Philip Whitchurch
Encyclopedia
Philip Whitchurch is a British stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for playing Chief Inspector Philip Cato in The Bill
from 1993 to 1995. He also played another character, Inspector Twist, on the same show, as well as Tyler in My Hero from 2000 to 2006.
His other television work includes Sharpe
, The Brothers McGregor,The Detectives
, Peak Practice
, Holby City
, Bergerac
, Boon
, Casualty
, Monarch of the Glen, Midsomer Murders
, G.B.H.
, Van der Valk, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
, Waterfront Beat, Dramarama
, Peak Practice
, Wire in the Blood
, Foyle's War
, Wire in the Blood
, Mersey Beat
, In Exile
, Get Real
, Plotlands, A Perfect State
, Virtual Murder
, El C.I.D.
and The Vicar of Dibley
.
He also played Derek, the chair of governors, in Hope and Glory
and appeared in the BBC drama New Tricks.
He has also narrated the popular TV-am
children's series The Shoe People
(he has also done all the voices for the characters) and supplied the voice of Zippi in CITV
's cartoon Toucan Tecs
.
Philip played Billy's dad in Elton John's
West End
stage adaptation of Billy Elliot
from 5 December 2005 until 2 December 2006. He returned to the role from 2 June 2008 until 29 November 2008. He also played Billy's dad in Elton John's
Broadway
stage adaptation of Billy Elliot
from 29 January 2010 until 2 May 2010.
In 2008, he starred alongside other former The Bill actors, Cyril Nri
and Russell Boulter
in an episode of BBC1's Waking the Dead
.
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...
from 1993 to 1995. He also played another character, Inspector Twist, on the same show, as well as Tyler in My Hero from 2000 to 2006.
His other television work includes Sharpe
Sharpe (TV series)
Sharpe is a British series of television dramas starring Sean Bean about Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars. Sharpe is the hero of a number of novels by Bernard Cornwell; most, though not all, of the episodes are based on the books...
, The Brothers McGregor,The Detectives
The Detectives
The Detectives is a British comedy television series, starring Jasper Carrott, Robert Powell, and George Sewell. It was a spoof of police dramas, which were numerous in the 1990s, and it was aired on BBC One...
, 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...
, Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
, 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...
, Boon
Boon (TV series)
Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for 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...
, Monarch of the Glen, Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
, G.B.H.
G.B.H.
GBH was a seven-part British television drama written by Alan Bleasdale shown in the summer of 1991 on Channel 4. The protagonists were Michael Murray , the Militant Labour leader of a city council in the North of England and Jim Nelson , the headmaster of a school for disturbed children...
, Van der Valk, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 4, 1992, to July 24, 1993. The series explores the childhood and youth of the fictional character Indiana Jones and primarily stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Corey Carrier as the title character, with...
, Waterfront Beat, Dramarama
Dramarama
Dramarama is an alternative rock band.It may also refer to:* Dramarama , a 1980s British television series* Dramarama , a 2006 film that was to star Lindsay Lohan but was unreleased...
, 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...
, Wire in the Blood
Wire in the Blood
Wire in the Blood was a British crime drama television series, devised and produced by Coastal Productions for the ITV network that ran from 2002 to 2009. The series is based on characters created by Val McDermid; a university clinical psychologist, Dr Anthony "Tony" Valentine Hill , is teamed with...
, Foyle's War
Foyle's War
Foyle's War is a British detective drama television series set during World War II, created by screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz, and was commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse came to an end in 2000. It has aired on ITV since 2002...
, Wire in the Blood
Wire in the Blood
Wire in the Blood was a British crime drama television series, devised and produced by Coastal Productions for the ITV network that ran from 2002 to 2009. The series is based on characters created by Val McDermid; a university clinical psychologist, Dr Anthony "Tony" Valentine Hill , is teamed with...
, Mersey Beat
Mersey Beat
Mersey Beat was a music publication in Liverpool, England in the early 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, who was one of John Lennon's classmates at Liverpool Art College...
, In Exile
In Exile
[In] Exile is the third full-length studio album by Australian rock band After the Fall, released through Roadrunner Records on 28 August 2009. The album was produced, engineered and mixed by Richard Stolz....
, Get Real
Get Real (TV series)
Get Real is a short-lived comedy-drama on the FOX Network centering on the fictional Green family of San Francisco. It ran from September 1999 to April 2000...
, Plotlands, A Perfect State
A Perfect State
A Perfect State was a 1997 British situation comedy starring Gwen Taylor, Trevor Cooper, Emma Amos and Danny Webb. It debuted on BBC1 on Thursday 27 February 1997 and ran for seven episodes....
, Virtual Murder
Virtual Murder
Virtual Murder was an unusual investigative drama series shown on BBC television in 1992. It starred Nicholas Clay as Dr John Cornelius, a psychology lecturer at a provincial university, and Kim Thomson as his vivacious, red-headed partner, Samantha Valentine.- Subject matter and cast :Virtual...
, El C.I.D.
El C.I.D.
El C.I.D. was an ITV television series that ran for three seasons from 1990 to 1992. It starred Alfred Molina as Bernard Blake, a C.I.D. officer who takes early retirement and moves to Spain where he and his partner, John Bird, a retired records officer, keep an eye on the ex-pat community of...
and The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom created by Richard Curtis and written for its lead actress, Dawn French, by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, with contributions from Kit Hesketh-Harvey. It aired from 1994 to 2007...
.
He also played Derek, the chair of governors, in Hope and Glory
Hope and Glory (TV series)
Hope and Glory is a BBC television drama about a comprehensive school struggling with financial, staffing and disciplinary problems, and faced with closure...
and appeared in the BBC drama New Tricks.
He has also narrated the popular TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
children's series The Shoe People
The Shoe People
The Shoe People is an animated television series which was first broadcast in the UK in April 1987 on TV-am. The Shoe People went on to be broadcast in 62 countries around the world....
(he has also done all the voices for the characters) and supplied the voice of Zippi in CITV
CITV
CITV is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network .The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00...
's cartoon Toucan Tecs
Toucan Tecs
Toucan Tecs was a British children's television programme about two private detectives, a pair of anthropomorphic toucans named Zippi and Zac , who, although based in the jungle, flew around the world solving crimes on their flying devices...
.
Philip played Billy's dad in Elton John's
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
stage adaptation of Billy Elliot
Billy Elliot the Musical
Billy Elliot the Musical is a musical based on the 2000 film Billy Elliot. The music is by Sir Elton John, and book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes...
from 5 December 2005 until 2 December 2006. He returned to the role from 2 June 2008 until 29 November 2008. He also played Billy's dad in Elton John's
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
stage adaptation of Billy Elliot
Billy Elliot the Musical
Billy Elliot the Musical is a musical based on the 2000 film Billy Elliot. The music is by Sir Elton John, and book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes...
from 29 January 2010 until 2 May 2010.
In 2008, he starred alongside other former The Bill actors, Cyril Nri
Cyril Nri
Cyril Nri is a British actor, writer and director. He attended the Young Vic Youth Theatre in Waterloo, London. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and is probably best known for playing the role of Superintendent Adam Okaro, now Chief Superintendent, in the long-running ITV police...
and Russell Boulter
Russell Boulter
Russell Boulter is an English actor. He played Chris, Malcolm's assistant in series four of Watching. He has played DS John Boulton in The Bill from 1995 to 2000, a character created by Matthew Wingett, the brother of Mark Wingett who played Jim Carver in the series. Since then he has appeared in...
in an episode of BBC1's Waking the Dead
Waking the Dead (TV series)
Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case Unit comprising CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000 and there have been a total of nine series...
.