
Acting
John Challis
Born — Died
1942-08-16 — 2021-09-19
Place of birth
Bristol, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
61 titles
John Challis was an English actor best known for portraying dodgy second hand car dealer Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long-running BBC television comedy series Only Fools and Horses and its sequel/spin-off The Green Green Grass.
Known for
5.3The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap.
Coronation Street
1960
7.9The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
Doctor Who
1963
6.2Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.
Casualty
1986
8.0Talented chefs battle it out against the clock, creating delicious dishes in 20 minutes
Ready, Steady, Cook
1994
6.6Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970
3.4A panel of four women discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs to celebrity gossip.
Loose Women
1999
Film credits
2010s · 4 titles
5.3Picking up where Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft's classic comedy left off, it's 1988 and Young Mr Grace is determined to drag Grace Brothers into, well 1988, but he has a problem on his hands. Mr Humphries, Captain Peacock, Mr Rumbold and Mrs Slocombe all seem to be stuck in another era. A new member of staff, Mr Conway, joins the team but will he help shake things up or will he just put a cat amongst the pigeons?
You Can't Teach a New Dog Old Tricks
2016
8.0Ahead of the start of the tenth series of the award-winning ITV sitcom, this special programme talks to the show's creator and writer Derren Litten about how it was created and cast members talk about their roles.
Benidorm: 10 Years on Holiday
2018
6.0Jim and Alice are serving behind the counter of an idyllic but quiet British village tea shop. When some customers finally arrive, they soon discover it's more than a pot of tea and a slice of cake being dished up by their hosts.
Tea for Two
2015
NRThe cast and crew of The Seeds of Doom look back on the making of this story.
Podshock
2010
2000s · 3 titles
5.1A young musician travels to London in pursuit of his dreams, but winds up the sole witness to a bizarre murder.
Five Seconds to Spare
2000
7.0How did John Sullivan first dream up Del Boy and Rodney Trotter ? Actors David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst team up with the writer to reveal how the enduring sitcom was created. Featuring celebrity fans, the stories behind the storylines and memorable scenes from the comedy.
The Story of Only Fools and Horses
2002
5.516-year-old Emma has a dream - her boyfriend Tommy, has a completely different one. Emma is less at the slow small town life; Tommy wants to get married and buy houses like everyone else.
Dream
2001
1990s · 3 titles
NRDel and Rodney touch down in Miami, and hire a camper van. Very soon they run into trouble: it just so happens that Del is a dead ringer for notorious Mafia boss Don Vincenzo Occhetti, and is spotted by his sons in a bar. Occhetti is due to stand trial and destined to go down for several life sentences and, with Del's uncanny resemblance, his sons see a way out for their father. When the Trotters leave the bar, they discover their camper van has been broken into and all their possessions stolen. But this is only the start of their problems: help is soon at hand when Occhetti's sons step in as apparent Good Samaritans.
Only Fools & Horses - Miami Twice - The Movie
1991
8.7In the late 19th century, Lord Tichborne, the ninth richest nobleman in England, disappears after a South American shipwreck. Some years later his erudite Afro-English valet, Bogle, is sent to investigate rumors that Tichborne survived and settled in Australia. An alcoholic ruffian answer's Bogle's inquiries claiming to be the lost heir. Bogle suspects fraud, but conspires with the claimant to split the inheritance should the latter succesfully pass himself off to friends, family and the courts. As the claimant returns to England to continue his charade, enough people confirm his identity to make both the claimant and Bogle believe that he just might be the rightful heir after all.
The Tichborne Claimant
1999
NRThe talking penis, first seen in the books of Gray Joliffe, returns for his second animated outing.
Wicked Willie Rides Again!
1991
1980s · 5 titles
NRCartoonist Gerald Scarfe looks at that most English of things - the folly.
Scarfe's Follies
1988
NRSimon Simpson runs an entertainment agency in Liverpool. At one of his regular auditions in The Bootle Railway Club he sees an aggressive young man fresh from the dole queue who dreams of becoming a professional comedian. Simpson believes the boy has talent and starts to groom him for 'stardom'.
A Turn for the Worse
1981
6.0A young black woman in England becomes increasingly frustrated with her life with her lazy, demanding boyfriend, and with the help of friends seeks something better.
