Ian Lavender
Encyclopedia
Arthur Ian Lavender better known as Ian Lavender, is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 stage, film and television actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, best known for his role as Private Frank Pike
Private Frank Pike
Private Frank Pike is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and junior bank clerk portrayed by Ian Lavender in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. He is frequently referred to by Captain Mainwaring as "stupid boy".- Personality :...

 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...

 comedy series Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...

.

Early life and career

Born in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, he later went straight from Bournville Boys Technical School, later Bournville Grammar-Technical School for Boys
Bournville School
Bournville School and sixth form centre is a coeducational, state comprehensive school, with Specialist Business and Enterprise College and Music College status, for students aged 11–19 years, located on Griffins Brook Lane, Bournville, Birmingham in the United Kingdom.Since 2002 Bournville has...

, where he had appeared in many school dramatic productions including playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...

, with the assistance of a grant from the City of Birmingham. He quickly made his mark as a talented young actor and following his graduation in 1967 appeared on stage in Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

. His first television appearance was as the lead in an ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...

 play entitled "Flowers at my Feet" in 1968.

Dad's Army

In 1968, Lavender was cast as Private Pike, the youngest member and 'stupid boy' of the platoon in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...

. This made him a household name and gave him the great advantage of working alongside a number of experienced and distinguished actors during his formative years, helping him to hone his acting skills. He appeared in the entire run of the series and in the spinoff film, made in 1971.

In 1983, he again featured as Frank Pike in the BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...

 sitcom It Sticks Out Half a Mile
It Sticks Out Half a Mile
It Sticks Out Half a Mile was a BBC Radio sitcom created by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles as a sequel to the television war sitcom Dad's Army, for which Snoad and Knowles had written radio adaptations.-The pilot:...

. The sitcom was a radio-sequel to Dad's Army, but ran for only one series. Lavender has continued to be associated with the Dad's Army franchise, and still takes part in occasional fan conventions and cast reunions. He made a variety of appearances during 2008 in connection with the 40th anniversary of Dad's Army. These included a reunion with surviving cast members in July, and an appearance on BBC1's Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...

 Salutes Dad's Army
in August. Lavender also recorded a special introduction for a 'lost' colour episode of the sitcom entitled "Room at the Bottom
Room at the Bottom
-Synopsis:Room at the Bottom is the 17th adapted radio episode of Dad's Army. The synopsis remains virtually unchanged from the TV episode, although there are a few minor changes in terms of actions performed by certain characters.-Plot:...

" which was broadcast on 13 December.

After Dad's Army

After Dad's Army, Lavender returned to the theatre, most notably starring in a production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...

alongside Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....

. Between 1971 and 1973 Lavender joined Dad's Army castmate Arthur Lowe
Arthur Lowe
Arthur Lowe was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.-Early life:...

 on the BBC radio comedy Parsley Sidings
Parsley Sidings
Parsley Sidings was a BBC Radio sitcom created by Jim Eldridge. It starred Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender , together with Kenneth Connor from the Carry On films....

. He also appeared in films and television series, one of which featured him starring alongside Peter Jones
Peter Jones (actor)
Peter Jones was an English actor, screenwriter and broadcaster.-Early life and career:Jones was born in Wem, Shropshire and he was educated at the Wem Grammar School and Ellesmere College. He made his first appearance as an actor in Wolverhampton at the age of 16 and then appeared in repertory...

. During the 1970s he appeared as a supporting actor in a number of British "low farce" films, including one Carry On
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....

film - Carry On Behind
Carry On Behind
Carry On Behind is the twenty-seventh Carry On film and was released in 1975. The film was the first not to feature Sid James since Follow That Camel seven years previously. It was also the first not to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell since Carry On Cruising 13 years previously. James was busy...

(1975). He was reunited with David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd
Jeremy Lloyd
Jeremy Lloyd is an English writer, screenwriter, author and actor, best known as co-author and writer of several successful British sitcoms.-Career:...

 in 1977 for the television series Come Back Mrs. Noah, though it was not particularly successful. 1978's The Glums proved rather more satisfactory, being a recreation of the characters from the popular Take It From Here
Take It From Here
Take It From Here was a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC between 1948 and 1960. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and starred Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and Joy Nichols...

radio series, written by its original writers Frank Muir
Frank Muir
Frank Herbert Muir was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wrote BBC radio's Take It From Here for over 10 years, and then appeared on BBC radio...

 and Denis Norden
Denis Norden
Denis Mostyn Norden CBE is a former English comedy writer and television presenter. After an early career working in cinemas, he began scriptwriting during World War II. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the successful BBC Radio comedy programme Take It from Here with Frank Muir...

.

