Nicholas Wilton is an English actor and scriptwriter. He has appeared as Mr Lister in 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 ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' as a recurring character; he has also appeared in '' Carrott's Lib'' and ''

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' was a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in Reading (activity), reading. The programme was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the ...

''.

Early life

Wilton studied English and Drama at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

. His first professional engagement was in 1979 as a bluecoat entertainer at a Pontins holiday camp. He then spent two years as a stage manager in theatres, before moving into acting.

Career

Acting

Wilton made his acting debut in 1980 in the Whitehall farce ''Simple Spymen'', directed by Brian Rix, and went on to play opposite Rix in the West End revival of ''Dry Rot'' at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue in 1988. He has appeared in many television shows, such as the

'', '' Doctors'' (twice), '' Casualty'', '' Heartbeat'', ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' (three times), '' Carrott's Lib'' (two series and Election Specials), '' The Omid Djalili Show'' and the children's show '' Scoop''. He appeared as a guest in '' My Dad's the Prime Minister'', '' No. 73'' (five series), '' Saturday Superstore'' as Mo the Crow and as Mr Seagrove for 11 episodes in ''Big Meg, Little Meg''. He was also a writer and performer for the children's sketch show '' Fast Forward'' for 19 episodes between 1984 and 1987. He has appeared in many stage productions, such as Michael Cooney's play ''Cash on Delivery'' at the Whitehall Theatre (now Trafalgar Studios), directed by Ray Cooney, and ''Tom, Dick and Harry'', as well as '' The Railway Children'', playing Mr Perks in four UK tours. On radio, he appeared in and wrote for '' In One Ear'' (3 series), '' Son of Cliché'' (2 series), ''Cover to Cover'', ''Aspects of the Fringe'' and ''The Story So Far''. He has written dialogue and provided voices for exhibitions at the London Transport Museum; presented the comedy channel for Emirates and SriLankan Airlines from 1998 to 2010, and made a recording of Ricky Gervais's biography, ''The Story So Far''. In the late eighties, he also performed cabaret. Since 2000 he has appeared as Pantomime dame every Christmas. In 2011, he appeared in a Specsavers advert alongside chef Gordon Ramsay. The following year, he was cast in the film version of Ray Cooney's

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

'' Run for Your Wife''. Wilton has also starred in international stage productions such as '' No Sex Please - We're British'', produced by the British Theatre Playhouse in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in May 2015, and '' A Bedfull of Foreigners'', produced by the same company in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in September 2006.

Scriptwriting

Wilton is also a scriptwriter and has written for ''Three of a Kind'', '' Play Away'', '' In One Ear'' (three series), '' The Smith and Jones Sketchbook'', Smack the Pony, '' WYSIWYG'' and wrote one episode of ''

''. In 1987 he wrote an episode for '' The Les Dennis Laughter Show'' and in 1984 he wrote four episodes of '' Spitting Image''. Wilton also wrote for '' Not the Nine O'Clock News'', '' A Kick Up the Eighties'' and the TV series '' Alas Smith and Jones''.

Pantomime

He first performed in pantomime in 1987 and as a

dame ''Dame'' is a traditionally British honorific title given to women who have been admitted to certain orders of chivalry. It is the female equivalent of ''Sir'', the title used by knights. Baronet, Baronetesses Suo jure, in their own right also u ...

every Christmas since 2000.

Awards and nominations

Wilton was nominated for the Perrier Award alongside his revue group, ''Writers Inc'' and won in 1982. He was in the "Carrott's Lib" team that won the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

for Best Light Entertainment programme in 1983. On radio he was in the two Sony Award-winning comedy series '' Son of Cliché'' (best comedy 1984), with Chris Barrie and Nick Maloney, which was written by ''

Red Dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

'' creators

Rob Grant Robert Grant is an English comedy writer, television producer and co-creator of the ''Red Dwarf'' comedy franchise. Since ''Red Dwarf'', Grant has written two television series, ''The Strangerers'' and ''Dark Ages (TV series), Dark Ages'', and ...

and Doug Naylor, and '' In One Ear'' (best comedy 1985) with Clive Mantle, Helen Lederer and Steve Brown, produced by Jamie Rix.

Personal life

Wilton was married to Julie Dawn Cole, with whom he has two children. He later married actress Lynette McMorrough.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilton, Nick Living people English male stage actors English male soap opera actors English male voice actors Pantomime dames 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors People from North Norfolk (district) Alumni of the University of Kent Male actors from Kent Year of birth missing (living people)