Bill Dean

Acting

Bill Dean

Born — Died

1921-09-03 — 2000-04-20

Place of birth

Everton, Liverpool, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

55 titles

Bill Dean was a British actor who was born in Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire. He was born Patrick Anthony Connolly, but took his stage name in honour of Everton football legend William 'Dixie' Dean. After a atring of jobs, it was his work as a Lancashire club comedian that saw him spotted by Ken Loach who gave him his breakthrough role in his TV play The Golden Vision. Famous for his flat but penetrating Scouse tones, Dean went on to star as miserable pensioner Harry Cross in the long running Channel 4 soap Brookside from its inception in 1983 to 1990. He briefly returned to the series in 1999 for three episodes, when his character re-appeared in Brookside Close suffering from Alzheimer's di…

Known for

Film credits

1990s · 5 titles

Let Him Have It poster
6.7

In 1950s England, slow-witted Derek Bentley falls in with a group of petty criminals led by Chris Craig, a teenager with a fondness for American gangster films. Chris and Derek's friendship leads to their involvement in the true case which would forever shake England's belief in capital punishment.

Let Him Have It

1991

Priest poster
6.3

The deeply held religious convictions of an idealistic young priest are challenged when he must face extraordinary events within his own congregation.

Priest

1995

Hillsborough poster
7.2

Drama based on the real life events of April 1989, when ninety-six Liverpool supporters were crushed to death during an F.A. Cup Semi-Final match against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium. This movie follows three Liverpudlian families before the match, during the tragedy and at the ensuing court battles which tried to decide who was to blame and what went wrong.

Hillsborough

1996

No artwork available
5.5

There is trouble a-plenty in store for the Corkhill clan in this video-only special. Series creator Phil Redmond has returned to pen a dramatic script which follows on from a weekend special.

Brookside: Friday the 13th

1998

Skallagrigg poster
4.0

Back in the 'bad old days' when the physically and mentally disabled were locked away in institutions a legend grew of someone who could stand up to the authorities and help them. This charming story is how a group of disabled people went to chase that legend. To assist them John is forced to come to terms with his daughter and her friends.

Skallagrigg

1994

1980s · 5 titles

1970s · 19 titles

Scum poster
7.1

Carlin is a new reform school inmate with a reputation as a hard case. The authorities encourage gang leader Pongo to humble Carlin, but Carlin overtakes Pongo as Daddy of the ward. The guards institute a reign of terror and neglect, with Carlin emerging as an unlikely leader.

Scum

1979

Kes poster
7.4

Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.

Kes

1970

Night Watch poster
6.3

A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.

Night Watch

1973

Waiting at the Field Gate poster
NR

Lightning Gallat is the village slaughterer and a man of distinction. Where does he draw the line?

Waiting at the Field Gate

1975

The Best Pair of Legs in the Business poster
6.3

Capitalising on his remarkable success in On the Buses, Reg Varney took on the contrasting role of a third-rate holiday camp entertainer dreaming of stardom in this mid-seventies comedy feature. Also starring fellow sitcom favourite Diana Coupland and Lee Montague, The Best Pair of Legs in the Business was adapted from an individual ITV Playhouse drama and scripted by Emmerdale Farm creator Kevin Laffan. 'Sherry' Sheridan, a middle-aged compère and drag artiste currently stationed at a caravan site, is low on talent but high on ambition. Convinced he just needs one decent break to launch himself into the big time, he's relentlessly optimistic - but sadly unaware that his family life is crumbling around him. Can Sherry manage to secure both his job, and his marriage?

The Best Pair of Legs in the Business

1973

Family Life poster
7.2

A young woman, Janice, is living with her restrictive and conservative parents, who lead a dull working-class life and consider their daughter to be “misbehaving” whenever she’s trying to find her own way in life.

