Dennis Waterman
Encyclopedia
Dennis Waterman is a British
actor and singer, best known for his tough-guy roles in television series including The Sweeney
, Minder
and New Tricks.
, London
. The family, which included siblings Ken, Peter, Stella, Norma and Myrna, lived at 2 Elms Road, Clapham Common South Side. Harry Waterman was a ticket collector for British Rail
. Two older sisters, Joy and Vera had already left home by the time Dennis was born, and another brother, Allen had died as a young child.
Boxing
was a big part of Waterman's childhood. His father had been an amateur boxer and made all of his sons box. His older brother Ken first took Dennis boxing when he was three years old, and when he was ten Dennis joined Caius Boxing Club. Another older brother Peter was a welterweight
boxing champion.
He attended Granard Primary School and then Corona Stage School
(16 Ravenscourt Avenue, Ravenscourt Park, Hammersmith, West London
).
(1960). In 1961, at the age of 13, he played the part of Winthrop Paroo in the Adelphi Theatre
production of The Music Man
. A year later, he starred as William Brown in the BBC TV series William based on the Just William
books of Richmal Crompton
.
Waterman played the role of Oliver Twist in the production of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver staged at the Mermaid Theatre, London, in the early 1960's, and appears on the cast recording released in 1961. Waterman was a series regular in the 1962 CBS
comedy Fair Exchange, playing teenage son Neville Finch. He had a major role in the 1968 film Up The Junction
and appeared in the BBC
television series Colditz
as a young Gestapo officer. Waterman was in the original cast of Saved, a play written by Edward Bond
and first produced at the Royal Court Theatre in November 1965.
) in the Hammer
film production Scars of Dracula
(1970), and the boyfriend of Susan George
in Fright
(1971). He started to build a name for himself with regular appearances on the BBC
's Play for Today
series, most notably in the Dennis Potter
dramas Follow the Yellow Brick Road
(1972) and Joe's Ark (1974). Both were directed by Alan Bridges
.
He became well known and something of a pin-up as DS George Carter in The Sweeney, during the 1970s. As well as starring in Minder, he sang the theme song, "I Could Be So Good For You", which was a top three UK hit in 1980 and a top 10 hit in Australia, and was written by his then-wife Patricia Waterman
with Gerard Kenny
. Waterman also recorded a song with George Cole "What Are We Gonna Get For 'Er Indoors".
In 1976, Waterman released his first album titled Downwind of Angels, arranged and produced by Brian Bennett. A single "I Will Glide" was released from the album but did not enter the top 40. The backing singers on "I Will Glide" are the Belmont School
choir, where Brian Bennett's son, Warren, was a pupil.
entitled The World Cup: A Captain's Tale
. It was the true story of West Auckland F.C., a part-time side who won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
, sometimes described as the 'first World Cup'. Waterman played the part of Bob Jones, the Club Captain. It cost £1.5 million to make and shooting took place in the North East
and in Turin
in Italy. Scenes were shot in Durham
pit village
s and in Ashington
where goal posts and a grandstand were erected in a public park with a colliery headframe in the background. Local players took part, donning long pants and high-sided boots of the day, and even suffering "short back and sides" haircuts. The production has several comedy sequences, including a meeting of the club committee and a meeting of the Football Association Council when the suggestion of an English team participating in the new competition received a luke-warm and cynical response from the members. Also on the agenda is the F.A. Cup draw which is done in the conventional manner and immediately dispatched direct from the council chamber to the clubs – "by carrier pigeons", let out of the windows.
In 1982, Waterman starred in an often-overlooked musical, Windy City
. A relatively short lived production, it also featured such names as Anton Rodgers
, Diane Langton
, Victor Spinetti
and Amanda Redman
, with whom Waterman also had an 18 month affair during the lifetime of the musical and later went on to star with in the TV series New Tricks. The show closed on 26 February 1983 after 250 performances.
In 1986, he took the lead male role in the BAFTA Award winning BBC adaptation of Fay Weldon
's The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
.