Burning an Illusion
1981
10.0A documentary filmmaker’s latest work attracts the attentions of African secret agents - but what is it they want from the film?
Number on End
1980
NRFor various reasons, a number of people have come see the painting Water Lilies by Claude Monet in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Two businessmen caught up in office politics discover the truth about themselves and their situation. Angie and Marcia, two elderly matrons, find a place to rest their weary feet. David, a shy English student, meets a young student museum guide, and a married couple find the peace of the room gives them the strength to talk truthfully about their relationship.
Before Water Lilies
1981
1970s · 4 titles
6.5A young American woman visiting her author father in London discovers that her childhood habit of sleepwalking has recurred. She has a vivid dream of witnessing a murder in a strange house - or is it a dream?
Sleepwalker
1975
6.2Dracula is searching for a woman who looks like his long dead wife.
Dracula
1974
9.0A popular member of the Oxford community is killed and nobody figure out why. A police inspector is called in from Scotland Yard and discovers there may be more to the victim than anyone knows.
Who Killed Lamb?
1974
9.0When scientists in the Antarctic uncover a mysterious seed pod, the Doctor is called in to investigate. He soon realises it is extraterrestrial and extremely dangerous. At the same time, however, ruthless millionaire plant-lover Harrison Chase has learned of the find and decides he must have the pod for his collection of rare and beautiful flora. Meanwhile the pod itself harbours intelligent life with sinister plans of its own...
Doctor Who: The Seeds of Doom
1976
Series credits
5.3The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap.
Coronation Street
1960
7.9The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
Doctor Who
1963
6.2Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.
Casualty
1986
8.0Talented chefs battle it out against the clock, creating delicious dishes in 20 minutes
Ready, Steady, Cook
1994
6.6Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970
6.6Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970
6.6Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970
3.4A panel of four women discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs to celebrity gossip.
Loose Women
1999
5.7Crown Court is an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984.
Crown Court
1972
7.1Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Heartbeat
1992
4.8Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the city of Birmingham, this soap opera follows the staff and families of a doctor's surgery.
Doctors
2000
4.8Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the city of Birmingham, this soap opera follows the staff and families of a doctor's surgery.
Doctors
2000
6.8The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984
7.2Unencumbered by wives, jobs or any other responsibilities, three senior citizens who've never really grown up explore their world in the Yorkshire Dales. They spend their days speculating about their fellow townsfolk and thinking up adventures not usually favored by the elderly. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse in 1973. The show ran for 295 episodes until 2010. It is the longest running comedy Britain has produced and the longest running sitcom in the world.
Last of the Summer Wine
1973
7.9The backbone of the "Državni Posao (Government Job)" are satirical talks between the three actors, the comments are reminiscent of the "stand-up" form. These are short, witty comments and observations on daily life, circumstances, sociopolitical situation, sports, entertainment world, their personal opinions on various topics. The main idea is to present day in a non-existent government company and three employees of thinking about daily events in it, but also about life and society in general. Topics drawn from the daily and weekly press, for various blogs, websites, talk about movies, series, shows - radio and television. The idea is that actors humorously comment on current events, to laugh viewers and encourage them to think about them.
Government Job
2012
7.3Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.
Z-Cars
1962
7.3Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.
Z-Cars
1962
7.3Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.
Z-Cars
1962
7.0ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.
ITV Playhouse
1967
The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 and currently airs on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" theme with many of the shows' segments focusing on fashion, health, nature, cookery and animals.
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
2007
5.1The Paul O'Grady Show is a British comedy chat show hosted by Birkenhead-born comedian Paul O'Grady. The format was originally devised by Granada Television and was broadcast on ITV before moving to Channel 4, where the show was produced by Olga TV. The programme is a teatime chat show consisting of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts, musical performances, and occasionally viewer competitions.
The Paul O'Grady Show
2004
5.9The BBC's answer to Dynasty, Howards' Way was launched in 1985 with an enormous 1 million pound budget. The main characters in the show were 'best boat designer in the world' Tom Howard, his boutique running wife Jan Howard, 'I'll have a drink' Jack Rolfe and a nasty man called Ken Masters. It starred Maurice Colbourne.
