John Joseph Henshaw (born August 1950) is a British actor, best known for his roles as Ken Dixon the landlord in ''

Early Doors ''Early Doors'' is a BBC sitcom written by Craig Cash and Phil Mealey. Both writers appear in the series, playing the two characters of 'Joe' and 'Duffy' who are best friends. ''Early Doors'' is set at The Grapes, a small public house in the ...

'', Wilf Bradshaw in ''

Born and Bred ''Born and Bred'' was a British light-hearted drama series aired on BBC One which ran from 21 April 2002 to 3 August 2005. It was created by Chris Chibnall and Nigel McCrery. Initially the cast was led by James Bolam and Michael French as a fa ...

'' and PC Roy Bramwell in '' The Cops.'' Often associated with characters who are "hard men", he played

John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...

in the 2007

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

drama ''Confessions of a Diary Secretary''.

Early life

One of 12 siblings, he was born in August 1950and grew up in

Ancoats Ancoats is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is located next to the Northern Quarter, the northern part of Manchester city centre. Historically in Lancashire, Ancoats became a cradle of the Industrial Revolution and has ...

, Manchester's "

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

" community. He was a binman for ten years before deciding, at the age of 40, to become an actor.

Acting career

His first big break in acting was as a minder to Robert Lindsay's character Michael Murray in the acclaimed

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

series, '' G.B.H.''. He had roles in the

Steve Coogan Stephen John Coogan (; born 14 October 1965) is an English actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. He is most known for creating original characters such as Alan Partridge, a socially inept and politically incorrect media personality, which ...

film, ''

The Parole Officer ''The Parole Officer'' is a 2001 British comedy film, directed by John Duigan. The film follows a diverse group of former criminals as they assist their probation officer in proving his innocence after a murder accusation. Plot Simon Garden ...

'' and in the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

sitcom '' The Visit'', first shown in July 2007. In 2002 he appeared in the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

drama, ''Anna Bheag'' (''Wee Anna''), although not as a Gaelic-speaking character. Other credits include ''Nice Guy Eddie'', ''

When Saturday Comes ''When Saturday Comes'' (''WSC'') is a monthly magazine about football, first published in London in 1986. "It aims to provide a voice for intelligent football supporters, offering both a serious and humorous view of the sport, covering all the ...

'' plus appearances in ''

The Royle Family ''The Royle Family'' is a British sitcom produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series from 1998 to 2000, and specials from 2006 to 2012. It centres on the lives of a television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, com ...

'', ''

Last of the Summer Wine ''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes foll ...

'', ''

Life on Mars The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...

'' and the comedy series Early Doors. In September 2007, at

the Lowry The Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex at Salford Quays, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th-century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England. The complex ope ...

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, he starred in the world premier of the play ''

King Cotton "King Cotton" is a slogan that summarized the strategy used before the American Civil War (of 1861–1865) by secessionists in the southern states (the future Confederate States of America) to claim the feasibility of secession and to prove ther ...

''. He played the role of Ken, the deputy manager in the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

adverts, in 2007 to 2008). March 2008 saw Henshaw return to the Manchester area playing the lead in

Jim Cartwright Jim Cartwright (born 27 June 1958) is an English dramatist, born in Farnworth, Lancashire. Cartwright's first play, ''Road'', won a number of awards before being adapted for TV and broadcast by the BBC. His work has been translated into more ...

's play ''

Road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

'' at the

Octagon Theatre The Octagon Theatre is a producing theatre located in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Programme The Octagon produces eight or nine professional theatre productions each year in its Main Auditorium. Productions come from a wide range of ty ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

. Summer 2009 saw Henshaw play Meatballs in the film ''

Looking for Eric ''Looking for Eric'' is a 2009 British-French film about the escape from the trials of modern life that football and its heroes can bring for its fans. It was written by screenwriter Paul Laverty and directed by the English director Ken Loach. T ...

'', directed by

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...

and starring

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...

. The character was a workmate and friend of the lead character Eric Bishop played by Steve Evets. In 2010 he played Mr Pony in ''

Terry Pratchett's Going Postal ''Terry Pratchett's Going Postal'' is a two-part television film adaptation of ''Going Postal'' by Terry Pratchett, adapted by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle and produced by The Mob, which was first broadcast on Sky1, and in high definition on S ...

'' and in 2011 he portrayed the character of John Holt, one of the original founding fathers of the

Co-operative movement The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

, in a feature film '' The Rochdale Pioneers''. In 2013 he played Arthur Potts in Series 15 Episode 5 (The Sicilian Defence) of ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the '' Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series (created by Caroline Graham), and broadcast on two channels of I ...

''. He also played the role of Harry, a mentor and friend to the main character, in

's 2012 Scottish comedy-drama ''

The Angels' Share ''The Angels' Share'' is a 2012 comedy-drama film directed by Ken Loach and starring Paul Brannigan, John Henshaw, and William Ruane. Set in Glasgow, Scotland, it tells the story of a young father who narrowly avoids a prison sentence. He is de ...

'' and Danny in Chris Shepherd's 2013 film '' The Ringer''. In 2013 he played Stan Bond in '' By Any Means'' and in 2014 played the judge in ''

Closer to the Moon ''Closer to the Moon'' ( ro, Mai aproape de lună) is a 2013 Romanian-American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nae Caranfil, and starring Vera Farmiga, Mark Strong, Harry Lloyd, Joe Armstrong, Tim Plester, Christian McKay, and Anton Les ...

''. In 2015 he played Murphy in "Charlie's Plan" directed by John McCormack. In 2017, he appeared in the BBC series ''

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective who is featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936 written by English author G. K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuiti ...

'' as Barney Butterfield episode 5.12 "The Theatre of the Invisible" and has recently returned to playing Ken the landlord in the Early Doors live stage show. He had a small role in the 2018 film ''Stan and Ollie'' as Nobby Cook, a British comedian who briefly stands in for Oliver Hardy when Hardy is taken ill.

Personal life

Henshaw is Director of the 24:7 Theatre Festival, an annual festival of new writing for theatre based in Manchester, which started in 2004. Henshaw is also a patron of the Ancoats Dispensary Trust which campaigns to save and restore for community use the

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Ancoats Dispensary close to his birthplace.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henshaw, John English male television actors English male film actors English male stage actors 1950 births Living people People from Ancoats Actors from Manchester