In 1988 an Australian television movie, The First Kangaroos
actor Waterman's villainous depiction of Goldthorpe drew formal complaints from his granddaughter.
with Jan Francis
(Yorkshire Television
/ITV 1989), sitcom On the Up
(BBC 1990) and crime drama New Tricks (Wall to Wall television for BBC, 2003).
Waterman recited excerpts from the journal of Walter H. Thompson
for the UK history series Churchill's Bodyguard.
He appeared on stage in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell
by Keith Waterhouse
and as Alfred P. Doolittle in the 2001 London revival of My Fair Lady
. He also narrated the reality-format television programme, Bad Lads' Army.
Recent appearances include the 2009 BBC2 miniseries Moses Jones
and the 2010 series of New Tricks.
(1977–1987), and most recently to the actress Rula Lenska
(1987–1998). He had two daughters by his second wife, one of whom, Hannah Waterman
, is now an actor and played Laura Beale
in the BBC1 soap opera EastEnders
from 2000 until 2004. Hannah also has appeared in New Tricks. She appears as the character Emily, a young policewoman who believes Gerry Standing (played by Dennis Waterman) to be her biological father. Standing accepts Emily as his daughter but later arranges a secret paternity test, which shows that he is not. However Standing, who has bonded with Emily, keeps the result a secret until the truth comes out during a court case. Emily reappears in the series however and Standing takes on a father figure role for her anyway.
Waterman is a fan of Chelsea Football Club. His love of football was reflected in him being chosen to present Match of the Seventies from 1995 to 1996, a nostalgic BBC show celebrating the best football action from the 1970s. However in Minder
, his character Terry is known to be a fan of Chelsea's local rivals Fulham.
Waterman has extensive family in the USA, in California
, Arizona
and Virginia
as a consequence of his three sisters living there. Myrna, Norma and Stella. One of his American nieces is Leah Randi
, a well-known bass player
.
in the radio and TV comedy series Little Britain
, in sketches where he visits his agent (played by Matt Lucas
) looking for parts. Most of the jokes in these sketches are about Waterman being extremely small making common objects massive in comparison to him, but the real Dennis Waterman is of average height at five foot nine. The caricature is offered but always declines respectable parts because he is not allowed to star in, or "write the theme tune, sing the theme tune" of, the particular production. This joke is because Waterman sang, and is believed to have written many of the themes for, at least four programmes he has starred in. Waterman has sung the title tunes for Minder
http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/people/dennis_waterman_person_page.shtml, New Trickshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/people/dennis_waterman_person_page.shtml, On the Up
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098881/ and Stay Lucky
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=watermanden.
Waterman was initially bemused by the caricature. In November 2006, Waterman made a guest appearance in a Little Britain stage show, alongside the comedy character version of himself.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
actor and singer, best known for his tough-guy roles in television series including The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
, Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
and New Tricks.
Early life
Waterman was born the youngest of nine children to Rose Juliana (née Saunders) and Harry Frank Waterman in ClaphamClapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...
, London
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of...
. The family, which included siblings Ken, Peter, Stella, Norma and Myrna, lived at 2 Elms Road, Clapham Common South Side. Harry Waterman was a ticket collector for British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
. Two older sisters, Joy and Vera had already left home by the time Dennis was born, and another brother, Allen had died as a young child.
Boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
was a big part of Waterman's childhood. His father had been an amateur boxer and made all of his sons box. His older brother Ken first took Dennis boxing when he was three years old, and when he was ten Dennis joined Caius Boxing Club. Another older brother Peter was a welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
boxing champion.
He attended Granard Primary School and then Corona Stage School
Corona Stage Academy
Corona Stage Academy also known as The Corona Stage School was a successful British drama school founded by Miss Rona Knight in the mid 1940's. The school started in Chiswick before later moving to 16 Ravenscourt Avenue, Hammersmith in 1955...
