John Bowe (born John Wilson, 1 February 1950) is a British actor from Greasby,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, best known for his roles in ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...

'' as Lawrence White and ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' as Duggie Ferguson.

Early life and career

Bowe was born in Greasby. His highest profile role was probably that of George Marlow in the first ''

Prime Suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television series devised by Lynda La Plante. Broadcast on ITV between 1991 and 2006, it stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater Lo ...

'' serial in 1991. He also played Duggie Ferguson in ''Coronation Street'' from 1999 to 2002, having previously appeared in another of

Granada TV ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend Television was its ...

's soap operas, ''

Families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

''. Other TV credits include: ''

Warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...

'', '' Secret Army'', '' Boon'', '' The New Statesman'', ''

Capital City A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

'', '' Class Act'', ''

Lovejoy ''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery fiction, mystery series, based on the Lovejoy (novel series), novels by John Grant (Lovejoy), John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six ser ...

'', ''

Silent Witness ''Silent Witness'' is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC that focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. The series was created by Nigel McCrery, a former murder squa ...

'', ''

The Royal ''The Royal'' is a British period medical drama, produced by Yorkshire Television (later part of ITV Studios), and broadcast on ITV from 2003 until its cancellation in 2011. The series is set in the 1960s and focuses on the lives of the st ...

'', '' Dalziel and Pascoe'', ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

'' and '' Einstein and Eddington'', '' Tipping the Velvet'', '' The Hour'' and '' DCI Banks'' and ''Soldier Soldier.'' Film credits include '' The Living Daylights'' (1987), '' Resurrected'' (1989), '' County Kilburn'' (2000), and ''Gozo'' (2015). In 2007, Bowe played Dr. Morgan in the BBC series '' Cranford''. In 2009, he played Ralph Jarvis in episode 4 series 2 of ''Ashes to Ashes''. In April 2010, Bowe joined the cast of London's West End production '' Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – The Musical'', playing the part of Bob. In September 2011, he appeared as Judge Turpin in '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' at

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

, a role he continued in the West End transfer in 2012. In September 2014, Bowe joined the cast of ''

'', playing Lawrence White, the former lover of Harold Birch, the husband of Edna Birch ( Shirley Stelfox). He arrived with his daughter Chrissie ( Louise Marwood), his grandson Lachlan (Thomas Atkinson), and Chrissie's fiancé, Robert Sugden ( Ryan Hawley), whom he openly despised. Bowe's departure from ''Emmerdale'' was announced in April 2017, however, he did not leave until January 2018, when his character was killed off in a car accident. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Bowe initially supported UK government measures. In April 2020, he reported contracting COVID-19 and "nearly dying" of the disease. However, over time, Bowe started objecting to the ongoing restrictions. In November 2021, Bowe announced he had joined the Reform UK Party and was campaigning against government restrictions.

Personal life

Bowe has been married three times. His son from his first marriage is fellow actor Joseph Kennedy. His third marriage is to actress Emma Bowe, daughter of Michael N. Harbour and sister of Kate Harbour. In his November 2021 tweets announcing his retirement from acting, Bowe said that he had joined the

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

party.

Filmography

* '' The Living Daylights'' (1987) - Colonel Feyador * '' Resurrected'' (1989) - Colonel * ''

'' (1991) - George Marlow (series 1) * ''

'' (1999–2002, soap opera) - Duggie Ferguson * '' County Kilburn'' (2000) - Black Jack * ''Heartbeat'' (1997 & 2006) - Ronnie Harper and Henry Stoddard * ''The Bill'' (2008) - Tom * '' Ashes to Ashes'' (2009) - Ralph * ''

''
Series 13, Episode 6, "Run"
2009) - D.I. Barry Neill * ''

New Tricks ''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural comedy drama, created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily by Wall to Wall (until its final year, when it was handled by Headstrong Pictures), and broadcast on BBC On ...

'' (2011) - Alan King * ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'' Series 28, Episode 35 "Carrot not Stick" (2014) - Stanley Hogg * ''

'' (2014–2018, soap opera) - Lawrence White * ''Gozo'' (2015) - Johnno * ''Safe and Effective: A Second Opinion'' (2022) - Narrator.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowe, John 1950 births Living people 20th-century English actors 21st-century English actors British television actors British soap opera actors Actors from Wirral Male actors from Cheshire Reform UK people