John Challis
Encyclopedia
John Challis is an English
actor
.
, and its 2005 spin-off, The Green Green Grass
.
Challis an only child, was born in Bristol
, though brought up in South East London
. His father was a Civil Servant. Challis attended the state boarding Ottershaw School near Woking
, Surrey
. Upon leaving school in 1960 at the age of 18 he worked as a trainee estate agent
before becoming a professional actor. An early television role was in the controversial gangster drama Big Breadwinner Hog
in 1969
and he made regular appearances in Z Cars as Sergeant Culshaw between 1971–75.
His other television appearances include Dixon of Dock Green
, The Sweeney
, Doctor Who
(The Seeds of Doom
), Beau Geste, Juliet Bravo
, Coronation Street
, Bloomers
, Citizen Smith
, Ever Decreasing Circles
, Chance in a Million
, The Bill
, One Foot in the Grave
, Open All Hours
, The New Statesman
, Don't Wait Up
, Soldier Soldier
, Brass Eye
, My Family and Heartbeat.
In the 2008 series of Last of the Summer Wine
he guest starred as a fake jewel thief, trying to impress the ladies.
Challis has had a number of stage roles. He appeared on spoof news programme Brass Eye
, where he was tricked into believing Clive Anderson
had been shot by Noel Edmonds
.
The outdoor scenes of the Green Green Grass were filmed at his home, surrounding fields and local villages. Four series were aired on BBC 1 from 2005–09.
On BBC radio, John played an interrogator in the play Rules of Asylum, by James Follett, broadcast on Radio 4 in 1973. He also played Dibden Purlew in Getting Nowhere Fast from 2001–04.
He recenty starred in pantomime at the Plaza Theatre in Stockport
where he played the part of Captain Hook in Peter Pan.
John switched the Christmas light's on in Weston Super Mare on the 1st December 2011 . He will be at the Waterstones store in Weston's Sovereign Centre on the 2nd of December signing his new book "Being Boycie" and will be in Panto at Weston playhouse from 13th December until the 8th January playing Ebenezer in Aladdin .
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...
.
Career
He is probably best known for his role as Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long running comedy show Only Fools and HorsesOnly Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...
, and its 2005 spin-off, The Green Green Grass
The Green Green Grass
The Green Green Grass is a British sitcom, created and initially written by John Sullivan, produced by Shazam Productions for the BBC. It is a spin-off of the long running sitcom Only Fools and Horses and stars John Challis, Sue Holderness and Jack Doolan...
.
Challis an only child, was born in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, though brought up in South East London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. His father was a Civil Servant. Challis attended the state boarding Ottershaw School near Woking
Woking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. Upon leaving school in 1960 at the age of 18 he worked as a trainee estate agent
Estate agent
An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting or management of properties, and other buildings, in the United Kingdom and Ireland. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent...
before becoming a professional actor. An early television role was in the controversial gangster drama Big Breadwinner Hog
Big Breadwinner Hog
Big Breadwinner Hog is a British television thriller serial devised by Robin Chapman, produced by Granada TV and transmitted in eight parts, starting at 9.00pm on 11 April 1969 on the ITV network. It portrayed the ruthless rise through the criminal underworld of the trendy young London gangster...
in 1969
and he made regular appearances in Z Cars as Sergeant Culshaw between 1971–75.
His other television appearances include 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:...
, 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...
, 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...
(The Seeds of Doom
The Seeds of Doom
The Seeds of Doom is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 31 January to 6 March 1976...
), Beau Geste, Juliet Bravo
Juliet Bravo
Juliet Bravo is a British television series, which ran on BBC1 between 1980 and 1985. The theme of the series concerned a female police inspector who took over control of a police station in the fictional town of Hartley in Lancashire.-Programme name:...
, 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...
, Bloomers
Bloomers (TV series)
Bloomers was a short-lived British sitcom starring Richard Beckinsale that was aired in 1979. It was in production in 1979 but only five episodes were made before Beckinsale died suddenly from a heart attack just before a planned rehearsal for the sixth and final episode of the first series...
