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Jeffrey Alan Rawle (born 20 July 1951) is a British actor from Birmingham, England. He is known for playing Billy in Billy Liar (1973-1974), and for portraying George Dent in the news-gathering sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey (1990-1998), and Silas Blissett in Hollyoaks (2010-2022). Other credits include Minder (1993), Doc Martin (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Grantchester (2023), and Beyond Paradise (2024).
Jeff Rawle | |
|---|---|
 Rawle in 2011 | |
| Born | Jeffrey Alan Rawle 20 July 1951 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1973–present |
| Spouse |
Nina Marc (m. 1998) |
| Children | 2 |
Rawle was born on 20 July 1951,[1] in Birmingham.[1] His first secondary school was King Edward VI School in Aston, Birmingham. When he was 15 his family moved to Sheffield, and it was at High Storrs Grammar School that he first became interested in drama when he appeared in school plays. He worked at the Sheffield Playhouse before training at LAMDA.[2]
Rawle landed his first major role in 1973 as the protagonist in the television version of Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall's Billy Liar.[3] He played Billy Fisher for two seasons, 26 episodes from 1973 to 1974.[3]
In 1979, he appeared with Ian McKellen and Tom Bell in Bent at the Criterion Theatre, London. In 1984, he appeared in the story Frontios as the character Plantaganet in Doctor Who.[1] In 1980, he appeared in Hammer House of Horror,[1] Episode: "Charlie Boy". In 1981, he appeared in an episode of Juliet Bravo.[1] In 1983, He starred as Jeff Harris in 3 episodes of Angels, as well as appearing in Bergerac (1983).[4]
In 1989, he starred as W.O. Wilson in the 3-part miniseries Vote for Them, about allied troops still based in Cairo in 1943.[5] He appeared in Minder (1993),[4] and in Faith in the Future on ITV from 1995 to 1998.[4] In 2004, Rawle appeared as Roger Fenn in the ITV series Doc Martin.[1] The actor went on to make a guest appearance as lawyer Jonathan Blunt in the fourth episode of the fourth series of New Tricks (2007).[4]
In 2005, Rawle portrayed Amos Diggory, father of Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.[4]
2008 saw Rawle play Gilbert Murray in the National Theatre's production of Tony Harrison's play Fram. The following year, he guested in The Bill and appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures on CBBC. During 2010, Rawle joined the cast of Hollyoaks in the role of serial killer Silas Blissett.[6] He stated that he was delighted to be playing such a sinister character. He has won various awards for his portrayal of Silas.[7] He initially left the role in 2012 before making guest returns from January to May 2016, October 2020 to January 2021. He reprised the role in September 2022, where his character was finally killed off by his grandson, Bobby.[8]
In October 2012, it was announced Rawle had joined the cast of Doctors as Rory Bishton, a road sweeper with something to hide.[9] Rawle made his screen debut as Rory in early 2013.[9] He had previously appeared in the series in 2004.[9]
Rawle has provided numerous narrations including A Bear Called Paddington, three series of the Duchess of York's Budgie the Little Helicopter, Stephen Hawking's Universe and Tom Fort's The Grass is Always Greener for BBC Radio 4. Rawle's writing credits include The Young Poisoner's Handbook in 1995 and Who Goes There?
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| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 – 1974 | Billy Liar | Billy Fisher | TV series; 26 Episodes [3] |
| 1975 | Play for Today | Steve | Episode: "The Death of a Young, Young Man" |
| 1975 | Whodunnit | Arthur | TV series Episode 22 "Worth Dying For" |
| 1975 | Crown Court | Robert Gray | Episode: "Bad Day at Black Cape: Part 1" |
| 1977 | Van der Valk | Diederick | TV series; Episode: "The Professor" |
| 1978 | The Life Story of Baal | Johannes | |
| 1978 | A Hitch in Time | 'Sniffy' Kemp | |
| 1978 | The Wilde Alliance | Pusher | TV series; Episode: "A Game for Two Players" |
| 1979 | Leave It to Charlie | TV series; Episode: "Never a Cross Word" | |
| 1979 | Home Before Midnight | Johnnie McGee | |
| 1980 | Hammer House of Horror | Franks | TV series; Episode: "Charlie Boy" |
| 1981 | Juliet Bravo | Steve Ramsey | TV series; Episode: "Lies and Liars" |
| 1982 | Crystal Gazing | Julian | |
| 1983 | Bergerac | Mitch | TV series; Episode: "Almost Like a Holiday" |
| 1983 | Angels | Jeff Harris | TV series; episodes 22 and 24 of season 9 |
| 1984 | The Case of Marcel Duchamp | Norbert | |
| 1984 | Doctor Who | Plantagenet | TV series; Episode: "Frontios" |
| 1985 | Remington Steele | Chalky | TV series; Episode: "Steele Searching: Parts 1 and 2" |
