Brian Capron
Encyclopedia
Brian Capron, born 11 February 1947 at Eye
in Suffolk
, is a British
actor, who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
(LAMDA). His father was an Algeria
n pilot, of French
descent, who died in a plane crash before Brian was born.
He is probably best known for his role as serial killer Richard Hillman
in the television
soap opera
Coronation Street
from 2001 to 2003. He had previously appeared in the series as the social worker Donald Worthington in 1981-1982.
Capron had first come to public attention through his role of the teacher, Mr Stuart (Hoppy) Hopwood in Grange Hill
in the early 1980s. He also acted in BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, playing Jerry McKenzie from 1993-1994. He played the guest role of Andrew Donelson in "Taggart", in the episode "A Fistful Of Chips" in 1999.
He was cast as George Godley
in Jack the Ripper
(1988), with Barry Foster
as Inspector Frederick Abberline
, and the two started filming in October 1987. It was later decided to recast with Michael Caine
as Abberline and Lewis Collins
as Godley in order to attract larger audiences in the United States
.
Other notable TV credits include: Z-Cars
, Dixon of Dock Green
, Angels
, The Sweeney
, Blake's 7
, Tales of the Unexpected
, Full House
, Shoestring, Bergerac
, Minder
, Casualty
, Birds of a Feather
, Murder Most Horrid
, The Bill
, Taggart
, Peak Practice
, Judge John Deed
, Crocodile Shoes
, and Where the Heart Is
.
In "The Bill" he played Antionio Mancini, a husband who is always rowing and fighting his wife Joana. Capron played this role twice, firstly in the series 4 episode "Trouble & Strife" and later on in the series 5 episode "Out to Lunch"
He has also played narrator in The Rocky Horror Show
in London's West End, alongside Suzanne Shaw
in January 2007.
In episode 1 of season 2 of The Graham Norton Show, Brian is found by an audience member in the lobby of ITV during a stunt and eventually brought onto the set, sitting beside Courtney Love and Louis Walsh.
Recently, Brian played Nathan Detroit, from 12 March to 28 April 2007, on the Guys and Dolls tour, opposite Claire Sweeney
On 13 September 2007, Capron was announced as one of the contestants to take part in the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing
. He was partnered by Karen Hardy
, who was Series 4 champion with cricketer Mark Ramprakash
.
After finishing in last place on the first show, he found himself in the dance off along with Kenny Logan, but the judges voted in favour of saving Logan and Capron left the show.
Brian will also be appearing in this year's Production of Aladdin at the Broadway Theatre, Peterborough. He will be playing the role of Abanazar.
Brian is currently touring the UK in the 25th Anniversary production of Stepping Out
by Richard Harris
, playing the only male role of Geoffrey.
On 22 April 2010, Brian appeared on ITV Show 'This Morning'
along with fellow cast member of Stepping Out
, Anita Harris
, and they showed presenters Phillip Schofield
and Ruth Langsford
how to tap dance.
Eye, Suffolk
Eye is a small market town in the county of Suffolk, East Anglia, England, south of Diss, and on the River Dove.Eye is twinned with the town of Pouzauges in the Vendée Departement of France.-History:An island...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actor, who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art is a leading British drama school in west London. LAMDA's president is Timothy West and its new principal is Joanna Read, who recently succeeded Peter James...
(LAMDA). His father was an Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n pilot, of French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
descent, who died in a plane crash before Brian was born.
He is probably best known for his role as serial killer Richard Hillman
Richard Hillman
Richard Charles Hillman was a fictional character in the British television soap opera Coronation Street, played by Brian Capron. Hillman is now rated as one of the best soap villains of all time.-Development:...
in the television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
from 2001 to 2003. He had previously appeared in the series as the social worker Donald Worthington in 1981-1982.
Capron had first come to public attention through his role of the teacher, Mr Stuart (Hoppy) Hopwood in Grange Hill
Grange Hill
Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...
in the early 1980s. He also acted in BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, playing Jerry McKenzie from 1993-1994. He played the guest role of Andrew Donelson in "Taggart", in the episode "A Fistful Of Chips" in 1999.
He was cast as George Godley
George Godley
George Albert Godley was a police officer of the Metropolitan Police who was involved in the hunt for Jack the Ripper in 1888....
in Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper (1988 TV series)
Jack the Ripper is a 1988 four-part television movie/mini-series portraying a fictionalized account of the hunt for Jack the Ripper, the unidentified serial killer responsible for the Whitechapel murders of 1888...
(1988), with Barry Foster
Barry Foster (actor)
Barry Foster was a British actor who appeared in numerous film roles and is known for his leading role as a Dutch detective in the ITV drama series, Van der Valk, which spanned five series over 20 years from 1972....
as Inspector Frederick Abberline
Frederick Abberline
Frederick George Abberline was a Chief Inspector for the London Metropolitan Police and was a prominent police figure in the investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888.-Early life:...
