David Neilson 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

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 best known for portraying Roy Cropper

Roy Cropper

Royston "Roy" Cropper, is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor David Neilson, the character was introduced during the episode airing on 19 July 1995. Originally a secondary character, he was given a more prominent role in 1997, by the...

 in 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 1995 onwards.

He entered the Central School of Speech and Drama

Central School of Speech and Drama

The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...

 at the age of 20, working various jobs at the same time, including as a gas

Gas

Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...

 fitter, ice cream

Ice cream

Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...

 salesman and a barman

Bar (establishment)

A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...

.

His television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 roles 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...

, Survivors (BBC), Edgar in DH Lawrence's Sons and Lovers adapted by Trevor Griffiths (BBC), Blue Heaven by Frank Skinner, as Millington in the TV movies of the Charlie Resnick

Charlie Resnick

Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick is the protagonist of a series of eleven police procedural novels by British writer John Harvey, based in the city of Nottingham. Charlie was noted for his Polish descent and love of both sandwiches and jazz...

 novels, 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...

, 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...

, Boys from the Blackstuff

Boys from the Blackstuff

Boys from the Blackstuff is a British television drama series of five episodes, originally transmitted from 10 October to 7 November 1982 on BBC2....

, Secret Army

Secret Army (TV series)

Secret Army is a television drama series made by the BBC and the Belgian national broadcaster BRT created by Gerard Glaister. The series chronicled the history of a Belgian resistance movement during the Second World War dedicated to returning Allied airmen, usually having been shot down by the...

and Heartbeat. He appeared briefly in 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...

in the early 1990s, and in a celebrity edition of Stars in Their Eyes

Stars In Their Eyes

Stars in Their Eyes is a British television talent show that ran on Saturdays nights from 21 July 1990 until 23 December 2006 in which contestants impersonate showbiz stars...

as Roy Orbison.

In addition he has appeared in two Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh

Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...

 films: Life Is Sweet

Life Is Sweet (film)

Life Is Sweet is a 1991 British film directed by Mike Leigh, starring Jim Broadbent, Alison Steadman, Claire Skinner, Jane Horrocks and Timothy Spall. Leigh's third cinematic film, it was his most commercially successful title at the time of its release...

and Secrets & Lies.

David is a lifelong Leicester City supporter, regularly running Alan Birchenall's

Alan Birchenall

Alan Birchenall MBE is a retired English footballer who played during the 1960s and 1970s.A talented and much travelled player. Alan was a skilful attacking midfielder who started his professional career with Sheffield United in 1963...

 charity race around the Walkers Stadium

Walkers Stadium

The King Power Stadium is a football stadium which hosts home matches of English football club Leicester City. The all-seater stadium, inaugurated in July 2002, holds 32,500 and has the 19th largest stadium capacity in England. The stadium is named after King Power, a company owned by club owner...

 to raise money for awareness for prostate cancer

Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...

, in memory of former Leicester City player Keith Weller

Keith Weller

Keith Weller was an English footballer. He is considered to be one of Leicester City's greatest ever players. Following seven operations for cancer, he died in the United States in 2004 aged 58.-England:...

. He is also a Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 supporter, coming out in support for the party for the Oldham East and Saddleworth

Oldham East and Saddleworth

Oldham East and Saddleworth is a county constituency in Greater Manchester represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

 by-election.

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