Lavender then appeared in several other TV comedy shows during the 1980s, including two episodes of Yes Minister
Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...

, as Dr Richard Cartwright, and the short-lived The Hello Goodbye Man, as the inept salesman Denis Ailing. He also appeared in Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

's 1990 television game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 Cluedo, based on the board game
Cluedo
Cluedo is a popular murder/mystery-themed deduction board game originally published by Waddingtons in Leeds, England in 1949. It was devised by Anthony E. Pratt, a solicitor's clerk from Birmingham, England. It is now published by the United States game and toy company Hasbro, which acquired its U.S...

. During the 1990s Lavender continued to appear occasionally in television comedy roles including a bit-part as a burglar alarm salesman in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society...

. He made a rather memorable appearance in Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart is a sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the...

as two different parallel universe versions of the time-travelling lead character's son Michael.

In 2001 Lavender joined the BBC1 soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 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...

, playing the role of Derek Harkinson, a gay friend of Pauline Fowler
Pauline Fowler
Pauline Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional London borough of Walford. She was played by actress Wendy Richard between 1985 and 2006. Pauline was created by scriptwriter Tony Holland and producer...

. He continued in EastEnders for four years, with storylines mainly involving the Fowler family, before leaving the series in 2005. Lavender then toured with The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...

musical, playing the Narrator. He also played the part of a patient in the 5 May 2007 episode of Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...

on 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...

. In late 2007, he toured in the comedy play Donkey's Years. In May 2008, Lavender 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...

 documentary series Comedy Map of Britain
Comedy Map of Britain
Comedy Map of Britain is a BBC documentary series which visits the places that have inspired many of Britain's leading comedians. It first aired on BBC Two in 2007 and 2008....

. He also appeared on BBC 1's The One Show
The One Show
The One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...

on Thursday 31 July 2008. Over Christmas 2008, Lavender appeared in Celebrity Mastermind
Celebrity Mastermind
Celebrity Mastermind is a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. The show is a spin-off of the long running quiz show Mastermind, with the exception that all the contestants are celebrities. As with the main show, John Humphrys is the host and question-master...

on BBC1. As presenter John Humphrys asked his name, fellow contestant Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

 shouted 'Don't tell him, Pike!', a reference to Captain George Mainwaring
Captain George Mainwaring
Captain George Mainwaring is the bank manager and Home Guard platoon commander portrayed by Arthur Lowe on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea during the Second World War...

's most famous line from Dad's Army. At the start of 2009, Lavender appeared as a guest character in an episode of the CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...

 sitcom, The Legend of Dick and Dom
The Legend of Dick and Dom
The Legend of Dick and Dom is a sitcom that stars Dick and Dom as two budding young princes who are on a quest to find the antidote to a terrible plague that consumed Fyredor because Dick dropped the cure. The all star cast also includes Mannitol , a wizard who is really bad at doing magic, and...

. Lavender starred in the film, 31 North 62 East
31 North 62 East
31 North 62 East is a US$ 3.1 million British independent psychological thriller film released in September 2009. It was written by brothers Leofwine Loraine and Tristan Loraine with the first draft of the screen play being completed on 2 May 2008. Principal photography commenced on 21 July 2008...

(released September 2009), an independent psychological thriller
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...

 starring John Rhys-Davies
John Rhys-Davies
John Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy...

, Marina Sirtis
Marina Sirtis
Marina Sirtis is a British-American actress of Greek descent. She played the role of the human/Betazoid Commander Deanna Troi, ship's counselor, on the television and film series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Life:...

, Heather Peace
Heather Peace
Heather Peace is an English actress and musician.Her notable roles have included Anne Cullen in Emmerdale Farm, Josie Clarke in The Bill, Sally 'Gracie' Fields in London's Burning, DS Jo Cavanagh in Empathy and Fiona Jones in BBC Television's The Chase...

 and Craig Fairbrass
Craig Fairbrass
Craig Fairbrass is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive Cockney accent.-Life and career:Fairbrass was born in Stepney, London. He made his acting debut in an episode of the television series Shelley in 1980. This was followed by appearances in series such as Emmerdale, Three Up Two...

.

Recent career

Ian Lavender appeared as Monsignor Howard in the West End theatre
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 production of Sister Act the Musical
Sister Act the Musical
Sister Act is a musical written by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner with additional book material by Douglas Carter Beane, with lyrics by Glenn Slater and music by Alan Menken. It is based on the hit 1992 film comedy of the same name...

. The musical opened at the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...

 on 2 June 2009, and ran through to October 2010.

