Bill Thomas (actor)
Encyclopedia
Bill Thomas, is an English actor of stage
and screen
. He ranks amongst the most prolific character actors of his generation with over 400 roles on Stage, Films, Television and commercials. He was Tom Henshall in the BBC series Cutting It
and Charles Vance in the classic BBC serial The House of Eliott
, had the lead role the feature film Weak at Denise and Syrup
(which was nominated for an academy award for best short life action feature in 1994. A recent return to the stage saw him playing Ironside, in An English Tragedy, a new play by Oscar winning playwright Ronald Harwood
. A generation of young adults know him as Mr Tucknott the pompous and long suffering bank manager in the classic Bodger and Badger
series on BBCTV.
His previous stage work includes the lead role in Dragon
in the Olivier Theatre as a member of the Royal National Theatre
, a remarkable and innovative production by the accomplished director Ulz, after working together at Nottingham Playhouse
. He was Arturo UI in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
, directed by David Gilmore at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and went on to lead roles in repertory for much his early career, having five children in the process with his wife, Pat, who he met at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke in his first job out of Rose Bruford College
. He was 23 and she was in the sixth form at a local school and worked as a volunteer usherette.
He has also had sculpture exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery
in East London, where he has lived for most of his life. He has a long connection with the Theatre Royal, Stratford, E15, where with Jeff Teare and Patrick Prior he pioneered a series of political dramas, developing and performing leading roles in satirical attacks on Margaret Thatchers government. The same team produced pantomimes for many years during the 1980s and 90's which set a standard in British Theatre for integrity and quality.
His recent TV work has included spells in Emmerdale
and Doctors (2000 TV series), Heartbeat (UK TV series) and two films with director Norman Hull based on true life events that revolve around the crimes of unlikely individuals, The Canoe Man and the Antiques Rogueshow, and has completed filming on Abrahams Point with Mackenzie Crook and Harriet Walter.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and screen
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. He ranks amongst the most prolific character actors of his generation with over 400 roles on Stage, Films, Television and commercials. He was Tom Henshall in the BBC series Cutting It
Cutting It
Cutting It was a popular BBC television programme set in Manchester, England, which ran for four series between 2002 and 2005.- Series 1 :...
and Charles Vance in the classic BBC serial The House of Eliott
The House of Eliott
The House of Eliott is a British television series produced and broadcast by the BBC in three series between 1991 and 1994. The series starred Stella Gonet and Louise Lombard as two sisters in 1920s London who establish a dressmaking business and eventually their own haute couture fashion house...
, had the lead role the feature film Weak at Denise and Syrup
Syrup
In cooking, a syrup is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but showing little tendency to deposit crystals...
(which was nominated for an academy award for best short life action feature in 1994. A recent return to the stage saw him playing Ironside, in An English Tragedy, a new play by Oscar winning playwright Ronald Harwood
Ronald Harwood
Sir Ronald Harwood CBE is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
. A generation of young adults know him as Mr Tucknott the pompous and long suffering bank manager in the classic Bodger and Badger
Bodger and Badger
Bodger and Badger is a BBC children's comedy programme which was first broadcast in 1989. It starred Andy Cunningham as Simon Bodger, who had a badly behaved companion, a talking badger with a love for mashed potatoes.- Plot :...
series on BBCTV.
His previous stage work includes the lead role in Dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
in the Olivier Theatre as a member of the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, a remarkable and innovative production by the accomplished director Ulz, after working together at Nottingham Playhouse
Nottingham Playhouse
The Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in the 1950s when it operated from a former cinema. Directors during this period included Val May and Frank Dunlop.-The building:...
. He was Arturo UI in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a play by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, originally written in 1941...
, directed by David Gilmore at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and went on to lead roles in repertory for much his early career, having five children in the process with his wife, Pat, who he met at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke in his first job out of Rose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance is a British drama school, offering university-level and professional vocational training for theatre and performance and the BA and MA degrees, based in Sidcup, Southeast London.-History:Founded in 1950, Rose Bruford "pioneered the first acting degree...
. He was 23 and she was in the sixth form at a local school and worked as a volunteer usherette.
He has also had sculpture exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery
Whitechapel Gallery
The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, it was founded in 1901 as one of the first publicly-funded galleries for temporary exhibitions in London, and it has a long...
in East London, where he has lived for most of his life. He has a long connection with the Theatre Royal, Stratford, E15, where with Jeff Teare and Patrick Prior he pioneered a series of political dramas, developing and performing leading roles in satirical attacks on Margaret Thatchers government. The same team produced pantomimes for many years during the 1980s and 90's which set a standard in British Theatre for integrity and quality.
His recent TV work has included spells in Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
and Doctors (2000 TV series), Heartbeat (UK TV series) and two films with director Norman Hull based on true life events that revolve around the crimes of unlikely individuals, The Canoe Man and the Antiques Rogueshow, and has completed filming on Abrahams Point with Mackenzie Crook and Harriet Walter.
Some recent Film and Television work
| Year | Production | Part | watch clip: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Sky in Bloom | Branick Hammond - trafficking women and runs brothels | |
| 2010 | Merlin - series 3 | Cylferth - sword maker and magician | |
| 2010 | Doctors | Hairy Potter (wigmaker won't take his medicine) | http://www.billthomas.biz/PRODUCTIONS/DOCTORS2009BT.htm |
| 2010 | Prices to Pay | The Norfolk Farmer who shot a burglar | http://www.billthomas.biz/PRODUCTIONS/PTPAY2010BT.htm |
| 2009 | The Canoe Man | Sampson - surely campsite manager | |
| 2009 | The Bill | Charles Greene (nice neighbour helps victim) | http://www.billthomas.biz/PRODUCTIONS/THEBILLRESCUEME2009BT.htm |
| 2009 | Heartbeat | Richards the Station Master - attacked by dog, pigeons and a fire extinguisher | |
| 2009 | Emmerdale | Ernest Amplethorpe - impassioned lover thumps the Bishop etc. | |
| 2008 | Abrahams Point | Bob - boss of restoration company who befriends main man | |
| 2008 | Wire in the Blood | John Rowland - paranoiac neighbour of main man | |
| 2008 | Antiques Rogueshow | Fitch - the neighbour who blabs to the tabloids | |
| 2008 | Trial and Retribution VIII . | Norman Gladstone - Police bureaucrat | |
| 2007 | Messiah V | Harry Fullerton - flower seller, bereaved husband and father | |
| 2007 | Midsomer Murders | Derek Wildacre - newly widowed and grieving | |
| 2006 | New Tricks | Evans - imprisoned for 20 years for a crime he did not commit, released after a retired copper takes up his case. | |
| 2006 | City Lights | Mr Youd - employs his daughters boyfriend and pal to dig a pond, lives to regret it. | |
| 2006 | Dalziel and Pascoe | Mr Chater - Eccentric Water Diviner helps find a body. | |
| 2003-6 | Cutting It | Tom Henshall - 20+ episodes as dad to three girls who set up a hairdressers. Has affair with pornstar etc. Gross wife. | |
| 2006 | Foyles War | Willis the Air raid warden - finds a body with a knife in it in debris of bombed house |
Some Theatre Credits
- most recently played Ironside the prison Warder in a new play by Oscar winning writer Ronald Harwood AN ENGLISH TRAGEDY - Watford Palace Theatre.
- Burgomeister (lead) in DRAGON in the Olivier - Royal National Theatre
- Arturo Ui in THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI - Nuffield Theatre, Southampton
- A long term association with the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, developing political satires in the 1980s and 90's which attacked the Thatcher policies