Peter Armitage

Peter Armitage

Born: January 26, 1940
Died: December 4, 2018
in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Peter Armitage (1940-2018) was perhaps best known for playing builder Bill Webster, father of Kevin, in Coronation Street, a role he first played in 1984, before returning to the show for a second stint in 1995 to 1997, and for a final time in 2006 to 2011. He also played a bicycle-buying father in a memorable 1980s advert for Yellow Pages. His TV career stretched back to 1970 and his many credits included roles in Ken Loach's Days of Hope, Alan Bleasdale's GBH, Jimmy McGovern's Hearts and Minds and Dockers, and Russell T Davies' The Second Coming, in which he played the father of Christopher Eccleston's modern day Christ. He also starred in the Steve Coogan film The Parole Officer in 2001, played Sergeant Kerby alongside Michael Caine in 1988's Jack the Ripper and appeared as David Jason's older, more confident brother in the 1970s sitcom Lucky Feller. He made guest appearances in programmes such as The Sweeney, The Professionals Softly Softly, Strangers, Bulman, Rockliffe's Babies, Crown Court, Casualty, Holby City, The Royal, Heartbeat, Peak Practice, Medics, and The Bill. His last TV appearance was in an episode of Doctors in 2013.

Movies for Peter Armitage...

Title: The Second Coming
Character: Frank Baxter
Released: February 9, 2003
Type: TV
Video store clerk Steve Baxter realises that he is in fact the Son of God. He has just a few days to find the human race's Third Testament and thus avert the Apocalypse.
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Title: The Royal
Character: Bill Smithson
Released: January 19, 2003
Type: TV
Follows the staff and patients of a Yorkshire cottage hospital in the 60s, embroiled in tangled love lives and bitter power struggles.
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The Parole Officer
Title: The Parole Officer
Character: Chief Constable
Released: August 10, 2001
Type: Movie
A hapless parole officer is framed for murder by a crooked police chief. To prove his innocence he must entice his former clients away from the law abiding lives they are now living to recover the evidence that will save him.
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Title: Fat Friends
Released: October 12, 2000
Type: TV
Fat Friends was an ITV drama, following a group of overweight people, their laughter and pain and addresses the absurdities of dieting in our modern age. The drama looks at people and how they relate to one another and use body weight as an excuse for all sorts of failings in their relationships, or not living their lives to the full. Four of the cast, Ruth Jones, James Corden, Sheridan Smith and Alison Steadman, went on to appear in Gavin & Stacey.
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Dockers
Title: Dockers
Character: Jimmy Nolan
Released: July 10, 1999
Type: Movie
Jimmy McGovern's depiction of the mid 90s Liverpool dockers strike. Featuring script contributions from Irvine Welsh and the real dockers themselves
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Title: Hearts and Minds
Character: Norman
Released: February 16, 1995
Type: TV
A young teacher begins work at a tough Liverpool comprehensive, where he has to deal with racism, homophobia and his students' poor backgrounds.
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Title: Harry
Character: Monkton
Released: September 18, 1993
Type: TV
Harry is a television drama series that was made by Union Pictures for the BBC, and shown on BBC One between 1993 and 1995. Harry Salter is the ruthless owner of a news agency in Darlington who will resort to any under-hand means or exploit anyone in order to get a story that he can sell to a newspaper. He is assisted at his agency by Alice, his secretary/PA, and Snappy, his photographer.
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Title: Peak Practice
Character: Rob Clulow
Released: May 10, 1993
Type: TV
Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time. It originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton as Dr Beth Glover and Simon Shepherd as Dr Will Preston, though the roster of doctors would change many times over the course of the series. Cardale was based on the Staffordshire village of Longnor for the final series, but was previously based in the Derbyshire village of Crich, although certain scenes were filmed at other nearby Derbyshire towns and villages, most notably Matlock, Belper and Ashover.
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Title: Mr. Wroe's Virgins
Character: Brother Taylor
Released: February 24, 1993
Type: TV
Based on the novel by Jane Rogers, the series follows the stories of seven young women who came to live and serve in the household of 19th century cult leader John Wroe.
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Title: Magic Grandad
Character: Grandad
Released: January 12, 1993
Type: TV
Magic Grandad was an educational programme which originally aired on BBC Two under the title 'Switch On, Switch Off' during Schools section of 1993. The show saw 'Magic' Grandad take his young grandchildren back in time, many of the adventures are about comparing the past and the present and seeing how evidence of what happened in the olden days still survives. The show was said to make learning about history "fun for youngsters" and was aimed at children aged 5-7 years. The series was introduced to support the History National Curriculum at Key Stage 1. New seasons have been made periodically to support new areas of the infant history curriculum such as seaside holidays and toys. The early season have a companion booklet of teacher's notes with descriptions of the episodes, various suggestions for follow-up work and photocopiable worksheets.
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Title: Heartbeat
Character: Harry Kearton
Released: April 10, 1992
Type: TV
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
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Title: Heartbeat
Character: Mr. Huggett
Released: April 10, 1992
Type: TV
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
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The Laughter of God
Title: The Laughter of God
Released: November 10, 1991
Type: Movie
Amanda Donohoe and Peter Firth star in Tony Bicât’s unnerving thriller about a poisoned marriage in which both people are locked in passionate affairs and fantasizing about murder
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Title: Plaza Patrol
Character: Robber
Released: July 15, 1991
Type: TV
Cannon and Ball star as security guards Trevor and Bernard at the Margaret Thatcher Plaza shopping centre Trevor Purvis and his senior, Bernard Cooney, are security guards at the Margaret Thatcher Plaza shopping precinct. Whilst Bernard is eager to just get on and get the shift completed, Purvis is a little more casual with his use of company time.
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Title: Chimera
Character: Sgt. Crichton
Released: July 7, 1991