, Citizen Smith
Citizen Smith
Citizen Smith is a British television sitcom. The show was written by John Sullivan, who later wrote Only Fools and Horses. The pilot was transmitted on 12 April 1977 in the Comedy Special series of one-off plays, and the series proper ran from 3 November 1977 to 31 December 1980.Citizen Smith...
, Ever Decreasing Circles
Ever Decreasing Circles
Ever Decreasing Circles is a British situation comedy which ran on BBC1 for four series from 1984 to 1989.It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, and reunited them with Richard Briers, the star of their previous hit show, The Good Life. It was much less brash than most situation comedies,...
, Chance in a Million
Chance in a Million
Chance in a Million was a British sitcom broadcast between 1984 and 1986, produced by Thames Television for Channel 4.The series was co-written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen and starred Simon Callow and Brenda Blethyn....
, 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...
, One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series written by David Renwick. The show ran for six series, including seven Christmas specials, two Comic Relief specials, over an eleven year period, from early 1990 to late 2000...
, Open All Hours
Open All Hours
Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke which ran for four series a first run in 1976, a second run in 1981, third in 1982 and finally with a fourth run in 1985, with a pilot episode from the Seven of One series in 1973...
, The New Statesman
The New Statesman
The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time...
, Don't Wait Up
Don't Wait Up
Don't Wait Up is a British sitcom that aired for six series from 1983 to 1990 on BBC1. It starred Nigel Havers, Tony Britton and Dinah Sheridan, and was written by George Layton...
, Soldier Soldier
Soldier Soldier
Soldier Soldier is a British television drama series. The title comes from a traditional song of the same name.Produced by Central Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of seven series and 82 episodes from 1991 to 1997...
, Brass Eye
Brass Eye
Brass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries. A series of six aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001....
, My Family and Heartbeat.
In the 2008 series of Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
he guest starred as a fake jewel thief, trying to impress the ladies.
Challis has had a number of stage roles. He appeared on spoof news programme Brass Eye
Brass Eye
Brass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries. A series of six aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001....
, where he was tricked into believing Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
had been shot by Noel Edmonds
Noel Edmonds
Noel Ernest Edmonds, is an English broadcaster and executive, who made his name as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented many light entertainment television programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show, Telly Addicts, Noel's Saturday...
.
The outdoor scenes of the Green Green Grass were filmed at his home, surrounding fields and local villages. Four series were aired on BBC 1 from 2005–09.
On BBC radio, John played an interrogator in the play Rules of Asylum, by James Follett, broadcast on Radio 4 in 1973. He also played Dibden Purlew in Getting Nowhere Fast from 2001–04.
He recenty starred in pantomime at the Plaza Theatre in Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
where he played the part of Captain Hook in Peter Pan.
John switched the Christmas light's on in Weston Super Mare on the 1st December 2011 . He will be at the Waterstones store in Weston's Sovereign Centre on the 2nd of December signing his new book "Being Boycie" and will be in Panto at Weston playhouse from 13th December until the 8th January playing Ebenezer in Aladdin .
Marriages
Challis has been married 4 times with 3 of his marriages ending in divorce. He is currently married to his fourth wife, Carol. They currently reside in Wigmore, Shropshire. Challis has no children.- Jean Challis (1964–66) (divorced)
- Debbie ArnoldDebbie ArnoldJeanette Debbie Arnold is an English actress and voice artiste. She is best known for her work on British television, although she is also a veteran stage actress. She is one of the top voiceover artistes in England.-Career:Arnold was born into showbusiness...
(1980–82) (divorced) - Sabina FranklynSabina FranklynSabina Franklyn is an English actress, and the daughter of William Franklyn and Margo Johns.Franklyn attended the independent Queen's Gate School and acted on stage with repertory theatres before her television appearances....
(1983–85) (divorced) - Carol Challis (1990–present)
External links
- http://www.osobs.com Ottershaw School