(16 Ravenscourt Avenue, Ravenscourt Park, Hammersmith, West London
West London
West London generally refers to the western portions of London, and may refer specifically to:*West *West End of London*W postcode area...
).
1960s
Waterman's acting career began in childhood. His first role was in Night Train for InvernessNight Train for Inverness
Night Train for Inverness is a 1960 British drama film directed by Ernest Morris and starring Norman Wooland, Jane Hylton and Dennis Waterman...
(1960). In 1961, at the age of 13, he played the part of Winthrop Paroo in the Adelphi Theatre
Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
production of The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
. A year later, he starred as William Brown in the BBC TV series William based on the Just William
Just William
Just William is the first book of children's short stories about the young school boy William Brown, written by Richmal Crompton, and published in 1922. The book was the first in the series of William Brown books which was the basis for numerous television series, films and radio adaptations...
books of Richmal Crompton
Richmal Crompton
Richmal Crompton Lamburn was a British writer, most famous for her Just William humorous short stories and books.-Life:...
.
Waterman played the role of Oliver Twist in the production of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver staged at the Mermaid Theatre, London, in the early 1960's, and appears on the cast recording released in 1961. Waterman was a series regular in the 1962 CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
comedy Fair Exchange, playing teenage son Neville Finch. He had a major role in the 1968 film Up The Junction
Up the Junction (1968 film)
Up the Junction is a 1968 British film directed by Peter Collinson and starring Dennis Waterman, Suzy Kendall, Adrienne Posta, Maureen Lipman and Liz Fraser. It is based on the book of the same name by Nell Dunn and was adapted by Roger Smith...
and appeared in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series Colditz
Colditz
Colditz is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, near Leipzig, located on the banks of the river Mulde. The town has a population of 5,188 ....
as a young Gestapo officer. Waterman was in the original cast of Saved, a play written by Edward Bond
Edward Bond
Edward Bond is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them Saved , the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK...
and first produced at the Royal Court Theatre in November 1965.
1970s
In the early 1970s, he played the brother of a victim of Count Dracula (Christopher LeeChristopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
) in the Hammer
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
film production Scars of Dracula
Scars of Dracula
Scars of Dracula is a 1970 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Studios.It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, alongside Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Patrick Troughton, and Michael Gwynn...
(1970), and the boyfriend of Susan George
Susan George (actress)
Susan Melody George is an English film and television actress, and film producer.-Career:She trained at the Stage School, Corona Theatre School and has acted since the age of four, appearing on both television and film...
in Fright
Fright (film)
Fright is a 1971 British thriller film starring Susan George, Ian Bannen and Honor Blackman.-Plot:Young babysitter Amanda arrives at the Lloyd residence to spend the evening looking after their young son. Soon after the Lloyds leave, a series of frightening occurrences in the gloomy old house have...
(1971). He started to build a name for himself with regular appearances on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Play for Today
Play for Today
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...
series, most notably in the Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
dramas Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Follow the Yellow Brick Road is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast in 1972 as part of BBC Two's The Sextet series of eight plays featuring the same six actors. The play is notable for its central theme of popular culture becoming the inheritor of religious scripture, which...
(1972) and Joe's Ark (1974). Both were directed by Alan Bridges
Alan Bridges
Alan Bridges is an English film and television director. He directed 40 films and television programmes between 1961 and 1991. He won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival for his film The Hireling...
.
He became well known and something of a pin-up as DS George Carter in The Sweeney, during the 1970s. As well as starring in Minder, he sang the theme song, "I Could Be So Good For You", which was a top three UK hit in 1980 and a top 10 hit in Australia, and was written by his then-wife Patricia Waterman
Patricia Maynard
Patricia Maynard is a British actress. She was the second wife of actor Dennis Waterman, and they have two daughters, one of whom is the actress Hannah Waterman...
with Gerard Kenny
Gerard Kenny
Gerard Kenny is a popular music singer-songwriter.-Career:Kenny formed his first band whilst in high school and between then, and the early 1970s, he toured the club circuit. In 1968 he landed his first recording contract with Warner Bros...
