Neil Morrissey

Neil Anthony Morrissey (born 4 July 1962) is an English actor, businessman, narrator and presenter. He is known for his role as Tony in Men Behaving Badly. Other notable acting roles include Deputy Head Eddie Lawson in the BBC One school-based drama series Waterloo Road, Nigel Morton in Line of Duty, and Rocky in Boon. Morrissey also provided the voice of the titular character, Roley, Lofty, and others in Bob the Builder.

Early life
Morrissey was born in Stafford on 4 July 1962, the third of four sons of Irish parents who were both psychiatric nurses. He and his older brother Stephen spent much of their childhood in separate children's homes, Morrissey spending most of his time at Penkhull Children's Home, under the care of Margaret Cartlidge.

He attended Thistley Hough High School in Penkhull, where he passed all nine CSEs with O-Level-equivalent grades, despite purportedly being downgraded from taking GCE exams on account of his being raised in care. He went on to further study for his A-levels at the City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College. Morrissey had developed his skills and reputation as an actor through his teenage years at Stoke Schools Theatre, Stoke Repertory Theatre, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1979. He further studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, after receiving an educational grant, and he 'sofa-surfed' with friends, and performed street theatre, to survive first year.

Acting
In 1984, Morrissey, in his film debut, played Able Seaman Matthew Quintal in historical mariner drama The Bounty, alongside Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins and Laurence Olivier. In 1987, Morrissey rose to notoriety as dim biker Rocky in the ITV drama series Boon, alongside Michael Elphick. Many of the actors from Boon, were also involved in the 1990 British spoof horror film I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle, where he played the lead role of Noddy. In 1992, Morrissey took on the role of Tony in Men Behaving Badly, created to replace Harry Enfield, who departed after series one. The series became one of the most popular UK sitcoms of the 90s and Morrissey became a national celebrity.

During the early 1990s he appeared as "Sammy the Chamois" in Noel Edmonds' Noel's House Party.

In 1998, Morrissey starred in the John Godber rugby league film Up 'n' Under. Neil also voice Wilfred Toadflax and Dusty Dogwood in Brambly Hedge (1997), which was produced by HIT Entertainment. Because of this, Neil voiced several characters in the HIT Entertainment children's television series Bob the Builder, including the lead character, Bob, for over a decade between 1999 and 2011. During his voice acting role, he achieved two UK number 1 singles, with "Can We Fix It?" (which was the 2000 UK Christmas No 1), and "Mambo No 5" in 2001. He later provided voice narration for Morph, and Maisy.

In 2000, Morrissey starred in TV comedy film Happy Birthday, Shakespeare, where he played a coach driver, in a cast that included Amanda Holden, Les Dennis, and Freddie Highmore. In 2002, Morrissey returned to TV screens in the drama series Paradise Heights, which ran for two series. He then had a starring role in the BBC sitcom Carrie and Barry from 2004 until 2005.

His work in West End theatre work includes Speed, Robin Hood, The Daughter In-Law and his critically acclaimed West End performance in A Passionate Woman. In 2005 Morrissey performed in Victoria Wood's musical adaptation of Acorn Antiques alongside Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston and Josie Lawrence. Morrissey took over the role of Nathan Detroit from Nigel Lindsay in the London revival of Guys and Dolls from March to June 2006.

In 2007, he appeared in British TV show Skins, as Marcus Ainsworth, the father of Hannah Murray's character Cassie Ainsworth. He reprised the role in 2013, when appearing in both parts of Skins Pure. In 2007, he appeared in the BBC One school-based drama series, Waterloo Road as the new deputy headteacher, Eddie Lawson.

In January 2012, Morrissey took on the role of Fagin in Lionel Bart's musical Oliver at the Palace Theatre in Manchester. Morrissey starred alongside Adrian Edmondson, Robert Webb and Miles Jupp in the play Neville's Island at Duke of York's Theatre, London during Autumn 2014.

In 2015, he played a character called Keith, who is Johnny (Joe Maw) and Tee's (Mia McKenna Bruce) villainous mother's former boyfriend, in the CBBC sitcom The Dumping Ground. In December 2015, Morrissey starred in BBC Two's comedy-drama A Gert Lush Christmas, playing the father of Russell Howard's character.

In 2016, he joined the cast of Grantchester for the second series, where he played the role of Harding Redmond. Also in 2016, he took part in the second series of ITV's reality series Bear Grylls: Mission Survive.