Howards' Way
1985
8.1Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter.
The Sweeney
1975
6.0Antiques experts accompany celebrities on a road trip around the UK searching for treasures and competing to make the most money at auction
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
2011
7.0Anthology series of dramatic works.
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969
7.6Set in the Solana all-inclusive Resort, Benidorm follows the antics of regulars and first-time holiday makers on their journeys abroad.
Benidorm
2007
8.1Only Fools and Horses.... Is a British sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally transmitted on BBC One from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until 2003. In working-class Peckham in south-east London, ambitious market trader Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter and his younger half-brother Rodney, explore their highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich. Initially not an immediate hit and receiving little promotion early on, it later achieved consistently high ratings, and the 1996 episode "Time on Our Hands" (originally billed as the series finale) holds the record for the biggest UK audience for a sitcom episode, attracting 24.3 million viewers. The series bears a significant influence on British culture, contributing several words and phrases to the English language.
Only Fools and Horses
1981
6.9The daily lives of a group of soldiers in 'B' Company, 1st Battalion The King's Fusiliers.
Soldier Soldier
1991
7.0Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.
Thriller
1973
7.4Noel's House Party is a BBC television light entertainment show hosted by Noel Edmonds that was broadcast live on Saturday evenings throughout the 1990s. It was set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo. The show was broadcast during the autumn-spring season. It was the successor show to Noel's Saturday Roadshow, and carried over some of its regular features such as the Gunge Tank, the Gotcha Oscar and Wait 'Till I Get You Home. In 2010, Noel's House Party was voted the best Saturday night TV show of all time. The show had many regular guests posing as fictional villagers, including Frank Thornton and Vicki Michelle. The show gave birth to Mr. Blobby in the Gotcha segment. The character became well known, ruining the premise of the segment, but Blobby still made appearances. There was also a contrived rivalry between Noel and Tony Blackburn. In addition, many episodes featured one-off guest stars, including Michael Crawford as Frank Spencer, who came in to find the whole audience dressed as Frank after Fantastic Stuart Henderson from Troon had performed as Frank singing The Beatles song "I Saw Her Standing There", and Ken Dodd in a highwayman's outfit - 'Going cheap at the Maxwell sale' - as Noel's long lost 'twin', Berasent.
Noel's House Party
1991
6.0Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006.
Dixon of Dock Green
1955
7.5Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern, supposedly in the Bristol area of England.
Softly, Softly
1966
8.0Highly regarded anthology from the 1980s presenting a diverse range of high-quality single dramas that would serve as pilots for possible future series.
Storyboard
1983
7.5The New Statesman is a British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time.
The New Statesman
1987
8.1This final follow-up to 'Till Death Us Do Part' follows an aged Alf Garnett, now dealing with his wife Else's declining health and mobility, as well as the challenges of navigating the social security system and other everyday situations.
In Sickness and in Health
1985
7.7Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles.
Brass Eye
1997
7.7One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series. The series features the exploits of Victor Meldrew and his long-suffering wife, Margaret. The programmes invariably deal with Meldrew's battle against the problems he creates for himself. Living in a typical household in an unnamed English suburb, Victor takes involuntary early retirement. His various efforts to keep himself busy, while encountering various misfortunes and misunderstandings are the themes of the sitcom. Despite its traditional production, the series supplants its domestic sitcom setting with elements of black humour and surrealism.
One Foot in the Grave
1990
7.3A British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones that ran on BBC One and BBC Two from 31 January 1984 to 14 October 1998. From series 5 in 1989 the 'Alas' title was dropped and became simply Smith and Jones.
Alas Smith and Jones
1984
7.5The fifth incarnation of 'The Sooty Show' sees Richard, Sooty, Sweep and Soo start a new job as handymen at a seaside holiday park.
Sooty
2011
7.9Open All Hours is a British television sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke, starring Ronnie Barker as penny-pinching corner-shopkeeper Albert Arkwright, and David Jason as his nephew and assistant Granville. The programme originated as a 1973 episode of Barker’s comedy anthology Seven of One, and later ran for 26 episodes; the first series broadcast on BBC2, the remaining three series broadcast on BBC1.
Open All Hours
1976


