Jason Merrells
Encyclopedia
Jason Merrells is an English
actor, who received his big break when he starred in Casualty
for three years (1994 to 1997) as receptionist Matt Hawley. He was educated at Buckhurst Hill County High School
from 1980 to 1986, and later at Chichester University.
Merrells has two daughters from his first marriage, Camille and Gina, who live in Oxfordshire with their mother, and one son, Jackson, with his present wife, Zerlina.
Merrells is best known for his role as stylist Gavin Ferraday in Cutting It
. Jealous of the affair Allie (Sarah Parish
) was having with Finn (Ben Daniels
), Gavin plotted with Finn's wife Mia (Amanda Holden
), and slept with his ex-wife's daughter (who she had given up after a teenage pregnancy), and eventually rekindled his love with Allie before she was killed in a road accident.
Jason Merrells also made guest appearances in successful dramas such as Queer as Folk
where his character Phil Delaney died from accidentally snorting heroin, after thinking it was cocaine, Fat Friends
, A Touch of Frost
, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
and The Project. He also starred in Clocking Off
, playing a factory employee called Martin Leach. In 2005 he took the lead role in the 1960s set British feature film The Jealous God
, an adaptation of the novel by John Braine
.
Merrells appeared in a series called Sweet Medicine
, which failed to capture the viewers. It was moved from its 9pm slot to 11pm as the audience figures continued to fall. He later starred in BBC drama Waterloo Road
as headmaster Jack Rimmer. His character was a tough-talking no nonsense secondary comprehensive school headteacher. While his methods were often controversial he had a strong moral code. The series returned to the BBC for season 2 2007. The third series aired on 11 October 2007, and his character was written out in episode 6 - leaving a vacancy available for another headteacher. Merrells cites the growing direction towards more soap-opera elements as the reason for leaving.
Merrells returned to Waterloo Road for one episode in 2008, before portraying the character James Dowland in Lark Rise to Candleford
. Dowland, a wealthy businessman, is the love interest for Dorcas Lane, the main character in the series.
Merrells is the brother of actor Simon Merrells, who played Conrad Williams in Family Affairs
from 2004 to 2005.
From August to October 2007, Merrells performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company
at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
. He played the role of Orsino
in William Shakespeare
's Twelfth Night, or What You Will
alongside his brother Simon Merrells who played Antonio. The Merrells brothers then went on to tour in A Comedy of Errors with the Royal Shakespeare Company from October to December 2007. From March to April 2009 he appeared in the Theatre Royal Plymouth and Thelma Hunt production of Measure for Measure as Angelo alongside Alistair McGowan
as the Duke. The production transferred to the Almeida Theatre
in February 2010.
It was announced on 10 February 2010 that Merrells would become the second cast member of former BBC1 drama Cutting It to join long-running ITV1 rural-based Yorkshire soap Emmerdale
. He plays handsome business tycoon Declan, who becomes entwined in Natasha Wylde's life. Jason's onscreen debut as Declan was in April 2010. A cash-strapped Natasha is on the lookout for investors for the Home Farm estate - so they team up when he acquires a stake in the company, ensuring his stay in the village is to be more long term.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actor, who received his big break when he starred in 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...
for three years (1994 to 1997) as receptionist Matt Hawley. He was educated at Buckhurst Hill County High School
Buckhurst Hill County High School
Buckhurst Hill County High School, BHCHS, was a secondary school in Chigwell, Essex.-History:It opened on 15 September 1938. It was near to RAF Chigwell and the River Roding....
from 1980 to 1986, and later at Chichester University.
Merrells has two daughters from his first marriage, Camille and Gina, who live in Oxfordshire with their mother, and one son, Jackson, with his present wife, Zerlina.
Merrells is best known for his role as stylist Gavin Ferraday in 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 :...
. Jealous of the affair Allie (Sarah Parish
Sarah Parish
Sarah Parish is an English actress.Parish is known for her work on such TV series as: Peak Practice, Hearts and Bones, Cutting It, Doctor Who, Mistresses, Merlin and the new ITV medical drama Monroe....
) was having with Finn (Ben Daniels
Ben Daniels
Ben Daniels is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art , he has taken on roles in numerous productions...
), Gavin plotted with Finn's wife Mia (Amanda Holden
Amanda Holden
Amanda Louise Holden is an English actress and presenter. Among her roles are Mia Bevan in Cutting It, Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart, and the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award...
), and slept with his ex-wife's daughter (who she had given up after a teenage pregnancy), and eventually rekindled his love with Allie before she was killed in a road accident.
