Leon Harrop (born ) is a British TV actor with Down's Syndrome, known for playing characters with the condition, most notably playing Ralph Wilson in ''

The A Word ''The A Word'' is a British television drama series, based on the Israeli series '' Yellow Peppers''. The series follows a young boy and how his family cope with the revelation that he has autism spectrum disorder. Following filming in the Lake ...

'' (2016–2020) and its spin off series '' Ralph & Katie'' (2022).

Career

Harrop is from the town of

Royton Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Ol ...

in Greater Manchester, and his first TV acting role was in a 2009 episode of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

drama ''The Street'' set in an unnamed street in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. He starred alongside his onscreen mother

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in ''Dinnerladies (TV series), dinnerladies'', a sitcom on BBC One (1998–2000), as List of Shameless (British TV series) characters#Vero ...

and onscreen dad Stephan Graham. Harrop got the part after the casting company rang his school, New Bridge School, and Harrop's teacher suggested him. After Harrop's teacher asked his mother what she thought, she read the script to see if the role was a good fit for Harrop. Harrop says that reading the script made his mother cry. After filming the episode the series' creator and writer

Jimmy McGovern James Stanley McGovern (born September 1949) is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for creating the drama series '' Cracker'' (1993–1995), for which he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. He als ...

said Harrop was a "natural talent". Harrop then went on to perform in another BBC drama set in Manchester, portraying Lee in the mini series ''From Here to There'' (2014) about the

1996 Manchester bombing The 1996 Manchester bombing was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 15 June 1996. The IRA detonated a lorry bomb on Corporation Street, Manchester, Corporation Street in the Manchester city centre, centre ...

by the IRA. He also appeared in a 2015 episode of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

police procedural drama ''

No Offence ''No Offence'' is a British television police procedural drama on Channel 4, created by Paul Abbott. It follows a team of detectives from Friday Street police station, a division of the Manchester Metropolitan Police (a fictional version of the ...

'' also set in Manchester, and a 2016 episode of the BBC

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

drama series, '' Moving On'' created by Jimmy McGovern, with whom Harrop had previously worked on ''The Street''. Harrop played series regular Ralph Wilson in ''

'' between 2016 and 2020 in for all three series of the show, with the news and entertainment website ''

HITC HITC (formerly Here Is the City) is a British sport news website owned by GRV Media. Formerly a news and entertainment site with a sport section, HITC switched its focus to sport in 2023, with football its primary topic. As well as multiple so ...

'' noting in September 2020 that his performance was being praised by fans of the show. Between 2019 and 2021 Harrop had guest appearances in three episodes of the

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

comedy drama ''

Brassic ''Brassic'' is a British comedy-drama television series created by Joe Gilgun and Danny Brocklehurst for Sky One. The series follows the lives of Vinnie O'Neill (Gilgun) and his gang of friends in the fictional town of Hawley. Other primary cas ...

.'' Also in 2021 he guest starred in the BBC medical drama ''

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 ...

'' as Jordan "Jordy" Holt in the 11th episode of the 35th series. In 2022 Harrop reprised his role of Ralph Wilson in ''The A Word'''s spin off show ''Ralph and Katie'' starring alongside Sarah Gordy who plays the eponymous character of Katie Thorne.

Filmography

References: Harrop's agency: Conway Van Gelder Grant, and

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

References

External links

*
Lean Harrop's biography and cv on agency's website Conway Van Gelder Grant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrop, Leon 1992 births Living people British male television actors Actors with Down syndrome Male actors from Oldham British actors with disabilities People from Royton 21st-century British male actors