Family Life

1971

Freedom of the Dig poster
NR

After 15 years in HM Prisons, Emerson just wants to keep his nose clean and get out. Working on the Stone Age fort keeps him away from trouble, but there are other problems apart from the weather

Freedom of the Dig

1978

Night People poster
NR

A classical string quartet stop at a motorway cafe in early hours. Among the people they meet are a football supporter, a commercial traveller and an elderly couple on their way to Gretna Green to get married.

Night People

1978

Roll On Four O'Clock poster
6.0

Compelling drama from screenwriter Colin Welland set in a city comprehensive school of low expectations and ambitions. Pupil Latimer does not conform to the macho culture and is labeled a homosexual, leading to bullying by both the pupils and some of the teachers.

Roll On Four O'Clock

1970

Flame poster
7.3

Light the Rock 'n Roll spark with a Flame in the guise of Dave, Noddy, Jim and Don and their showcase of the rise and demise of rock band Flame. Set in the hardships of North England's seventies working class society and music scene. This build-up from rags to riches is a parody of realism and grit, with double-dealings and harsh unforgiving dog eat dog mentalities, and the golden rule; if you play with matches then you're going to get burnt, in the flames of the music industry.

Flame

1975

In Sickness and in Health poster
NR

A hard-working doctor must also carry the burden of a turbulent home life, due to the expectations of his demanding wife. Part of Thames Televison's Armchair Cinema.

In Sickness and in Health

1975

Match of the Day poster
NR

Chance has missed the match, but the girls at his sister's wedding might make up for it

Match of the Day

1974

Beasts: What Big Eyes poster
7.5

An RSPCA officer is horrified when he discovers a pet shop owner has been conducting experiments on a wolf, searching for proof of lycanthropy. Created as an episode of Nigel Kneale’s “Beasts” horror anthology miniseries.

Beasts: What Big Eyes

1976

Gumshoe poster
6.2

A would be private eye gets mixed up in a smuggling case.

Gumshoe

1971

Bank Holiday poster
NR

18-year-old friends Todd and Towzer set off by motorbike to spend a Bank Holiday weekend in Scarborough. Their long hair, cut-off denim jackets, medals, badges and swastikas lead to hostility from everyone they meet, including the police

Bank Holiday

1972

The Rank and File poster
6.8

Wilkinsons glass-works dominates a Staffordshire town. After a small walkout over pay discrepancies, the workers of the factory vote to go on strike, but they are denied support by their trade union.

The Rank and File

1971

Break In poster
NR

Written by Willy Russell, Break In tells the story of three boys who break in to their school during the holidays to retrieve a confiscated football.

Break In

1975

Bag of Yeast poster
NR

When teacher Tony Scannell decides he wants to be ordained as a Catholic Priest his decision has wide ranging effects on his family and loved ones.

Bag of Yeast

1976

Speech Day poster
9.0

Speech Day is a bit of a laugh if you are not one of nature's prize-winners. But now that they've finished with school and school with them, what comes next for Ronnie, Wally and Rob?

Speech Day

1973

Series credits

Play for Today poster
6.6

Play 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

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

The Wednesday Play poster
5.2

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

The Wednesday Play

1964

Minder poster
7.2

Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.

Minder

1979

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

The Sweeney poster
8.1

Jack 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

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

Public Eye poster
8.2

Public Eye is a British television drama broadcast from 1965 to 1975 on ITV1. Produced by ABC Television for three series, and Thames Television for a further four, the programme follows the investigations and cases handled by the unglamourous enquiry agent Frank Marker.

Public Eye

1965

The Word poster
6.0

The Word was a 1990s Channel 4 television programme in the United Kingdom. The show pushed forward the boundaries of youth TV, always coming close to going too far.

