The film also starred a young Jenny Agutter and famously included the shattering moment in the film’s climax when Agutter’s character calls out “daddy, my daddy” as they meet on the train platform. Mr. Cribbins played station keeper Albert Perks.
In 2011 he was awarded an OBE for services to drama for his long career. Speaking at the investiture ceremony, he said that providing the voices of characters such as Uncle Bulgaria, Tobermory and Orinoco was simple because of the way The Wombles was written.
“The structure of the writing was such that I knew exactly where everyone was socially in that household,” he said.
He appeared regularly in the Doctor Who television series as Wilfred Mott, the grandfather of the Doctor’s companion Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate.
Voyage Of The Damned, which aired on Christmas Day 2007, saw 13.31 million people tune in to see then-Doctor David Tennant fight to save the crew of a luxury spaceship called Titanic.
Mr Cribbins appeared in the episode alongside special guests including Kylie Minogue, Geoffrey Palmer, Clive Swift and Russell Tovey.
He also had the lead role in the CBeebies program Old Jack’s Boat and in the 1960s narrated the Tufty Fluffytale series of road safety public information films.
More recently, reports said Cribbins had been spotted filming alongside Tate and Tennant for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary celebrations.