. Waterman also recorded a song with George Cole "What Are We Gonna Get For 'Er Indoors".
In 1976, Waterman released his first album titled Downwind of Angels, arranged and produced by Brian Bennett. A single "I Will Glide" was released from the album but did not enter the top 40. The backing singers on "I Will Glide" are the Belmont School
Mill Hill School
Mill Hill School, in Mill Hill, London, is a coeducational independent school for boarding and day pupils aged 13–18. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, an organisation of public schools in the United Kingdom....
choir, where Brian Bennett's son, Warren, was a pupil.
1980s
In 1981, Waterman starred in a television film made by Tyne Tees TelevisionTyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
entitled The World Cup: A Captain's Tale
The World Cup: A Captain's Tale
The World Cup: A Captain's Tale is a 1982 British television sports film directed by Tom Clegg and starring Dennis Waterman, Andrew Keir, Marjorie Bland and Nigel Hawthorne. The film depicts the story of West Auckland F.C...
. It was the true story of West Auckland F.C., a part-time side who won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was an association football competition that took place twice, in Turin, Italy, in 1909 and 1911. It is sometimes referred to as The First World Cup. However it is predated by the Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva, which was hosted in 1908 also in Turin, as the...
, sometimes described as the 'first World Cup'. Waterman played the part of Bob Jones, the Club Captain. It cost £1.5 million to make and shooting took place in the North East
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
and in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
in Italy. Scenes were shot in Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
pit village
Pit village
A pit village is a term used in the UK for the village serving a deep coal mine.Many of the workers lived in houses that were provided by the colliery. Many villages have experienced depopulation after colliery closures forced people to move to other towns and cities where there are jobs for them...
s and in Ashington
Ashington
Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England with a population of around 27,000 people; it was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is located some north of Newcastle upon Tyne off the A189. The south of the town is bordered by the River Wansbeck...
where goal posts and a grandstand were erected in a public park with a colliery headframe in the background. Local players took part, donning long pants and high-sided boots of the day, and even suffering "short back and sides" haircuts. The production has several comedy sequences, including a meeting of the club committee and a meeting of the Football Association Council when the suggestion of an English team participating in the new competition received a luke-warm and cynical response from the members. Also on the agenda is the F.A. Cup draw which is done in the conventional manner and immediately dispatched direct from the council chamber to the clubs – "by carrier pigeons", let out of the windows.
In 1982, Waterman starred in an often-overlooked musical, Windy City
Windy City (musical)
Windy City is a musical with a book and lyrics by Dick Vosburgh and music by Tony Macaulay. It is based on the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.-Plot:...
. A relatively short lived production, it also featured such names as Anton Rodgers
Anton Rodgers
Anton Rodgers was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film and in television dramas and sitcoms.-Life and career:...
, Diane Langton
Diane Langton
Diane Langton is an English actress and singer.She has appeared in numerous TV shows like Only Fools and Horses, where she played Junie, an old girlfriend of Del Boy's, in the 1980s....
, Victor Spinetti
Victor Spinetti
Victor Spinetti is a Welsh comic actor.-Early life:Spinetti was born in Cwm, Ebbw Vale, Wales of Welsh and Italian heritage from a grandfather who was said to have walked from Italy to Wales to work as a coal miner...
and Amanda Redman
Amanda Redman
-External links:* ArtistsTheatreSchool.com* The-Little.co.uk...
, with whom Waterman also had an 18 month affair during the lifetime of the musical and later went on to star with in the TV series New Tricks. The show closed on 26 February 1983 after 250 performances.
In 1986, he took the lead male role in the BAFTA Award winning BBC adaptation of Fay Weldon
Fay Weldon
Fay Weldon CBE is an English author, essayist and playwright, whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrays contemporary women who find themselves trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society.-Biography:Weldon was...
