Savident created the role of Monsieur Firmin in the original production of 'Phantom of the Opera' which opened on 9 October 1986 at Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket, London SW.
Despite his many film and TV roles, (including civil servant Sir Frederick Stewart in Yes, Minister and in A Clockwork Orange), it was only during the 1990s when he joined the cast of Coronation Street as the bellicose but romantic butcher Fred Elliott that he became a household name. He made his first appearance on the show in 1994 and his character quickly became popular with viewers.
On 1 December 2000, Savident was stabbed in the neck by Michael Smith who claimed he was acting in self-defence. Savident said at the time "I suddenly felt somebody come up behind me and whizz me round so I was face down on the bed and then I felt a prick on my throat". Savident had met Smith in a gay bar. They then went to Savident's home apparently to discuss the theatre which Smith claimed was a euphemism for sex. The next week on Coronation Street the large sticking plaster on his character's neck was explained as a "butchering accident".
In December 2005, Savident announced that he was to leave Coronation Street citing (undisclosed) "personal reasons". His character died of a stroke nine months later in October 2006. He later revealed that he had retired from the show "because he wanted to spend more time with his family in Hertfordshire".
He was one of the readers on the BBC's online Advent Calendar in December 2006 and starred in the 2006 pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as the henchman at Manchester Opera House, appearing alongside Suranne Jones, Justin Moorhouse, and the all-star seven dwarves including Warwick Davis.
In 2007 he was touring as the lead in a production of Hobson's Choice.
He appeared on Loose Women on 19 March 2009 to discuss his part as Sir Joseph Porter in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta HMS Pinafore, which toured the United Kingdom during the spring and summer of 2009.
He guest starred in the Christmas special episode of Holby City in 2012, playing patient Rupert Pool. He voiced the character Pendle in the Doctor Who audio-drama Order of the Daleks.