The Word

1990

BBC2 Play of the Week poster
7.0

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

BBC2 Play of the Week

1977

The Expert poster
9.0

The Expert is a British television series produced by the BBC between 1968 and 1976. The series starred Marius Goring as Dr. John Hardy, a pathologist working for the Home Office and was essentially a police procedural drama, with Hardy bringing his forensic knowledge to solve various cases. The Expert was created and produced by Gerard Glaister. The series was also one of the first BBC dramas to be made in colour, and throughout its four series had numerous high quality guest appearances by actors such as John Carson, Peter Copley, Rachel Kempson, Peter Vaughan, Clive Swift, Geoffrey Palmer, Peter Barkworth, Jean Marsh, Ray Brooks, George Sewell, Anthony Valentine, Bernard Lee, Lee Montague, Geoffrey Bayldon, Mike Pratt, Edward Fox, André Morell, Brian Blessed, Nigel Stock, Philip Madoc and Warren Clarke.

The Expert

1968

New Scotland Yard poster
6.3

New Scotland Yard is a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television for ITV from 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day.

New Scotland Yard

1972

Justice poster
7.3

Justice is a British drama television series which originally aired on ITV in 39 hour-long episodes between 8 August 1971 and 16 October 1974. Margaret Lockwood stars as Harriet Peterson a female barrister in the North of England. It was made by Yorkshire Television and was based loosely on Justice Is a Woman, an episode of ITV Playhouse broadcast in 1969 in which Lockwood had previously also played a barrister. The theme music was Crown Imperial by William Walton.

Justice

1971

Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime poster
6.7

Spirited dialogue, posh Roaring '20s style, and devious mysteries abound as Tommy and Tuppence Beresford mix marriage and mystery solving.

Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime

1983

Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime poster
6.7

Spirited dialogue, posh Roaring '20s style, and devious mysteries abound as Tommy and Tuppence Beresford mix marriage and mystery solving.

Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime

1983

Budgie poster
7.2

Budgie is a popular British television series starring former popstar Adam Faith which was produced by ITV company London Weekend Television and broadcast on the ITV network between 1971 and 1972. The series was created by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall . The show was produced by Verity Lambert, Rex Firkin was the Executive producer.

Budgie

1971

Man in a Suitcase poster
7.2

Accused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name, taking on freelance jobs around Europe as he searches for answers.

Man in a Suitcase

1967

Beasts poster
6.4

Beasts is a series of six television plays by Manx writer Nigel Kneale, unconnected save for a bestial horror theme, made by ATV for ITV in the United Kingdom and broadcast in 1976. The series avoids typical monster horror clichès, more so focusing on psychological and supernatural themes.

Beasts

1976

Pennies from Heaven poster
7.6

Pennies From Heaven is a 1978 BBC television drama serial written by Dennis Potter. The title is taken from a song of the same name written by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston. It was one of several Potter serials to mix the reality of the drama with a dark fantasy content, and the earliest of his works where the characters burst into miming to popular 1930s songs. During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher.

Pennies from Heaven

1978

Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt! poster
6.5

Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt! is an ITV sitcom that ran from 1974 to 1977 starring Bill Maynard as the council labourer, Scarsdale Working Men’s Club secretary, hapless handyman and all-round public nuisance Selwyn Froggitt. It was created by Roy Clarke, who wrote the pilot episode transmitted in 1974, though the series was mostly written by Alan Plater. It was made for the ITV network by Yorkshire Television With outdoor location filming of the series filmed in Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire and Elvington, North Yorkshire

Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!

1974

No artwork available
NR

Bill Hooper is a middle-aged woman whose outspoken liberal views and strong personality frequently bring her into conflict with her family, friends, and neighbours. Living with her fourth husband, Sam, Bill also shares her home with her divorced daughter and young grandson. The series focuses on Bill's domestic life and its intersection with the social and political issues of the day.

Nobody's Perfect

1980

God's Wonderful Railway poster
7.0

Three generations of the Grant family live and work on the Severn Valley branch of the Great Western Railway, from the Victorian era to the Second World War.

God's Wonderful Railway

1980

The Wackers poster
6.3

Comedy series set in Liverpool about an half-protestant/half-catholic family.

The Wackers

1975

The Gathering Seed poster
10.0

The saga of Manchester lad Joe Henshaw, a story that takes in family life, the trials and tribulations of the Labour movement and World War Two

The Gathering Seed

1983