| 1985 | The Doctor and the Devils | Lambert | |
| 1986 | Call Me Mister | Guy | TV series; Episode: "Humpty Dumpty" |
| 1987 | Fortunes of War | Sgt. Ridley | TV miniseries |
| 1987 | Boon | Maurice also known as Billy Clutterbuck |
TV series; Episode: "Credit Where it's Due" |
| 1988 | Screen Two | Billy | TV series; Episode: "Run for the Lifeboat" |
| 1988 | South of the Border | Stig | BBC TV series; Series 1, Episode 3 |
| 1988 | The Bill | Derek Pardoe | TV series; Episode: "Alarms and Embarrassments" |
| 1989 | Vote for Them | W.O. Wilson | 3 part mini-series[5] |
| 1989 | ScreenPlay | Episode: "Testimony of a Child" [10][Note 1] | |
| 1989 | ScreenPlay | The Man | Episode: "Beyond the Pale" |
| 1990 | The Gift | John Price | 6 part mini-series for children [11] |
| 1990 – 1998 | Drop the Dead Donkey | George Dent | TV series |
| 1990 | This is David Harper | Bob Benchley | TV series; Episode: "A List of Abuses" |
| 1991 | A Perfect Hero | Service Policeman | TV series |
| 1992 | The Life and Times of Henry Pratt | Ezra Pratt | TV series |
| 1992 | Casualty | Len Jackson | TV series; Episode: "Silent Night", series 7 episode 15 |
| 1993 | Minder | Jehovah's Witness | TV series; Episode: "Uneasy Rider" |
| 1994 – 1996 | Budgie the Little Helicopter | Narrator and Dell the baggage cart towing truck | TV series; voice |
| 1994 | Wycliffe | Reverend Jordan | TV series; Episode: "The Last Rites" |
| 1995 | Look at the State We're In! | Jeff Jarndyce | TV mini-series |
| 1995 – 1998 | Faith in the Future | Paul | TV series |
| 1996 | Lord of Misrule | Derek | TV |
| 1998 | Neville's Island | Neville | TV |
| 1998 – 2000 | Microsoap | Colin | TV series |
| 2000 | I Saw You | Frank | TV |
| 2000 | Take a Girl Like You | Mr. Charlton | TV |
| 2002 | Dalziel and Pascoe | Raymond Miles | TV series; Episode: "Mens Sana" |
| 2003 | Midsomer Murders | Derrick Seagrove | TV series, Episode: "A Talent for Life" |
| 2003 | Blackball | Dennis | |
| 2003 | Death in Holy Orders | Father Peregrine Glover | TV |
| 2004 | Doctors | John Marshall | TV series; Episode: "A Late Flowering" |
| 2004 | The Royal | Banks | TV series; Episode: "Doing Time" |
| 2004 | The Deputy | Graham Hammond | TV |
| 2004 | Heartbeat | Ken Simner | TV series; Episode: "Scent of a Kill" |
| 2004 | William and Mary | George Emerson | TV series; series 2 episode 5 |
| 2004 | My Dad's the Prime Minister | Union leader | TV series; Episode: "Powerless" |
| 2004 – 2007 | Doc Martin | Roger Fenn | TV series; Episodes: "Gentlemen Prefer", "Sh*t Happens", "Haemophobia", "The Family Way", "Happily Ever After" |
| 2005 | Ultimate Force | David Cox | TV series; Episode: "Never Go Back" |
| 2005 | Holby City | Ron Fell | TV series; Episode: "It's Kinda Rock 'n' Roll" |
| 2005 | Spooks | Home Secretary | Also known as MI-5 in the USA TV series; Episodes: "The Special: Part I" and "The Special: Part II" |
| 2005 | A Touch of Frost | Steve Markham | TV series; Episode: "Near Death Experience" |
| 2005 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Amos Diggory | |
| 2006 | Holby City | Roger Nash | TV series; Episodes: "Team Holby", "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Lost", "Now or Never" |
| 2006 | Sea of Souls | James Norman | TV series; Episode: "Oracle" |
| 2006 | The Large Family | Mr. Large | TV series; voice |
| 2009 | The Bill | George Fielding | TV series, Episode: "Innocence Betrayed" |
| 2009 | The Sarah Jane Adventures | Lionel Harding | Museum Curator, Mona Lisa's Revenge |
| 2010–2011, 2012, 2016, 2020–2021, 2022 | Hollyoaks & Hollyoaks Later |
Silas Blissett | Series regular |
| 2011 | Midsomer Murders | Gerry Dawkins | TV series, Episode: "Dark Secrets" |
| 2011 | My Family | Antiques expert | Episode: Germs of Endearment |
| 2013 | An Adventure in Space and Time | Mervyn Pinfield | Television docudrama about the creation of Doctor Who in 1963 |
| 2013 | Heading Out | Donald | One episode |
| 2013 – 2017 | Holby City | Jerry Clark | TV series; Episodes: "Hanssen/Hemingway", "Unravelled", "Black Dog", "We Need to Talk About Fredrik" |
| 2016 | Bottersnikes and Gumbles[12] | Happi | Voice only |
| 2016 | Steptoe and Son[13] | Albert Steptoe | A one-off episode, part of the BBC's Lost Sitcom season, recreating lost episodes of classic comedies |
| 2018 | Peterloo | Magistrate Rev. Hay | Film directed by Mike Leigh |
| 2019 | Father Brown | Professor Robert Wiseman | Season 7 Episode 3: "The Whistle in the Dark" |
| 2020 | Brassic | Mister Bates | Season 2 Episode 3: "Antique Hunters" |
| 2021 | The Canterville Ghost | Duke George 'Bluey' Stilton | |
| 2023 | Lockwood & Co. | Sebastian Saunders | Netflix series; two episodes |
| 2023 | Grantchester | Dr. Abbot | Season 8, Episode 3 |
| 2024 | Beyond Paradise | Douglas Bevan | Season 2, Episode 6 |
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