Kelvin Fletcher

Last updated

Kelvin Fletcher
Born
Kelvin Warren Fletcher

(1984-01-17) 17 January 1984 (age 40)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • model
  • automobile racing driver
  • presenter
Years active1993–present
Known for Emmerdale (1996–2016)
Spouse
Elizabeth Marsland
(m. 2015)
Children4

Kelvin Warren Fletcher (born 17 January 1984) is an English actor, model, racing driver presenter and farmer. He played Andy Sugden in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale , a role he played from 1996 until 2016. In 2019, Fletcher won the seventeenth series of Strictly Come Dancing with his professional partner Oti Mabuse.

Contents

Early life

Fletcher attended Mayfield Primary School in Derker, [1] Greater Manchester for his primary school education, and North Chadderton School, Chadderton for his secondary education. [2]

Born the oldest of three boys, his youngest brother, Brayden Fletcher, was also a child actor, appearing in Coronation Street in 1996. [3] His half sister is actress and musician, Keeley Forsyth. [4] At the age of six, Fletcher started attending drama classes at the Oldham Theatre Workshop [4] and was first seen on television on a Saturday Disney report when he was starring as Charlie in Charlie Is My Darling, which he also performed in a special show at the London Palladium.

Career

Fletcher's television career began with appearances in In Suspicious Circumstances , Cracker , Heartbeat and Chiller. He also co-presented an episode of You've Been Framed with Jeremy Beadle. In 1996, Fletcher had a bit part in British soap opera, Coronation Street , before being selected to audition for Emmerdale for the role of tearaway Andy Hopwood, a schoolfriend of Robert Sugden. The character was originally scripted to appear in three episodes but was soon offered a longer contract, eventually appearing in 2,134 episodes over the course of 20 years, until he was written out of the soap in 2016. Fletcher went on to become one of the leading and most popular characters in the show, winning Best Actor and Best Dramatic Performance at the British Soap Awards.

Fletcher was once a National Champion in the minority sport inline hockey. He played for local Chadderton club 'Chaddy' Wildsharks. He was a national champion in 1998 when he and his team travelled to Newcastle and won the tournament over a weekend. Whilst playing for the 'Chaddy' Wildsharks, Fletcher gained many young fans who knew him from Emmerdale fame. They would turn out to watch him play, giving the 'Chaddy' Wildsharks junior team a larger than average audience.

On 8 September 2019, it was announced that Fletcher would be a competitor in the 2019 series of the BBC television competition, Strictly Come Dancing , as a replacement for reality TV star Jamie Laing, who had to withdraw from the show prior to airing due to a foot injury. He went on to reach the final and win the competition, resulting in his dance partner, Oti Mabuse, winning her first title on the show. [5]

In 2021 Fletcher and his wife, Liz Marland, bought a 120 acre plot of land in the village of Wincle [6] nr Macclesfield in Cheshire with the plan to set up a farm. Their efforts were filmed for a BBC TV series, Kelvin's Big Farming Adventure which aired in January 2022. [7] In 2023 the couple filmed a new series on the farm for ITV, Fletchers' Family Farm [8] which consisted of 8 hour long episodes as well as a special Fletchers' Family Farm at Christmas broadcast on 24 December 2023. [9]

Since leaving Emmerdale, Fletcher has appeared in Death in Paradise and Moving On . In January 2022, he played the part of Jack in The Teacher alongside Sheridan Smith. [10]

Motor racing career

Fletcher first ventured into motor racing after a visit to a motoring show with his father in January 2012. [2] He obtained an MSA Competition Licence and won the 2012 Silverstone Classic Celebrity Challenge race. Fletcher also competed in the Mighty Mini's and the Team Trophy. He was invited to partake in the Porsche Supercup support race of the 2014 British Grand Prix, where he finished 22nd. [11]

Fletcher signed a contract to drive a Chevrolet Cruze entered by the Power Maxed Racing team in the 2016 British Touring Car Championship in March that year. [12] He missed the Knockhill Racing Circuit and the Rockingham Motor Speedway rounds because his wife was due to give birth to their first child. Dave Newsham drove his car instead. [13] [14] During the season, Fletcher competed in 24 races spread over eight rounds of three events. He scored no points and was 31st in the final drivers' championship standings. [15]

For the 2017 season, Fletcher moved to the British GT Championship and shared a Nissan 370Z Nismo with fellow driver Tim Eakin for the UltraTek Racing RJN in the GT4 category. [16] He was mentored by FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans class victor Martin Plowman during his rookie season. [17] After three years of running in GT4 with Plowman, they will move up to the GT3 class in a Bentley Continental. [18]

Personal life

Fletcher married fellow actor Elizabeth Marsland, whom he had known since the age of eight, in a secret ceremony on 28 November 2015. [19] They have a daughter and a son and more recently twin boys. [20] Fletcher is also a fan of rugby league; growing up, he was a fan of Paul Sculthorpe and Kevin Sinfield as they were both from Oldham, and he makes occasional appearances at testimonial matches of famous players.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2020We Go in at DawnJohn Seabourne
2022 Jack Absolute Flies Again Dudley Scunthorpe

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1994 Three Seven Eleven DarrenMain cast; 10 episodes
Cracker BoyEpisode: "The Big Crunch: Part 3"
1995 Chiller GordonEpisode: "Number Six"
Heartbeat Colin EllisEpisode: "Unfinished Business"
1996 Coronation Street LadEpisode: #1.3987
1996–2016 Emmerdale Andy Sugden Regular role; 2,134 episodes
2012 Who Wants to be a Millionaire Himself (with his brother Brayden)'Schools Out' [21] Episode
2018The ShoreSteveMain cast
2019 Strictly Come Dancing Contestant (partnered with Oti Mabuse)Series winner
2021 Death in Paradise Gavin JacksonEpisode: #10.3
Moving On NathanEpisode: "More Than Words"
2022Kelvin's Big Farming AdventureHimself6 episodes
The Teacher Jack3 episodes
McDonald and Dodds Donovan JanawayEpisode: "A Billion Beats"
2023Fletchers' Family FarmHimself8 episodes plus Christmas special
2024 Father Brown Brian FlemingEpisode: #11.1 "The Kembleston Olimpicks"

