Television and radio
At the outset of his television career, the 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall Challis was often typecast in authority roles. His first television role was in the BBC soap opera The Newcomers in 1967. Another early television role, also in 1967 was as a thief who stole Ena Sharples' handbag in Coronation Street; he would later have a recurring role in the series as Detective Sergeant Norman Phillips from 1975 to 1977. 1969 he played in the gangster drama Big Breadwinner Hog, and between 1971 and 1975 Challis made regular appearances in Z-Cars as Sergeant Culshaw. In 1971, he played the part of photographer Jim Wright in the highly popular tv soap Crossroads.
The sitcom Bloomers (1979), starring Richard Beckinsale, was written about Challis's experience working at a garden centre while taking a break from acting.
A role in the John Sullivan sitcom Citizen Smith led to Challis being cast as Herman Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in Only Fools and Horses (1981—2003), which became his best-known role. Sullivan also created a spin-off for Challis, The Green Green Grass (2005—2009). The outdoor scenes of The Green Green Grass were filmed at his then-home at Wigmore Abbey, surrounding fields and local villages.
His other television appearances include Dixon of Dock Green, Thriller, The Sweeney, Doctor Who (The Seeds of Doom), Dracula, Beau Geste, Juliet Bravo, Bloomers, Ever Decreasing Circles, Doctor Snuggles, Chance in a Million, The Bill, One Foot in the Grave, Open All Hours, The New Statesman, Don't Wait Up, Soldier Soldier, Brass Eye, My Family, In Sickness and in Health, Benidorm, the end of which he felt spelt the end of his television career, and Heartbeat. During his appearance in a 1997 Channel 4 mockumentary Brass Eye television episode "Decline", he was tricked into believing Clive Anderson had been shot by Noel Edmonds. In 2006 he took a cameo role in BBC's The Impressionists as the stationmaster at the Gare Saint Lazare. In the 2008 episode "Is Jeremy Quite Safe?" of Last of the Summer Wine he guest-starred as a retired jewel thief with fanciful stories of his past exploits in the South of France. In 2012, he narrated the National Geographic Channel series Strippers: Cars for Cash.
On BBC radio, he played an interrogator in the play Rules of Asylum by James Follett, broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 1973. He also played Dibden Purlew in Getting Nowhere Fast from 2001 to 2004.
He became an honorary citizen of Serbia, where Only Fools and Horses remains popular. In 2020, Challis made the documentary Boycie in Belgrade, exploring why the show was so beloved in Serbia.
