Gary Beadle

Actor · born 8 July 1965 · Bermondsey, London, England, UK

Gary Beadle (born 8 July 1965) is a British actor. Beadle was raised as one of five children in Bermondsey, South London, where he was baptised a Roman Catholic. As children, he and his elder brother Rikki produced a version of the 1976 youth musical-gangster film Bugsy Malone for Southwark London Borough Council. Directed by Rikki who starred as Talula, Gary played janitor Fizzy. Rikki tried to invite the original film's director Alan Parker to the performance, but his assistant did come, and used her connections to get Rikki, Gary and their younger sister into the community-based Anna Scher Theatre School. After developing a love of hip hop, and especially Run-D.M.C. and the Sugarhill Gang, Beadle moved to New York City in his early twenties. On his return to London, using the moniker 'Pretty Boy Gee', he formed a rap group called The City Limits Crew alongside 'Little Stevie Bee'. In 1985, the duo released two 12" singles, "Keep It On" (w/ "The Mutant Rockers") and "Fresher Than Ever" on the independent record label Survival Records. Also that year, the crew recorded a session on BBC Radio 1 for John Peel and performed at Electro Rock, an international hip hop event at the Hippodrome.

He also worked as a comedian but started to work as an actor, and appeared in The Young Ones (BBC 1984); the 1986 film Absolute Beginners; Jerusalem, the 1987 short film starring the Style Council pop group; Making Out in 1989–91 as Simon; the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, where he played the gay lover of Eddie's (Jennifer Saunders) ex-husband Justin; the TV series Born to Run in 1997; the ITV police drama The Bill and BBC medical drama Casualty (2001). In 2001, he started in the role of Paul Trueman in EastEnders. A loveable rogue, Beadle left the role when his contract was due to terminate - as he had not appreciated the director and script writers wanting his character to become a drug dealer. He therefore departed from the show and his exit featured the character being killed off by his gangland boss Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs). In 2007, he appeared in BBC Three comedy Thieves Like Us. In 2008, he appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures series 2 as Clyde Langer's father, Paul. In 2009, he appeared in Malice in Wonderland as DJ Felix Chester, a Cheshire Cat allusion. In 2010, he appeared in the Royal Court Theatre's Sucker Punch by Roy Williams. In 2012, he appeared in Hustle as a police officer. In 2015, he played Docker in BBC One drama The Interceptor and also featured in the Ron Howard-directed film In the Heart of the Sea which was released in December 2015. In 2016, he performed as Abioseh, an ex-tribesman in the Royal National Theatre's production of Les Blancs. He also starred as a Detective Chief Inspector in an episode of Silent Witness.

Where to start: Rye Lane (2023).