Philip Whitchurch (born 30 January 1951) is an English stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for playing Captain
William Frederickson in three episodes of the
Sharpe series between 1994-1997 and the role of Chief Inspector Philip Cato in ''
The Bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983.
The programme focused o ...
'' 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.
Roles
His other television work includes ''
Sharpe'', ''
The Brothers McGregor
''The Brothers McGregor'' is a British situation comedy series set in Liverpool, and a spin-off of ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', featuring two characters that originally appeared in the soap for one episode in May 1982. The show ran f ...
'', ''
The Detectives'', ''
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 m ...
'', ''
Holby City
''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' Casualty'', and ...
'', ''
Bergerac'', ''
Boon
Boon may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Boon (game), a trick-taking card game
* ''Boon'' (novel), a 1915 satirical work by H. G. Wells
* ''Boon'' (TV series), a British television series starring Michael Elphick
* The Ultimate Boo ...
'', ''
Casualty'', ''
Monarch of the Glen'', ''
Midsomer Murders
''Midsomer Murders'' is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the '' Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series (created by Caroline Graham), and broadcast on two channels of ...
'', ''
G.B.H.'', ''
Van der Valk
''Van der Valk'' is a British television crime drama series produced for the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The first series ran from 1972 to 1992; followed by a remake in 2020. Created by Nicolas Freeling and based on his novels about a dete ...
'', ''
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. Filming took place in various locations around the world, with "Old Indy" bookend segments filmed in Wilmington, Nort ...
'', ''
Waterfront Beat
''Waterfront Beat'' is a BBC television police procedural drama series, broadcast between 6 January 1990 and 20 February 1991. The series follows the work of a group of police detectives stationed in the Liverpool docks. The series was created b ...
'', ''
Dramarama
Dramarama is an American, New Jersey–based alternative rock/power pop band, who later moved to Los Angeles. The band was formed in New Jersey in 1982 and disbanded in 1994. The band formally reunited in 2003 following an appearance on VH1's ...
'', ''
Wire in the Blood
''Wire in the Blood'' is a British crime drama television series, created and produced by Coastal Productions for Tyne Tees Television and broadcast on ITV from 14 November 2002 to 31 October 2008. The series is based on characters created by ...
'', ''
Foyle's War
''Foyle's War'' is a British detective drama television series set during and shortly after the Second World War, created by ''Midsomer Murders'' screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz and commissioned by ITV after the long-running series ...
'', ''
Mersey Beat'', ''
In Exile'', ''
Get Real'', ''
Plotlands'', ''
A Perfect State'', ''
Virtual Murder'', ''
El C.I.D.'' and ''
The Vicar of Dibley
''The Vicar of Dibley'' is a British sitcom which originally ran on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 1 January 2007. It is set in a fictional small Oxfordshire village called Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1992 changes ...
''.
He also played Derek, the chair of governors, in the first series of ''
Hope and Glory'' and appeared in the BBC drama ''
New Tricks
''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural
The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the ...
''. He has also narrated the popular
TV-am
TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchis ...
children's series ''
The Shoe People
''The Shoe People'' is an animated television series which was first broadcast in the UK in April 1987 on TV-am. It went on to be broadcast in 62 countries around the world.
It was the first series from the West to be shown in the former Soviet ...
'' (he provided all the voices for the characters) and supplied the voice of Zippi in the
CITV
CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...
animated television series ''
Toucan Tecs
Toucan 'Tecs: The Adventures of Zippi & Zac ( cy, Slici a Slac) is a British children's television programme about two private detectives, a pair of anthropomorphic toucans named Zippi and Zac (voiced by Philip Whitchurch and Tony Robinson r ...
''. Whitchurch played Billy's dad in
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
's
West End stage adaptation of ''
Billy Elliot
''Billy Elliot'' is a 2000 British coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the film is about a working-class boy w ...
'' from 5 December 2005 until 2 December 2006. He returned to the role from 2 June 2008 until 29 November 2008, and played the role on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
from 29 January 2010 until 2 May 2010. In 2008, he starred alongside other former ''The Bill'' actors,
Cyril Nri
Cyril Ikechukwu Nri (born 25 April 1961) is a Nigerian-born British actor who is best known for playing Superintendent Adam Okaro in the police TV series ''The Bill''.
Early life
Nri was born in on 25 April 1961 in Nigeria. Nri's family are ...
and
Russell Boulter in an episode of BBC1's ''
Waking the Dead''. In 2012, he starred alongside former
Bros member turned actor
Luke Goss in the feature film ''
Interview with a Hitman'' (2012) written and directed by
Perry Bhandal in which he played the British crime boss Tosca. Phil also played a character called "The Geordie", a hoodwinked thug, in the ITV drama ''Doors Open'' which was transmitted on Boxing Day 2012.
in 2013, he played the role of Alfred Chalmers in
Ian Rankin
Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
Early life
Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a sch ...
's debut play ''
Dark Road''. In 2016, Whitchurch was cast as the Duke of Gloucester in the
and
Royal Exchange Manchester co-production of ''
King Lear
''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane a ...
''.
Then in May 2020, he appeared in an episode of the
BBC soap opera ''
Doctors'' as
Peter Wilson.
References
External links
*
Profile on TV.Com
1951 births
English male soap opera actors
English male stage actors
English male voice actors
Living people
Male actors from Liverpool
{{UK-tv-bio-stub