARP warden in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010), and as the old boatman, John Merdell, in the ITV production of Dead Man's Folly in the final (2013) series of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, the last episode of the series