, and the two started filming in October 1987. It was later decided to recast with Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
as Abberline and Lewis Collins
Lewis Collins
Lewis Collins is an English actor best known for his tough-guy role as Bodie in The Professionals. He was educated at Bidston Primary and Grange School in Birkenhead. He started out as a ladies' hairdresser before playing drums and guitar in pop groups. He had a number of other jobs before...
as Godley in order to attract larger audiences in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Other notable TV credits include: Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
, Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
, Angels
Angels (TV series)
Angels was originally a British television seasonal drama series dealing with the subject of student nurses and was broadcast by the BBC between 1975 and 1978. The show's format then switched to a twice weekly soap opera format from 1979 to 1983. The show's title derived from the name of the...
, The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
, Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
, Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)
Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. Filming began in 1978.The series was an anthology of different tales...
, Full House
Full House (UK TV series)
Full House is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 1985 to 1986. It was the last sitcom to be jointly co-created by the sitcom writing team of Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, however, it was mainly written by Mortimer alone, with Mortimer writing 12 episodes alone, along with a...
, Shoestring, Bergerac
Bergerac (TV series)
Bergerac was a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and screened on BBC1, it starred John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in "Le Bureau des Étrangers" Bergerac was a British television show...
, Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
, Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
, Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather was a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC1 from 1989 until 1998. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers.The first episode sees sisters...
, Murder Most Horrid
Murder Most Horrid
Murder Most Horrid is a BBC dark comedy anthology series starring comedian Dawn French. It ran for four series runs, in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1999....
, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, Taggart
Taggart
Taggart is a Scottish detective television programme, created by Glenn Chandler, who has written many of the episodes, and made by STV Productions for the ITV network...
, Peak Practice
Peak Practice
Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time...
, Judge John Deed
Judge John Deed
Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove...
, Crocodile Shoes
Crocodile Shoes
Crocodile Shoes is a British 7-part television series made by the BBC and screened on BBC One in 1994.The series was written by and starred Jimmy Nail as a factory worker who becomes a country and western singer...
, and Where the Heart Is
Where the Heart Is (1997 TV series)
Where the Heart Is is a British television drama series set in the fictional town Skelthwaite.First shown in 1997, it was created by Ashley Pharoah and Vicky Featherstone...
.
In "The Bill" he played Antionio Mancini, a husband who is always rowing and fighting his wife Joana. Capron played this role twice, firstly in the series 4 episode "Trouble & Strife" and later on in the series 5 episode "Out to Lunch"
He has also played narrator in The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...
in London's West End, alongside Suzanne Shaw
Suzanne Shaw
Suzanne Shaw is an English actress, singer and television personality...
in January 2007.
In episode 1 of season 2 of The Graham Norton Show, Brian is found by an audience member in the lobby of ITV during a stunt and eventually brought onto the set, sitting beside Courtney Love and Louis Walsh.
Recently, Brian played Nathan Detroit, from 12 March to 28 April 2007, on the Guys and Dolls tour, opposite Claire Sweeney
Claire Sweeney
Claire Jane Sweeney is an English actress, singer and television personality best known for playing the role of Lindsey Corkhill in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside and her appearance on the first series of the Reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother.-Early Life:Sweeney was born in Walton, Liverpool...
On 13 September 2007, Capron was announced as one of the contestants to take part in the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
. He was partnered by Karen Hardy
Karen Hardy
Karen Hardy is a professional ballroom dancer, coach, teacher and adjudicator. In 1998 she won the professional International Latin American Dance Championship with Bryan Watson. She also won the United Kingdom Open, British National, European and World Masters championships...
, who was Series 4 champion with cricketer Mark Ramprakash
Mark Ramprakash
Mark Ravin Ramprakash is an English cricketer, playing for Surrey and England. A right-handed batsman, he initially made his name playing for Middlesex, and was selected for England aged 21...
.
After finishing in last place on the first show, he found himself in the dance off along with Kenny Logan, but the judges voted in favour of saving Logan and Capron left the show.
Brian will also be appearing in this year's Production of Aladdin at the Broadway Theatre, Peterborough. He will be playing the role of Abanazar.
Brian is currently touring the UK in the 25th Anniversary production of Stepping Out
Stepping Out (play)
Stepping Out is a play written by Richard Harris in 1984. It was produced in the West End, London, where it received the Evening Standard Comedy of the Year Award, and on Broadway, New York.-Plot:...
by Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
, playing the only male role of Geoffrey.
On 22 April 2010, Brian appeared on ITV Show 'This Morning'
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
along with fellow cast member of Stepping Out
Stepping Out (play)
Stepping Out is a play written by Richard Harris in 1984. It was produced in the West End, London, where it received the Evening Standard Comedy of the Year Award, and on Broadway, New York.-Plot:...
, Anita Harris
Anita Harris
Anita Harris is an English actress, singer and entertainer....
, and they showed presenters Phillip Schofield
Phillip Schofield
Phillip Bryan Schofield is an English broadcaster and television personality best known for presenting shows such as This Morning, Dancing on Ice, and various game shows including The Cube.-Early life and career:...
and Ruth Langsford
Ruth Langsford
Ruth Langsford is an English television presenter.Langsford began her career as a continuity announcer and newscaster with ITV regional station TSW in the South West of England...
how to tap dance.