's The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil is a 1983 novel by British feminist author Fay Weldon about a highly unattractive woman who goes to great lengths to take revenge on her husband and his attractive lover...
.
In 1988 an Australian television movie, The First Kangaroos
The First Kangaroos
The First Kangaroos is a 1988 British–Australian made for TV sports film directed by Frank Cvitanovich and starring Dennis Waterman, Chris Haywood and Dominic Sweeney. It depicts the first-ever rugby league tour of England by the Australian national team, the 1908-09 Kangaroos...
actor Waterman's villainous depiction of Goldthorpe drew formal complaints from his granddaughter.
1990s onwards
Waterman also sang the theme tunes to three more programmes in which he appeared: the comedy drama Stay LuckyStay Lucky
Stay Lucky is a 1989–1993 British television comedy-drama series. Made by Yorkshire Television and screened on the ITV network, it starred Dennis Waterman and Jan Francis.-Plot:...
with Jan Francis
Jan Francis
Jan Francis is an English actress, best known for playing Penny Warrender in the 1980s romantic comedy Just Good Friends.-Early life:Francis was born at the former Charing Cross Hospital near Trafalgar Square, London...
(Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
/ITV 1989), sitcom On the Up
On the Up
On the Up was a British situation comedy written by Bob Larbey. It ran for three series, from 1990 to 1992.-Plot summary:Tony Carpenter is a self-made millionaire who turned his South London minicab firm into a successful chauffeur-driven car service...
(BBC 1990) and crime drama New Tricks (Wall to Wall television for BBC, 2003).
Waterman recited excerpts from the journal of Walter H. Thompson
Walter H. Thompson
Detective Inspector Walter Henry Thompson BEM was the bodyguard of Winston Churchill for eighteen years between 1921 and 1945, being recalled from semi-retirement running two grocer's shops by a telegram from Churchill on 22 August 1939 reading "Meet me Croydon Airport 4.30pm Wednesday." Although...
for the UK history series Churchill's Bodyguard.
He appeared on stage in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell
Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell
Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell is a play by Keith Waterhouse about real-life journalist Jeffrey Bernard. Bernard was still alive at the time the play was first performed in the West End in 1989.Bernard wrote the "Low Life" column in The Spectator...
by Keith Waterhouse
Keith Waterhouse
Keith Spencer Waterhouse CBE was a novelist, newspaper columnist, and the writer of many television series.-Biography:Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
and as Alfred P. Doolittle in the 2001 London revival of My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
. He also narrated the reality-format television programme, Bad Lads' Army.
Recent appearances include the 2009 BBC2 miniseries Moses Jones
Moses Jones
Moses Jones is a three-part BBC Television drama series written by Joe Penhall, directed by Michael Offer and produced by Cameron Roach that was first broadcast on BBC Two in February 2009.-Synopsis:...
and the 2010 series of New Tricks.
Personal life
He has been married to Penny Dixon (1967–1976); actress Patricia MaynardPatricia Maynard
Patricia Maynard is a British actress. She was the second wife of actor Dennis Waterman, and they have two daughters, one of whom is the actress Hannah Waterman...
(1977–1987), and most recently to the actress Rula Lenska
Rula Lenska
Rula Lenska is an English actress. Best known for her work in the United Kingdom, she is remembered in the United States for a television advert that presented her as a celebrity, even though she was not widely known in the US at the time the advert was produced.She has appeared extensively on...
(1987–1998). He had two daughters by his second wife, one of whom, Hannah Waterman
Hannah Waterman
Hannah Waterman-Groves is an English actress, daughter of Minder star Dennis Waterman and his second wife, actress Patricia Maynard.-Career:...