Jason Merrells also made guest appearances in successful dramas such as Queer as Folk
Queer as Folk (UK TV series)
Queer as Folk is a 1999 British television series that chronicles the lives of three gay men living in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. Both Queer as Folk and Queer as Folk 2 were written by Russell T Davies...
where his character Phil Delaney died from accidentally snorting heroin, after thinking it was cocaine, Fat Friends
Fat Friends
Fat Friends is an ITV drama , following a group of overweight people, their laughter and pain and addresses the absurdities of dieting in our modern age. The drama looks at people and how they relate to one another and use body weight as an excuse for all sorts of failings in their relationships,...
, A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....
, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries is a series of BBC television programmes about Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton of Scotland Yard and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers...
and The Project. He also starred in Clocking Off
Clocking Off
Clocking Off is a British television drama series which ran on the BBC One network for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott...
, playing a factory employee called Martin Leach. In 2005 he took the lead role in the 1960s set British feature film The Jealous God
The Jealous God
The Jealous God is a novel by John Braine which was first published in 1964. Set in the early 1960s among the Irish Catholic community in a small Yorkshire town, the book is about a 30 year-old mummy's boy and his attempts at liberating himself from his domineering mother...
, an adaptation of the novel by John Braine
John Braine
John Gerard Braine was an English novelist. Braine is usually associated with the Angry Young Men movement.-Biography:...
.
Merrells appeared in a series called Sweet Medicine
Sweet Medicine
Sweet Medicine is an ITV drama series from 2003 about a family doctor's surgery in the Peak District of northern England. Intended as a replacement for the hit medical drama Peak Practice, it was not a success. Only one ten-episode series was made, despite moderate audience figures...
, which failed to capture the viewers. It was moved from its 9pm slot to 11pm as the audience figures continued to fall. He later starred in BBC drama Waterloo Road
Waterloo Road (TV series)
Waterloo Road is an award-winning British television drama series, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 March 2006. Set in a troubled comprehensive school in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, the series focuses on the lives of the school's teacher and students, and confronts social...
as headmaster Jack Rimmer. His character was a tough-talking no nonsense secondary comprehensive school headteacher. While his methods were often controversial he had a strong moral code. The series returned to the BBC for season 2 2007. The third series aired on 11 October 2007, and his character was written out in episode 6 - leaving a vacancy available for another headteacher. Merrells cites the growing direction towards more soap-opera elements as the reason for leaving.
Merrells returned to Waterloo Road for one episode in 2008, before portraying the character James Dowland in Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford (TV series)
Lark Rise to Candleford is a British television costume drama series, adapted by the BBC from Flora Thompson's trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside, published between 1939 and 1943. The first episode aired on 13 January 2008 on BBC One and BBC HD in the UK. In the...
. Dowland, a wealthy businessman, is the love interest for Dorcas Lane, the main character in the series.
Merrells is the brother of actor Simon Merrells, who played Conrad Williams in Family Affairs
Family Affairs
Family Affairs was a British soap opera broadcast on Five, from 1997 to 2005. It was the second programme to be broadcast on the channel on 30 March 1997, the channel's launch night...
from 2004 to 2005.
From August to October 2007, Merrells performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
. He played the role of Orsino
Orsino
Orsino may refer to:* Orsino, Florida, United States* Orsino , a novel by Romain Rolland* Orsino , a character in the Shakespearean comedy Twelfth NightPeople with the surname Orsino:...
in William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Twelfth Night; or, What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–02 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season...
alongside his brother Simon Merrells who played Antonio. The Merrells brothers then went on to tour in A Comedy of Errors with the Royal Shakespeare Company from October to December 2007. From March to April 2009 he appeared in the Theatre Royal Plymouth and Thelma Hunt production of Measure for Measure as Angelo alongside Alistair McGowan
Alistair McGowan
Alistair McGowan is a British impressionist, stand-up comic, actor, singer and writer best known to British audiences for The Big Impression , which was, for four years, one of BBC1's top-rating comedy programmes - winning numerous awards, including a BAFTA in 2003...
as the Duke. The production transferred to the Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
in February 2010.
It was announced on 10 February 2010 that Merrells would become the second cast member of former BBC1 drama Cutting It to join long-running ITV1 rural-based Yorkshire soap 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...
. He plays handsome business tycoon Declan, who becomes entwined in Natasha Wylde's life. Jason's onscreen debut as Declan was in April 2010. A cash-strapped Natasha is on the lookout for investors for the Home Farm estate - so they team up when he acquires a stake in the company, ensuring his stay in the village is to be more long term.