Brian Croucher is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actor and director perhaps best known for his role as Ted Hills

Ted Hills

Ted Hills is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Brian Croucher. He was introduced in 1995 as the patriarch of the Hills family, who were the extended family of established character Kathy Beale. Ted was axed in 1997....

, which he played from 1995 to 1997, in the 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...

.

He has appeared in three science fiction programmes — as the second actor to portray Travis

Travis (Blake's 7)

Space Commander Travis is a fictional character in the English science fiction television programme Blake's 7. Stephen Greif performed the role of Travis in the programme's first series, but declined an offer to return for the second series. "Weapon", the third episode of the second series, marked...

 in 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...

 and also as Borg in the Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

 story The Robots of Death

The Robots of Death

The Robots of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 January to 19 February 1977.-Synopsis:...

. He also appeared in the Doctor Who spin-off Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans

Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans

Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans is a film spin-off of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was released direct-to-video in 1995 and was produced by the independent production company Dreamwatch Media, a division of Dreamwatch magazine...

. Earlier, in 1973, he played a key protagonist in the children's adventure series The Jensen Code.

In 1978, he played a major role opposite Tom Bell

Tom Bell (actor)

Tom Bell was an English actor on stage, film and television. He was dark-haired, lean, and in his later years often played characters having a sinister side to their nature.-Biography:...

 in the Thames Television

Thames Television

Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

/Euston Films

Euston Films

Euston Films was a British film and television production company. It was a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from the 1970s to the 1990s, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network...

 thriller series Out

Out (miniseries)

Out is a British television crime drama written by Trevor Preston. It was produced by Thames Television in 1978.In the weeks prior to its broadcast on Monday evenings, brief clips of the programme were shown to arouse viewer interest in which a character provided only the cryptic information that...

.

One of his earliest film roles was in the Carol Reed

Carol Reed

Sir Carol Reed was an English film director best known for Odd Man Out , The Fallen Idol , The Third Man and Oliver!...

's film musical of Lionel Bart

Lionel Bart

Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...

"s Oliver!

Oliver!

Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....

, he played one of the London Bridge bargemen - a small speaking part, which was non-credited.

He also appeared as a "Pay Cop" Lieutenant in the ITV serial Quatermass

Quatermass (TV serial)

Quatermass is a British television science fiction serial produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors, Quatermass was written by Nigel Kneale...

, starring Sir John Mills

John Mills

Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...

 which was broadcast in the UK in 1979. He was also in the 1985 drama serial Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness is a British television drama serial, produced by BBC Television in association with Lionheart Television International and originally broadcast in six fifty-five minute episodes in late 1985...

.

He appeared in the episode "Parade" in the second season of "Bottom" as "Ted Nugent" who Eddie calls "Harry the B*****d".
He also appeared in a supporting role in the Clive Owen film 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'. He is currently appearing in a TV commercial for Aviva

Aviva

Aviva plc is a global insurance company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the sixth-largest insurance company in the world measured by net premium income and has 53 million customers in 28 countries...

 insurance. He has recently directed the short film 'Rank' co written with Nick Wilkinson.

He now lives in Kent with his wife and 2 children

Other TV appearances include: 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...

, Public Eye, Callan

Callan (TV series)

Callan is the title of a British television series set in the murky world of espionage. Originally produced by ABC Weekend Television and later Thames Television, it was aired on the ITV network over four seasons spread out between 1967 and 1972...

, 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:...

, Softly, Softly: Task Force, Villains, Six Days of Justice, Warship

Warship (TV series)

Warship was a popular British television drama series produced by the BBC between 1973 and 1977. It was also dubbed into Dutch and broadcast in the Netherlands as Alle hens...

, The New Avengers, The XYY Man

The XYY Man

The XYY Man began life as a series of novels by Kenneth Royce, featuring the character of William 'Spider' Scott, a one-time cat-burglar who leaves prison aiming to go straight but finds his talents still to be very much in demand by both the criminal underworld and the British secret service...

, Shoestring, 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...

, The Gentle Touch

The Gentle Touch

The Gentle Touch is a British police drama television series made by London Weekend Television for ITV which ran from 1980-1984. Commencing transmission on 11 April 1980, the series is notable for being the first British series to feature a female police detective as its leading character, ahead of...

, The Professionals

The Professionals (TV series)

The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon...

, The Chinese Detective

The Chinese Detective

The Chinese Detective is a British television series, transmitted by the BBC between 1981 and 1982 and created by Ian Kennedy Martin, who had previously devised The Sweeney and Juliet Bravo....

, The Young Ones

The Young Ones (TV series)

The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...

, Dempsey & Makepeace

Dempsey & Makepeace

Dempsey & Makepeace is a British television crime drama made by London Weekend Television for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham...

, C.A.T.S. Eyes

C.A.T.S. Eyes

C.A.T.S. Eyes is a British television series made by TVS for ITV between 1985 and 1987.-Premise:The series was a spin-off from The Gentle Touch and saw Jill Gascoine reprise her role as Det. Insp. Maggie Forbes, having left the police force to join a private detective agency called "Eyes" that is...

, Rockliffe's Babies

Rockliffe's Babies

Rockliffe's Babies was a British television drama produced by the BBC which ran for two series between 1987 and 1988. The series was devised by Richard O`Keeffe and produced by Leonard Lewis. Writers included Richard O`Keeffe, Don Webb, Charlie Humphreys and Nick Perry...

, Bread

Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...

, Lovejoy

Lovejoy

Lovejoy is a TV series about the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer and faker based in East Anglia, a less than scrupulous yet likeable rogue. The episodes were based on a series of picaresque novels by John Grant...

, 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...

, 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...

, Doctors

Doctors (BBC Soap Opera)

Doctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional Midland town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the City of Birmingham. It was created by Chris Murray; Mal Young drove its development, and Carson Black was the original producer. The first episode was broadcast on...

' and New Tricks.

Brian Croucher is a patron of The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America

The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America

The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America is a registered theatre charity and non-profit making theatre organisation based in London and was founded by Adrian Barry in 1992...

.

External links