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Nick Berry

English actor (born 1963)

Field	Value
name	Nick Berry
image	Nick Berry in Canada.jpg
caption	Nick Berry as Nick Rowan, in Cochrane, Alberta, 1998
birth_name	Nicholas Berry
birth_date
birth_place	Woodford, Essex, England
occupation
years_active
spouse
children	2

Nicholas Berry (born 16 April 1963) is a retired English actor and pop singer. He is best known for his roles as Simon Wicks in EastEnders from 1985 to 1990, and as PC Nick Rowan in Heartbeat from 1992 to 1998. He sang UK chart singles with "Every Loser Wins" in 1986, which went to number one, and the theme song from Heartbeat, a cover of the Buddy Holly song "Heartbeat", in 1992.

Early life

Berry started acting at the age of eight, and attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.

Career

Berry played minor parts on television, film and stage, until his big break playing Simon 'Wicksy' Wicks in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, joining the series shortly after its inception in 1985 and staying until the end of 1990. Berry's character was thought up overnight and had been scheduled to appear later. However, he was introduced to restore the cast balance distorted by the unexpected departure of actor David Scarboro who played the original Mark Fowler. Scarboro's departure meant many of his functions as one of the senior of the young characters would need to be taken over by another character and thus Wicksy was introduced rather sooner than originally planned and Berry was cast with minimal delay. He was quickly hailed as ''EastEnders''' top pin-up and during this time was besieged by fan mail from female admirers.

Berry soon took a break from EastEnders to tour and make an album from which the number-one single "Every Loser Wins" came in 1986. The song was heavily featured within EastEnders in a plotline referred to as The Banned in which the youths of Albert Square formed a pop group and performed the songs on screen. It was the second-biggest-selling single in the UK that year, remaining at number one for three weeks. Its composers, Simon May, Stewart James and Bradley James, received an Ivor Novello Award.

Berry returned to EastEnders after his musical career stalled but left again in an 'open to return' storyline which was aired in December 1990. His character has made only one brief re-appearance since, in an episode dated 13 January 2012, marking the funeral of his on-screen mother, played by Pam St Clement.

In 1992, Berry was cast in the role of policeman PC (later Sgt) Nick Rowan in ITV's drama series Heartbeat (1992–98). Berry recorded the title song "Heartbeat" in 1992, a cover of the 1958 Buddy Holly hit, which reached number two in the UK singles chart and spawned a second album. His wife Rachel Robertson also appeared in the series in small one-off roles. Berry's era ended with a one-off twin episode special showing his character's new career as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer.

In 1998, Berry left Heartbeat for the BBC One series Harbour Lights. Filmed around the area of Bridport he played harbourmaster Mike Nicholls, which ran for two series.

Berry's other credits include The Mystery of Men with Neil Pearson and Warren Clarke, Respect, Paparazzo, "Duck Patrol", The Black Velvet Band with Todd Carty, and playing the police officer Liam Ketman alongside Stephen Tompkinson in the BBC crime drama In Deep.

Berry retired from acting and ran his own production company called Valentine Productions. Berry resigned from the company in October 2019.

Personal life

Just before he joined the cast of EastEnders, Berry fractured his skull in a car crash but went on to make a full recovery.

During his time in EastEnders, Berry was in a relationship with fellow cast member Gillian Taylforth, who played Kathy Beale.

Berry married actress Rachel Robertson in 1994. The couple have two sons.

Berry is a supporter of West Ham United F.C.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1983	Forever Young	Boy at school
Party Party	Ralph
	1989	Tank Malling	Joe McGrath
	1995	Paparazzo	Rick Caulker

TV

Year	Show	Role	Notes
	1976	BBC2 Playhouse	Carter	1 episode: Kites
	1983	Dramarama	Lance Boyle	1 episode: Rip It Up
1984	Dramarama	Paul Walker	1 episode: The Purple People Eater
The Box of Delights	Pirate Rat	2 episodes: Where Shall the 'Knighted Showman Go?
In Darkest Cellars Underneath
	1985	Cover Her Face	Tony	1 episode: 1.2
	1985–1990, 2012	EastEnders	Simon Wicks	Series regular: 466 episodes
	1991	Cluedo	Ben the Window-Cleaner	1 episode: Charity Begins at Home
	1992–1998	Heartbeat	Nick Rowan	Series regular: 96 episodes
	1996	Respect	Bobby Carr
	1997	Black Velvet Band	Martin Tusco
	1998	Heartbeat: Changing Places	Nick Rowan	Spin-off video
	1999	The Mystery of Men	Colin Dunbar
	1999–2000	Harbour Lights	Lt. Cmdr. Mike Nicholls	Series regular: 16 episodes
	2001–2003	In Deep	Liam Ketman	Series regular: 22 episodes

Discography

Albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions	UK
{{cite book
first= David	last= Roberts	year= 2006	title= British Hit Singles & Albums
1986	Nick Berry
1992	Nick Berry

The two identically titled albums are different.

Singles

Year	Single details	Peak chart positions	Album	UK
AUS
IRE
"Every Loser Wins"	"It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time"	"Heartbeat"	"Long Live Love"
	1986	1	93	—	Nick Berry
	1987	—	—	—
1992	2	—	18	Nick Berry
47	—	—

References

"Sylvia Young Theatre School - Alumni". sylviayoungtheatreschool.co.uk.
Smith, Julia. (1987). "EastEnders – The Inside Story". Book Club Associates.
Kingsley, Hilary. (1990). "The EastEnders Handbook". BBC books.
'[http://www.everyhit.com/searchsec.php Nick Berry chart positions]', ''everyhit.com''. Retrieved 15 December 2006.
Fletcher, Alex. (6 May 2016). "Heartbeat: Nick Berry, Tricia Penrose - Where are the cast of the ITV drama series now?". BT TV.
"West Ham United Famous Fans – West Ham Celebrity Fans". Ave-it.net.
Kent, David. (1993). "Australian Chart Book 1970–1992". Australian Chart Book.
"Nick Berry". The Irish Charts.
(11 October 1986). "Music-Week-1986-10-11-I.pdf".
"Nick Berry - It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time".

Info: Wikipedia Source

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1963-births actors-from-epping actors-from-the-london-borough-of-redbridge alumni-of-the-sylvia-young-theatre-school bbc-records-artists english-male-film-actors english-male-soap-opera-actors english-pop-singers living-people male-actors-from-essex people-from-woodford,-london singers-from-essex

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