Peter Ellis Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Peter Ellis
Acting
Biography
Peter Ellis (born 30 May 1936) is an English actor. Ellis has worked extensively in theatre and television both as an actor and director. He spent four seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as spending five years at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, and three years with the Old Vic Company which included playing Benvolio in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, Hotspur in Henry IV, Part 1 and later Rosencrantz in a world tour of Hamlet starring Derek Jacobi. He also played Guildenstern in Hamlet on the site of the new Globe Theatre. In the West End he appeared in The Tulip Tree and in Ray Cooney's Funny Money. He is perhaps best known for playing the role of Chief Superintendent Charles Brownlow in the long running ITV drama The Bill. Has also appeared as a semi-regular in Emmerdale Farm and Coronation Street. Other series include Sam Lyttons Diary, Edward and Mrs Simpson, The XYY Man, Nolan, The Les Dawson Show, Victoria Wood's play Talent for Granada and Acorn Antiques for BBC TV. He appeared in the David Mercer television play In Two Minds (1967), a work which was directed by Ken Loach. Ellis also appeared as a Jury Foreman in Granada Television’s daytime legal drama series Crown Court, the case of Regina v Vennings & Vennings. In 1981 Ellis appeared as a police officer in Trafalgar Square in the horror film An American Werewolf in London. In 1983, he appeared in the play Trafford Tanzi, starring Toyah Willcox, at the Mermaid Theatre in London. Ellis was a regular cast member of The Bill from the first series in 1984 until 2000 when he left the series. His last episode was written by his son Hugh Ellis who went on to write the award-winning feature Summer starring Robert Carlyle. However he did return to The Bill in 2002 for a guest appearance. He also appeared in Hugh's film The Mortician's Tea Party playing Jed. Ellis played the title role in The Mikado, Carl Rosa's opera tour of Australia. Ellis played Mr Bennet opposite Susan Hampshire in Bath Theatre tour of Pride and Prejudice, Sorin in the Bristol Old Vic production of The Seagull. More recently Ellis directed his wife Anita Parry in the comedy drama What Would Helen Mirren Do? for the Edinburgh Festival 2010. In 2011 he played Adam/Corin in Shakespeare's As You Like It at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Ellis has also appeared in Hindle Wakes at the Finbourgh Theatre In 2018, Ellis starred in For King & Country at the Southwark Playhouse.
Filmography Movies
Acting
The Bill: Target
WPC Ackland finds herself the target of an assassin's bullet.
Knockback: 2
Alan and Sylvia fall in love and Alan gains a renewed sense of purpose. He begins to hope for an eventual release on licence. However both he and Sylvia have to face the fact that, for the foreseeable future, they cannot enjoy any physical intimacy. They decide to treat their affair as a long Victorian courtship.
The World in a Room
Harry Steffans and his coloured wife, Annie, find it difficult to rent a flat.
In Two Minds
Kate, a young girl under psychiatric examination, suffers from a lack of confidence, self-esteem and self-control – telling of the “bad Kate” who commits immoral acts. Could the hypocrisy, selfishness and weakness of those around her have led to this state of mind or can Kate simply be diagnosed and dismissed as a schizophrenic?
The Spongers
In the days leading up the Queen's Silver Jubilee, Pauline, a recently separated single mother, receives a visit from a bailiff and is given 15 days to address her overdue rent payments. Meanwhile, the local council is under pressure to cut expenditure, and their decisions result in Pauline's mentally handicapped daughter Paula being transferred from a care home for special needs children to an old people's home, where she is all alone.
The Toybox
It all began so innocently for two children growing up in the deepest countryside, their imaginations set ablaze by a book on local myths and legends. Berenice convinces her younger brother Brian that she is the reincarnation of a witch with the powers to put everything right. As they grow up Brian becomes emotionally dependent on his sister, so that when she returns to the family home for Christmas with her new boyfriend he feels totally betrayed. At the same time a man strongly resembling the mythical Jake the Mid-Folker is closing in. An overwhelming sense of impending horror surrounds the house, but is the enemy outside - or is the enemy within?
Remembrance
A group of Devonport-based Royal Navy ratings, due to sail to America for a six-month NATO exercise, go out on the town on their last night in port, hitting Plymouth's notorious Union Street district, with violent results.
Talent
A play with music by Victoria Wood. Julie (Julie Walters) is a young woman seeking escape, with the help of her frumpish friend Maureen (Wood) she prepares for her singing debut at a seedy Manchester club's talent show.
An American Werewolf in London
American tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, David soon begins experiencing disturbing changes to his body and mind.
Lord Jeff
Spoiled child Geoffrey Bramer teams up with a pair of small time crooks to pose as an aristocrat and steal jewelry from exclusive shops. During a a caper, Geoffrey is caught and is sentenced to a reformatory where young men are trained to be sailors. He is befriended by model in-mate Terry O'Mulvaney but soon starts to get them both in trouble.