, is now an actor and played Laura Beale
Laura Beale
Laura Ellen Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Hannah Waterman.Laura only ever wanted a happy marriage, but was always made to feel inferior and unattractive by her husband, Ian Beale...
in the BBC1 soap opera EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
from 2000 until 2004. Hannah also has appeared in New Tricks. She appears as the character Emily, a young policewoman who believes Gerry Standing (played by Dennis Waterman) to be her biological father. Standing accepts Emily as his daughter but later arranges a secret paternity test, which shows that he is not. However Standing, who has bonded with Emily, keeps the result a secret until the truth comes out during a court case. Emily reappears in the series however and Standing takes on a father figure role for her anyway.
Waterman is a fan of Chelsea Football Club. His love of football was reflected in him being chosen to present Match of the Seventies from 1995 to 1996, a nostalgic BBC show celebrating the best football action from the 1970s. However in Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
, his character Terry is known to be a fan of Chelsea's local rivals Fulham.
Waterman has extensive family in the USA, in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
as a consequence of his three sisters living there. Myrna, Norma and Stella. One of his American nieces is Leah Randi
Leah Randi
Leah Randi is an American bass player and vocalist. She has recorded or performed live with bands including Abandoned Pools, Front Line Assembly, Paradise Lost, Delerium, Conjure One and Pink.-Career:...
, a well-known bass player
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
.
Little Britain caricature
He has been caricatured by David WalliamsDavid Walliams
David Edward Walliams is an English comedian, writer and actor, known for his partnership with Matt Lucas on the TV sketch show Little Britain and its predecessor Rock Profile...
in the radio and TV comedy series Little Britain
Little Britain
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas...
, in sketches where he visits his agent (played by Matt Lucas
Matt Lucas
Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain; as well as for his portrayals of the scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the comedy panel game Shooting Stars, Tweedledee and...
) looking for parts. Most of the jokes in these sketches are about Waterman being extremely small making common objects massive in comparison to him, but the real Dennis Waterman is of average height at five foot nine. The caricature is offered but always declines respectable parts because he is not allowed to star in, or "write the theme tune, sing the theme tune" of, the particular production. This joke is because Waterman sang, and is believed to have written many of the themes for, at least four programmes he has starred in. Waterman has sung the title tunes for Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/people/dennis_waterman_person_page.shtml, New Trickshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/people/dennis_waterman_person_page.shtml, On the Up
On the Up
On the Up was a British situation comedy written by Bob Larbey. It ran for three series, from 1990 to 1992.-Plot summary:Tony Carpenter is a self-made millionaire who turned his South London minicab firm into a successful chauffeur-driven car service...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098881/ and Stay Lucky
Stay Lucky
Stay Lucky is a 1989–1993 British television comedy-drama series. Made by Yorkshire Television and screened on the ITV network, it starred Dennis Waterman and Jan Francis.-Plot:...
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=watermanden.
Waterman was initially bemused by the caricature. In November 2006, Waterman made a guest appearance in a Little Britain stage show, alongside the comedy character version of himself.
Books
- 2000: Waterman, Dennis; and Jill Arlon. - ReMinder. - London: Hutchinson. - ISBN 978-0091801083.
Filmography
- Night Train for InvernessNight Train for InvernessNight Train for Inverness is a 1960 British drama film directed by Ernest Morris and starring Norman Wooland, Jane Hylton and Dennis Waterman...
(1960) - Snowball (1960)
- Crooks AnonymousCrooks AnonymousCrooks Anonymous is a British comedy film from 1962. Directed by Ken Annakin, it starred Leslie Phillips and Stanley Baxter and was notable for one of the earliest appearances of Julie Christie.-Plot:...
(1962) - The Pirates of Blood RiverThe Pirates of Blood RiverThe Pirates of Blood River is a 1962 British action film directed by John Gilling and starring Kerwin Mathews, Glenn Corbett, Christopher Lee and Oliver Reed. In Seventeenth Century Devon, a group of pirates repeatedly terrorise a settlement of Huguenot refugees.-Cast:* Kerwin Mathews ... Jonathon...