Type: TV
A journalist investigates the death of his girlfriend at a fertility clinic where she worked and uncovers a plot to create a new breed of human based on crossing the genetics of man and ape.
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Title: G.B.H.
Character: Mr Burns
Released: June 6, 1991
Type: TV
GBH was a seven-part British television drama written by Alan Bleasdale shown in the summer of 1991 on Channel 4. The protagonists were Michael Murray, the Militant tendency-supporting Labour leader of a city council in the North of England and Jim Nelson, the headmaster of a school for disturbed children. The series was controversial partly because Murray appeared to be based on Derek Hatton, former Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council — in an interview in the G.B.H. DVD Bleasdale recounts an accidental meeting with Hatton before the series, who indicates that he has caught wind of Bleasdale's intentions but does not mind as long as the actor playing him is "handsome". In normal parlance, the initials "GBH" refer to the criminal charge of grievous bodily harm - however, the actual intent of the letters is that it is supposed to stand for Great British Holiday.
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Title: Jack the Ripper
Character: Sergeant Kerby
Released: October 11, 1988
Type: TV
Jack the Ripper is a 1988 two-part television film/miniseries portraying a fictionalized account of the hunt for Jack the Ripper, the unidentified serial killer responsible for the Whitechapel murders of 1888. The series coincided with the 100th anniversary of the murders.
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Title: Rockliffe's Babies
Released: January 9, 1987
Type: TV
In this series, devised by Richard O'Keefe, maverick Detective Sergeant Alan Rockliffe is given the job of training seven new young recruits to the C.I.D., all fresh out of uniform. Under his irascible guidance it is hoped that they will blossom into full-blown detectives. But Rockliffe is human - so human that he makes more mistakes than the 'Babies' he is supposed to be training.
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Title: Casualty
Character: Peter Adams
Released: September 6, 1986
Type: TV
Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.
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Title: Lovejoy
Character: George Palmer
Released: January 10, 1986
Type: TV
The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.
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One of the Boys
Title: One of the Boys
Character: Jacko
Released: May 2, 1978
Type: Movie
An evening's drinking by rugby players after a match gets out of hand.
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Title: The Professionals
Character: Ray Kerrigan
Released: December 30, 1977
Type: TV
The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.
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Title: Lucky Feller
Character: Randolph Mepstead
Released: September 4, 1976
Type: TV
Lucky Feller is a 1976 ITV sitcom written by Terence Frisby and produced by Humphrey Barclay. It featured David Jason and ran for just one series of 13 episodes. It is reported that London Weekend Television later tried to revive it in the 1990s but Jason did not agree to this as he felt at the time he was being over-exposed. About two brothers in South-East London, the basic set-up can be seen as a dry run for Only Fools and Horses, except with David Jason playing the nerdy "Rodders" part, Shorty Mepstead. The other brother, Randolph Mepstead, was played by Peter Armitage. In the sitcom, Jason was in love with a girl, who was sexually infatuated with - and indeed pregnant by - Randolph Mepstead. Despite her feelings for Randolph, she was engaged to Shorty and had to bed him before the end of the series to make sure that he would think he was the father. But despite her best attempts, and Jason's feelings for her, the consummation never quite happened. Guest stars included such names as Pat Heywood, Prunella Scales and Mike Grady as well as international stars such as Bert Kwouk and Saeed Jaffrey. The show was directed by both Gerry Mill and Mike Vardy and was mainly filmed in and around South London. The show was offered a second series, however writer Terence Frisby didn't feel he had enough ideas for the series to continue and therefore the show was axed after the final episode.
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Grease Monkey
Title: Grease Monkey
Character: Len
Released: January 24, 1976
Type: Movie
An old motorbike gets a new lease of life from a "grease monkey".
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Title: Days of Hope
Character: Conscientious objector in France
Released: September 11, 1975
Type: TV
Days of Hope is a BBC television drama serial produced in 1975. The series dealt with the lives of a working-class family from the turmoils of the First World War in 1916 to the General Strike in 1926. It was written by Jim Allen, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach.
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Title: The Hanged Man
Character: Sergeant of the Guard
Released: February 15, 1975
Type: TV
After surviving a series of attempts on his life, successful businessman Lew Burnett decides to remain "dead" after the most recent one so he can go undercover and find out which of his close friends and business associates want him dead.
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The Motorway File
Title: The Motorway File
Released: January 2, 1975
Type: Movie
Part of BFI collection "Worth the Risk?" An investigation into the causes of a fatal accident on a motorway, in the course of which many aspects of road safety are revealed.
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Title: The Sweeney
Character: Jacko
Released: January 2, 1975
Type: TV
Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter.
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Title: The Befrienders
Released: February 19, 1972
Type: TV
The Befrienders is a British television series produced by the BBC in 1972. The series dealt with the work of the Samaritans organisation, and the individual cases its staff came across. The leading cast members were Megs Jenkins and Michael Culver. The Befrienders was first aired as a single play as part of the Drama Playhouse strand in 1970, which was followed by one series of eleven episodes.
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Title: Justice
Character: Det. Constable Boyce
Released: October 8, 1971
Type: TV
Justice is a British drama television series which originally aired on ITV in 39 hour-long episodes between 8 August 1971 and 16 October 1974. Margaret Lockwood stars as Harriet Peterson a female barrister in the North of England. It was made by Yorkshire Television and was based loosely on Justice Is a Woman, an episode of ITV Playhouse broadcast in 1969 in which Lockwood had previously also played a barrister. The theme music was Crown Imperial by William Walton.