Jeffrey Alan Rawle (born 20 July 1951) is an English actor. He is known for portraying George Dent in the news-gathering sitcom ''

Drop the Dead Donkey ''Drop the Dead Donkey'' is a British television sitcom that was first shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998. It is set in the offices of "GlobeLink News", a fictional TV news company. Recorded close to transmission, it ...

''. He also portrayed

Silas Blissett Silas Blissett is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Jeff Rawle. Rawle's casting was announced in December 2010 and it was revealed that he would portray a serial killer. Rawle was approached by ...

in ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera '' Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a ...

'' from December 2010 until 2012. Rawle returned to ''Hollyoaks'' in 2016, 2020 and 2022.

Early life

Rawle was born on 20 July 1951 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, England. His first secondary school was King Edward VI School in Aston, Birmingham. When he was 15 his family moved to

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, and it was at High Storrs Grammar School that he first became interested in drama when he appeared in school plays. He worked at the

Sheffield Playhouse The Sheffield Repertory Theatre was a theatre company in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Herbert Prince, a railway clerk, founded the amateur dramatics society in 1919,Frank Long "Sheffield" in Colin Chambers ''Twentieth Century Theatre'', ...

before training at

LAMDA LaMDA, which stands for Language Model for Dialogue Applications, is a family of conversational neural language models developed by Google. The first generation was announced during the 2021 Google I/O keynote, while the second generation was ...

Career

Rawle landed his first major role in 1973 as Billy in the television version of

Keith Waterhouse Keith Spencer Waterhouse (6 February 1929 – 4 September 2009) was a British novelist and newspaper columnist and the writer of many television series. Biography Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. H ...

and

Willis Hall Willis Edward Hall (6 April 1929 – 7 March 2005) was an English playwright and radio, television and film writer who drew on his working-class roots in Leeds for much of his writing. Willis formed an extremely prolific partnership with h ...

's '' Billy Liar''. In 1979, he appeared with Ian McKellen and Tom Bell in ''Bent'' at the Criterion Theatre, London. In 1984, he appeared in the '' Doctor Who'' story '' Frontios'' as the character Plantaganet. He appeared in '' Faith in the Future'' on ITV from 1995 to 1998. In 2004, Rawle began appearing in the ITV series ''

Doc Martin ''Doc Martin'' is a British medical comedy drama television series starring Martin Clunes as Doctor Martin Ellingham. It was created by Dominic Minghella after the character of Dr Martin Bamford in the 2000 comedy film '' Saving Grace''. The ...

'' as Roger Fenn. The actor went on to make a guest appearance in the fourth episode of the fourth series of ''

New Tricks ''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the ...

'' as lawyer Jonathan Blunt. The following year, he starred in the fourth series of '' Spooks'' as the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...

. He also appeared in ''

Ultimate Force ''Ultimate Force'' is a British television action drama series that was shown on ITV, which deals with the activities of Red Troop of the SAS (Special Air Service). The first episode was broadcast on 16 September 2002, and a total of four s ...

'' – "Never Go Back" alongside Ross Kemp. Rawle portrayed Amos Diggory, father to

Cedric Diggory Cedric Diggory is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's '' Harry Potter'' series. Cedric is one of the main characters in the fourth book, '' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', as he represents Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ...

( Robert Pattinson), in '' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. 2008 saw Rawle play

Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece ...

in the National Theatre's production of

Tony Harrison Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...

's play '' Fram''. The following year, he guested in ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...

'' and appeared in ''

The Sarah Jane Adventures ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC ...

'' on

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

. During 2010, Rawle joined the cast of ''

'' in the role of serial killer

. He stated that he was delighted to be playing such a sinister character. He has won various awards for his portrayal of Silas. He initially left the role in 2012 before making guest returns from January to May 2016, October 2020 to January 2021. He reprised the role in September 2022, where his character was finally killed off by his grandson, Bobby. In October 2012, it was announced Rawle had joined the cast of '' Doctors'' as Rory Bishton, a road sweeper with something to hide. Rawle made his screen debut as Rory in early 2013. He had previously appeared in the series in 2004. Rawle has provided numerous narrations including ''A Bear Called

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

'', three series of the Duchess of York's ''

Budgie the Little Helicopter ''Budgie the Little Helicopter'' is a British animated television series, relating to a fictional helicopter and his friends, based on a series of children's books. The characters were based on the books by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. The s ...

'', Stephen Hawking's ''Universe'' and Tom Fort's ''The Grass is Always Greener'' for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. Rawle's writing credits include ''

The Young Poisoner's Handbook ''The Young Poisoner's Handbook'' is a 1995 black comedy-drama film based on the life of Graham Young, more commonly known as "The Teacup Murderer". It was directed by Benjamin Ross and written by Ross and Jeff Rawle. The film stars Hugh O'Conor ...

'' in 1995 and ''Who Goes There?''

Filmography and television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rawle, Jeff 1951 births Living people 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors English male voice actors Male actors from Birmingham, West Midlands People educated at High Storrs Grammar School for Boys Politicians from Sheffield