Racing results

Complete Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races)

YearTeamCarClass12345678910111213141516171819DCPoints
2014 Redline Racing Porsche 991 GT3 PA2 BRH
1

12
BRH
2

11
DON
1

DON
2

SIL
1

8
SIL
2

6
BRH
1

BRH
2

13th46
Team Parker Racing THR
1

10
THR
2

10
SAR
1

CRO
1

CRO
2

SNE
1

SNE
2

KNO
1

KNO
2

ROC
1

ROC
2

Complete Porsche Supercup results

YearTeam12345678910DCPoints
2014 Porsche Cars GB ESP
MON
AUT
GBR
22
GER
HUN
BEL
ITA
USA
USA
NC†0†

As Fletcher was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)

YearTeamCar123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930DCPoints
2016 Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

25
BRH
3

Ret
DON
1

24
DON
2

Ret
DON
3

20
THR
1

Ret
THR
2

23
THR
3

17
OUL
1

29
OUL
2

23
OUL
3

22
CRO
1

Ret
CRO
2

22
CRO
3

Ret
SNE
1

Ret
SNE
2

Ret
SNE
3

18
KNO
1
KNO
2
KNO
3
ROC
1
ROC
2
ROC
3
SIL
1

22
SIL
2

22
SIL
3

26
BRH
1

24
BRH
2

24
BRH
3

21
31st0

Complete British GT Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearTeamCarClass12345678910DCPoints
2017 Team RJN Nissan with UltraTek Nissan 370Z GT4 GT4 OUL
1

23
OUL
2

19
ROC
1

22
SNE
1

25
SNE
2

19
SIL
1

24
SPA
1

23
SPA
2

23
BRH
1

19
DON
1

Ret
22nd9
2018 UltraTek Racing / Team RJN Nissan 370Z GT4 GT4 OUL
1

32
OUL
2

17
ROC
1

13
SNE
1

22
SNE
2

22
SIL
1

19
SPA
1

20
BRH
1

10
DON
1

Ret
9th65.5
2019 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT4 GT4 OUL
1

18
OUL
2

17
SNE
1

21
SNE
2

19
SIL
1

14
DON
1

20
SPA
1

23
BRH
1

17
DON
1

15
5th98.5
2021 JRM Racing Bentley Continental GT3GT3 BRH
1

7
11th59.5
Paddock Motorsport SIL
1

25
DON
1

7
SPA
1
SNE
1

2
SNE
2

8
OUL
1

9
OUL
2

9
DON
1

10
2022 Paddock Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 GT3 OUL
1

15
OUL
2

3
SIL
1
DON
1

11
SNE
1
SNE
2
SPA
1
BRH
1

21
DON
1
26th15

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References

  1. "School that taught Strictly winner to be expanded". The Oldham Times. 2 January 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher is mastering a real-life role as a racing driver". Lancashire Life. 24 October 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  3. "Emmerdale's Kelvin Fletcher: 'My little brother's in Coronation Street'". Closer. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  4. 1 2 Rogers, Jude; @juderogers (9 January 2020). "Keeley Forsyth: how the Happy Valley actor became the new Scott Walker". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  5. Hogan, Michael (8 September 2019). "Kelvin Fletcher could be Strictly's ballroom blessing in disguise" . The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. "Inside Kelvin Fletcher idyllic family farm to raise four children with wife Liz - and how you can visit". HELLO!. 24 October 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  7. "www.bbc.com/mediacentre".
  8. Cochrane, Ellis (2 June 2023). "Kelvin Fletcher returns to ITV with new farming series". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  9. "Fletchers' Family Farm back for a Christmas special | Farm News | Farmers Guardian". www.farmersguardian.com. 16 December 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  10. Honebeek, Talya (31 January 2022). "Channel 5 The Teacher: Kelvin Fletcher's famous wife, farm and motor racing career - Kelvin Fletcher stars opposite Sheridan Smith in The Teacher, Channel 5's new four-part drama". Birmingham Live. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  11. "Soap star tackles grand prix circuit". Oldham Evening Chronicle . 8 July 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  12. James, Matt (22 March 2016). "Emmerdale TV actor lands BTCC drive for 2016". Autosport . Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  13. "Newsham in at PowerMaxed as fatherhood looms for Fletcher". ITV Sport. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  14. "Newsham stands in for Fletcher at Rockingham". MotorsportDays.com. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  15. "Kelvin Fletcher: 2016 British Touring Car Championship Stats". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  16. Kilshaw, Jake (8 February 2017). "Nissan, RJN Return to British GT with UltraTek". SportsCar365. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  17. "Driver spotlight: Kelvin Fletcher". British GT Championship. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  18. "Jones and Malvern make GT3 graduation with Team Parker Racing". britishgt.com. 7 January 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  19. Fletcher (5 December 2015). "Emmerdale's Kelvin Fletcher secretly marries long-term girlfriend Liz Marsland". Digital Spy. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  20. Ransom, Jessica (11 February 2019). "Soap star reveals he's welcomed his second child". GoodtoKnow. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  21. "Soap star Kelvin in charity TV quiz". www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Scott Malvern
Nick Jones
British GT Championship
GT4 Pro-Am Champion

2019
With: Martin Plowman
Succeeded by
Mia Flewitt
Euan Hankey