Bill Thomas (actor)

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Bill Thomas
Billthomasphoto2wiki.jpg
Born
London, England, UK
OccupationActor

Bill Thomas (born 1952) is an English stage and screen actor, one of the most prolific actors of his generation. In forty six years as a professional actor Bill played four hundred and sixty three characters but never a doctor, policeman or soldier, until his last film Loving Vincent in which he was Dr Mazery. The film was nominated for an Oscar.

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His body of work encompassed 18 feature films, 31 short films, 130 Television productions, 74 theatre productions, 166 adverts.

From 2010 he struggled to remember lines and gave up acting in 2016 to become the doorman at Selfridges , the famous department store in London's Oxford Street, effectively his West End debut, and the most glamorous job he ever had.

He has written a novel called "Ordinary - the novel that Tommy Warren wrote" about a very elderly doorman who is persuaded by a colleague to write a novel about his experiences during WWII. Finding himself short of material he starts to make things up (or does he?).


Career

He was Tom Henshall, long suffering father of the hairdressing sisters in four seasons of the BBC series Cutting It and Charles Quance, the tailor who has a bumpy romance with one of the seamstresses in three seasons of the classic BBC serial The House of Eliott .

He took the lead role of Colin in the feature film Weak at Denise, about a woman who is coaxed to seduce him by her immoral boyfriend to get his money but falls in love (a happy ending) and The Sky in Bloom in which he was Branick Hammond, who is dying from cancer (but that's the least of his problems) and Syrup (which was nominated for an Academy Award for best short life action feature in 1994). A bald man gets a wig and it changes his life.

He was featured artist in 166 TV commercials all over the world.

A return to the stage saw him playing Ironside, in An English Tragedy, a new play by Oscar-winning playwright Ronald Harwood. A generation of young adults know him as Mr Tucknott the pompous and terrifying bank manager in the classic Bodger and Badger series on BBCTV.

His previous stage work includes the lead role in Dragon in the Olivier Theatre as a member of the Royal National Theatre, a remarkable and innovative production by the accomplished director Ulz, after working together at Nottingham Playhouse. He was Arturo UI in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui , directed by David Gilmore at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and went on to lead roles in repertory for much his early career (including six plays by Shakespeare).

He has a long connection with the Theatre Royal, Stratford, E15, where with Jeff Teare and Patrick Prior he pioneered a series of political dramas, developing and performing leading roles in satirical attacks on Margaret Thatchers government. The same team produced pantomimes for many years during the 1980s and 90's which set a standard in British Theatre for integrity and quality.

TV work has included spells in Emmerdale and six episodes of Doctors , all different people, three different people in Heartbeat , five different people in The Bill , four different people in Midsomer Murders .

He has also makes pictures and has exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery in East London, where he has lived for most of his life.

==Selected film and television work (click title to watch clip)

YearProductionTypePartclip
2016 Loving Vincent Animated feature filmDr Mazery (who claimed van Gogh was murdered). Oscar nominated as best animated feature.
2011 Outnumbered BBCTV seriesMr Blain, Ben's teacher at parent's evening
2011 Pusher (2012 film) Feature FilmJack (who owes money to some bad, bad people. Ends up dead)
2010' The Sky in Bloom Feature filmBranick Hammond – traffics women and runs brothels. Ends up dead.
2010 Merlin BBCTV seriesCylferth – sword maker and magician. Ends up dead.
2010' Doctors BBCTV seriesHairy Potter (wigmaker won't take his medicine)
2010'' Prices to Pay Short filmThe Norfolk Farmer who shot a burglar
2009' The Canoe Man TV dramaSampson – surely campsite manager
2009 The Bill BBC TV seriesCharles Greene (nice neighbour helps victim)
2009 Heartbeat BBCTV seriesStation Master attacked by dog, pigeons and a fire extinguisher
2009 Emmerdale ITV seriesErnest Amplethorpe – impassioned lover thumps the Bishop
2008 Wire in the Blood ITV seriesJohn Rowland – paranoiac neighbour of main man
2008' The Antiques Rogueshow TV dramaFitch – the neighbour who blabs to the tabloids
2008' Trial and Retribution ITV seriesNorman Gladstone, custodian of criminal evidence warehouse
2007 Messiah BBCTV seriesHarry Fullerton – flower seller, bereaved husband and father
2007 Midsomer Murders ITV seriesDerek Wildacre – newly widowed and grieving
2006 New Tricks BBCTV seriesEvans – imprisoned for 20 years for a crime he did not commit, released after a retired policeman takes up his case.
2006 Dalziel and Pascoe TV SeriesPhil Cooper a man with a water diviner
2006 City Lights BBCTV seriesMr Youd – employs his daughters boyfriend and pal to dig a pond, lives to regret it.
2003-6 Cutting It BBCTV seriesTom Henshall – 20+ episodes as dad to three girls who set up a hairdressers. Has affair with pornstar etc. Gross wife.
2006 Foyles War BBCTV seriesWillis the Air raid warden – finds a body with a knife in it in debris of bombed house
1998 Bodger and Badger BBCTV seriesMr Woberts the watcatcher
1993 Syrup Short filmGeorge (lead) bald man gets a wig. Nominated for an Oscar.

Appearances in theatre include


Below is a photograph of the cover of "Ordinary" the first novel by Bill Thomas...

Copyright: Bill Thomas 2025 Ordinary cover photo.jpg
Copyright: Bill Thomas 2025

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Copyright: Bill Thomas 2025 Ordinary back page.jpg
Copyright: Bill Thomas 2025

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