From 2017, Morrissey played Greg McConnell in ITV's The Good Karma Hospital, for several seasons until 2022. He portrayed Peter Carr in Series 3 of Unforgotten in 2018. In 2021, he starred as Frank Stevenson in series four of the BBC series The Syndicate, starring alongside Katherine Rose Morley. In 2023, he was the subject of DNA Journey with Adrian Dunbar.

Morrissey played the part of Captain Perrot, an accomplice of Colonel Blood, in The Crown Jewels, a humorous play written by screenwriter Simon Nye and performed at the Garrick Theatre in London in 2023, about Blood's theft of the Crown Jewels) in 1671. The part of Blood was played by Aidan McArdle, Al Murray played King Charles II, and the cast also included Mel Giedroyc.

Spoof show
On 1 April 2006, a BBC Three spoof programme titled Neil Morrissey's Secret documented sides of Morrissey's life that were previously unknown to the world at large. It alleged he has a house, wife and two children in Jordan, as well as a degree in botany, for which he had studied for 20 years. These studies were integral to his motivation to find a breakthrough in anti-ageing, which supposedly occurred naturally amongst the local population. and he had invented a cream called The Essence which contains extracts of a plant found only in a remote Jordanian village. In the documentary the cream's acolytes include celebrities such as Jane Seymour, Gloria Hunniford and Philippa Forrester. The hoax documentary was launched on 1 April, and despite the suspicions caused by this date as April Fool's Day, it still managed to convince some people that it was true.

Business
Morrissey's love of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas led him to buy up numerous properties in the village of Laugharne, including the Hurst Hotel, the New Three Mariners pub and Brown's Hotel in April 2004 for £670,000. In October 2006, it was announced that the business had put Brown's Hotel on the market to finance the redevelopment of the Hurst Hotel, and the expansion of the private members' club, Hurst House in Covent Garden, London.

In July 2008, with delays encountered on the construction of Hurst House-at-the-Mill, a luxury hotel in Hertfordshire due to open in 2009, the Laugharne-based assets of the Hurst House group went into a packaged administration. The assets were subsequently bought by new investors, resulting in the end of Morrissey's association with Laugharne.

Morrissey part-owned the lease on the Ye Olde Punch Bowl Inn in Marton, North Yorkshire. From this base came the Morrissey Fox range of real ale, developed by Morrissey and chef Richard Fox which is still in production. In June 2009, it was reported that his Welsh pub had failed and the lease to Ye Olde Punch Bowl Inn was handed back to the owner after just 18 months on 22 October 2009.

Morrissey avoided bankruptcy over his failed business ventures but entered an IVA. Morrissey went on to own a chain of pubs in Staffordshire, including The Plume of Feathers in Barlaston, and later The Old Bramshall Inn in Bramshall. The latter opened its doors as a Neil Morrissey pub on 28 June 2018, an event which Morrissey attended. In December 2021 the leasehold was sold and the pub was renamed 'The Butchers Arms'.

Personal life
Morrissey married Amanda Noar in 1987 after meeting her when she guested in an episode of Boon; the couple have a son born in 1989. The couple divorced in 1991. He then became engaged to actress Elizabeth Carling, whom he had first met in 1989, when she too was working on Boon. They parted on good terms, and she later guest-starred alongside him on Men Behaving Badly. His subsequent affairs have been well documented by the British tabloids, including dating Rachel Weisz after starring together in My Summer with Des in 1998. They lived together at his flat in Crouch End, north London. Morrissey had an affair with Amanda Holden in 2000, whom he met filming Happy Birthday, Shakespeare, leading to her divorce in 2003 from comedian Les Dennis.

Morrissey's older brother Stephen died in 1997 following a drug overdose. Morrissey has numerous tattoos. According to one version of their origin, he applied them himself with needles and Indian ink. On his left arm are his first name and a blob which was going to be his initials before it became infected, causing him to require a tetanus jab. On his right is a squiggle which is a reversed version of The Saint logo. Morrissey himself says the tattoos were done by other boys at the children's home. The boys there apparently saw that he did not have a tattoo and so gave him the option of a tattoo or a beating. He decided on the tattoo and now regrets not taking the other option.

In 2006, Morrissey was awarded an honorary degree from Staffordshire University. He is a supporter of Crystal Palace. A fan of real ale, in 2011 he produced a real ale with the club called Palace Ale.