(1962) - Go Kart Go (1964)
- Up the JunctionUp the Junction (1968 film)Up the Junction is a 1968 British film directed by Peter Collinson and starring Dennis Waterman, Suzy Kendall, Adrienne Posta, Maureen Lipman and Liz Fraser. It is based on the book of the same name by Nell Dunn and was adapted by Roger Smith...
(1968) - A Promise of Bed (1969)
- The Wedding NightThe Wedding NightThe Wedding Night is a 1935 American romantic drama film directed by King Vidor, and starring Gary Cooper, Anna Sten, and Ralph Bellamy. Vidor won the Best Director Award at the Venice Film Festival.-Plot:...
(1969) - The Smashing Bird I Used to KnowThe Smashing Bird I Used to KnowThe Smashing Bird I Used to Know is a 1969 British drama/sexploitation film, directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Madeleine Hinde, Maureen Lipman, Patrick Mower and Dennis Waterman. As with other Hartford-Davis films, The Smashing Bird I Used to Know contains elements from different...
(1969) - This That and The Other! (1970)
- My Lover My SonMy Lover My SonMy Lover My Son is a 1970 US-American-British coproduction directed by John Newland. It tells the story of a mother played by Romy Schneider clinging to her maturing son. The film is based on Edward Grierson's novel Reputation for a Song.- Plot :...
(1970) - Scars of DraculaScars of DraculaScars of Dracula is a 1970 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Studios.It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, alongside Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Patrick Troughton, and Michael Gwynn...
(1970) - FrightFright (film)Fright is a 1971 British thriller film starring Susan George, Ian Bannen and Honor Blackman.-Plot:Young babysitter Amanda arrives at the Lloyd residence to spend the evening looking after their young son. Soon after the Lloyds leave, a series of frightening occurrences in the gloomy old house have...
(1971) - Man in the WildernessMan in the WildernessMan in the Wilderness is a 1971 American action film about a scout for a group of mountain men who are traversing the Northwestern United States during the 1820s. The scout is mauled by a bear and left to die by his companions. He survives and recuperates sufficiently to track his former...
(1971) - Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972 film)Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a 1972 British musical film based on the Lewis Carroll novel of the same name. It had an all star cast, and John Barry composed the score....
(1972) - The Belstone Fox (1973)
- Sweeney! (1977)
- Sweeney 2Sweeney 2Sweeney 2 is a 1978 film that is a sequel to the 1977 film Sweeney! which was itself a spin-off from the popular British TV show The Sweeney. Some of the action was transferred from the usual London setting to Malta. Denholm Elliot appears as a corrupt ex-officer, who asks his former subordinates...
(1978) - A Captain's Tale (1982)
- Minder on the Orient ExpressMinder on the Orient ExpressMinder on the Orient Express is a comedy/thriller television film made in 1985 as a spin-off from the successful television series Minder...
(1985) - The First KangaroosThe First KangaroosThe First Kangaroos is a 1988 British–Australian made for TV sports film directed by Frank Cvitanovich and starring Dennis Waterman, Chris Haywood and Dominic Sweeney. It depicts the first-ever rugby league tour of England by the Australian national team, the 1908-09 Kangaroos...
(1988) - Cold Justice (1989)
- Vol-au-ventVol-au-vent (film)Vol-au-vent is a 1996 British comedy film directed by John McKenzie and starring Dennis Waterman, Julia McKenzie and Lisa Coleman. An upper-middle class wedding is interrupted by three jewel thieves on the run from the law.-Cast:...
(1996) - Arthur's DykeArthur's DykeArthur's Dyke is a 2001 British film starring Pauline Quirke and Brian Conley. The plot follows a group of ramblers as they attempt to recreate their conquest of the Offa's Dyke path 20 years earlier.-Plot:...
(2001) - Back in BusinessBack in Business (2007 film)Back in Business is a 2007 comedy film, starring Martin Kemp, Chris Barrie and Dennis Waterman.-Plot:Will Spencer and his friend, unsuccessful actor Tom are former confidence tricksters who have carried out various scams, including selling London's Tower Bridge several times over...
(2007)