In January 2011, Lavender appeared at the Slapstick Silent Comedy Festival
Bristol Silents
Bristol Silents was established by Chris Daniels and Norman Taylor in 2000 to promote and celebrate silent cinema in the Bristol area and in the United Kingdom. The first ever event the organisation put on was a selection of Louise Brooks films in October 2000 at the Arnolfini, Bristol.The group...

 in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

. Lavender introduced Sherlock, Jr.
Sherlock, Jr.
Sherlock, Jr. is an American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez and Joseph A. Mitchell...

, a 1924 silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 directed by and starring Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...

.

Personal life

Lavender was previously married to actress Sue Kerchiss. He married his second wife, the American-born Miki Hardy, who is three years his senior, just six days after his bladder cancer
Bladder cancer
Bladder cancer is any of several types of malignant growths of the urinary bladder. It is a disease in which abnormal cells multiply without control in the bladder. The bladder is a hollow, muscular organ that stores urine; it is located in the pelvis...

 was diagnosed in 1993. On this, Lavender has said "We had being living together for 16 years and it was something I should have done a long time before, these things change you, they help you to see what is important in life." The bladder tumour was operated on successfully and, although Lavender has regular check-ups, doctors seem confident the cancer will not return. Lavender also survived a heart attack in the summer of 2004.

He is a life-long supporter of Aston Villa
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...

, and when filming began on Dad's Army, he was allowed to choose Frank Pike's scarf from an array in the BBC wardrobe. He chose a claret and blue one - Aston Villa's colours.

Television Roles

Year Title Role
1968 to 1977 Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...

Private Frank Pike
Private Frank Pike
Private Frank Pike is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and junior bank clerk portrayed by Ian Lavender in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. He is frequently referred to by Captain Mainwaring as "stupid boy".- Personality :...

1977 Rising Damp
Rising Damp
Rising Damp is a television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box The series was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in...

Liberal candidate
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

1977 to 1978 Come Back Mrs. Noah Clive Cuncliffe
1978 to 1979 The Glums Ron Glum
1982 Yes Minister
Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...

Dr Richard Cartwright
1984 The Hello Goodbye Man Denis Ailing
1998 Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart is a sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the...

Michael Sparrow
2001 to 2005 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...

Derek Harkinson

Filmography

  • Dad's Army
    Dad's Army (film)
    Dad's Army is a 1971 feature film based on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. Directed by Norman Cohen, it was filmed between series three and four and was based upon material from the early episodes of the television series...

    (1971)
  • Three for All
    Three for All
    Three for All is a 1975 British comedy film directed by Martin Campbell and starring Adrienne Posta, Robert Lindsay, Paul Nicholas, Edward Woodward, Richard Beckinsdale and John Le Mesurier....

    (1975)
  • Confessions of a Pop Performer
    Confessions of a Pop Performer
    Confessions of a Pop Performer is a 1975 British sex-farce film. This second instalment continues the erotic adventures of Timothy Lea and is based on the novels written under the name by Christopher Wood. In this case, the original novel was called Confessions from the Pop Scene, but was later...

    (1975)
  • Carry on Behind
    Carry On Behind
    Carry On Behind is the twenty-seventh Carry On film and was released in 1975. The film was the first not to feature Sid James since Follow That Camel seven years previously. It was also the first not to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell since Carry On Cruising 13 years previously. James was busy...

    (1975)
  • Not Now, Comrade
    Not Now, Comrade
    Not Now, Comrade is a 1976 British comedy film directed by Ray Cooney. It was a very loose follow up to the 1973 farce Not Now, Darling. It featured a number of British comedy actors of the era including Leslie Phillips, Windsor Davies, Don Estelle and Ian Lavender.-Cast:* Leslie Phillips as...

    (1976)
  • Adventures of a Taxi Driver
    Adventures of a Taxi Driver
    Adventures of a Taxi Driver is a 1976 British sex comedy film starring Barry Evans, Judy Geeson and Adrienne Posta. There were two sequels, Adventures of a Private Eye and Adventures of a Plumber's Mate.-Cast:* Barry Evans as Joe North...

    (1976)
  • Adventures of a Private Eye
    Adventures of a Private Eye
    The Adventures of a Private Eye is a 1977 British sex comedy film starring Christopher Neil, Suzy Kendall, Harry H. Corbett and Liz Fraser. It was the second in the trilogy of 'Adventures' films after the 1976 film Adventures of a Taxi Driver...

    (1977)
  • 31 North 62 East
    31 North 62 East
    31 North 62 East is a US$ 3.1 million British independent psychological thriller film released in September 2009. It was written by brothers Leofwine Loraine and Tristan Loraine with the first draft of the screen play being completed on 2 May 2008. Principal photography commenced on 21 July 2008...

    (2009)

External links

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