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John Challis

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 80.3.238.12 (talk) at 13:24, 19 September 2021 (removed category "living people" and added category "2021 deaths"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other people named John Challis, see John Challis (disambiguation).

John Challis
Challis in Shrewsbury, June 2013
Born
John Spurley Challis

(1942-08-16)16 August 1942
Bristol, England
Died19 September 2021(2021-09-19) (aged 79)
EducationOttershaw School
OccupationActor
Years active1964–2021
Spouse(s)
Jean Robertson
​
​
(m. 1966, divorced)​

​
​
(m. 1981; div. 1985)​

​
​
(m. 1987; div. 1988)​

Carol Davies
​
(m. 1995)​

John Spurley Challis[1] (16 August 1942 – 19 September 2021) was an English actor. He had an extensive television career but is best known for portraying Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long-running BBC Television sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003)[2] and its sequel/spin-off The Green Green Grass (2005–2009) and Monty Staines from the seventh series onwards in the ITV sitcom Benidorm from 2015 to 2018.

Early life

Challis was born in Bristol but when he was one year old, the family moved to south east London.[3] Challis attended the state boarding Ottershaw School near Woking, Surrey. Upon leaving school he worked as a trainee estate agent before becoming a professional actor.

Career

Television and radio

An early television role was in the controversial gangster drama Big Breadwinner Hog in 1969, and between 1971 and 1975 he made regular appearances in Z-Cars as Sergeant Culshaw.[4]

The 1979 Richard Beckinsale sitcom Bloomers was written about Challis's experience working at a garden centre while taking a break from acting.[5]

Challis was best known for playing Herman Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in Only Fools and Horses (1981—2003). The series' writer, John Sullivan, also created a spin-off for Challis called The Green Green Grass (2005—2009).[6] The outdoor scenes of The Green Green Grass were filmed at his then home, surrounding fields and local villages.

Challis in November 2013

His other television appearances include Dixon of Dock Green, Thriller, The Sweeney, Doctor Who (The Seeds of Doom), Dracula, Beau Geste, Juliet Bravo, Coronation Street, Bloomers, Citizen Smith, Ever Decreasing Circles, Doctor Snuggles, Chance in a Million, The Bill, One Foot in the Grave, Open All Hours, The New Statesman, Don't Wait Up, Soldier Soldier, Brass Eye, My Family, In Sickness and in Health, Benidorm and Heartbeat. In the 2008 series of Last of the Summer Wine he guest-starred as a fake jewel thief trying to impress the ladies.

Challis appeared on the Channel 4 mockumentary television programme Brass Eye, where he was tricked into believing Clive Anderson had been shot by Noel Edmonds. On BBC radio, he played an interrogator in the play Rules of Asylum by James Follett, broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 1973. He also played Dibden Purlew in Getting Nowhere Fast from 2001 to 2004. In 2006 he took a cameo role in BBC's The Impressionists as Station Master Garre Saint Lézasr.

In 2012 he became the narrator of the National Geographic Channel series Strippers: Cars for Cash.

Theatre

Challis has had a number of stage roles, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s and the National Theatre.[7][8] He starred in pantomime at the Plaza Theatre in Stockport as Captain Hook in Peter Pan, a role he reprised in 2018 at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. He also appeared in pantomime at Weston Playhouse in winter 2011–12 playing Ebenezer in Aladdin and as King Rat in Dick Whittington at the Plaza Theatre in Stockport over Christmas 2013 and New Year 2014. In 2013 Challis occasionally contributed to the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Live Tour as the narrator.

In 2014, Challis began a theatre tour of his one-man show titled Only Fools and Boycie, which charted his life before, during and after his time as Boycie.

Personal life and death

Challis in 2007

Challis was married to his fourth wife, Carol. They wed in Brighton in 1995[9] and since 1998 had lived in the Abbot’s Lodgings at Wigmore Abbey Grange, Adforton, Herefordshire. Challis had no children.[10]

Challis was a patron of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.[11] He was an Arsenal supporter.[12]

Challis has written two volumes of autobiography, Being Boycie and Boycie & Beyond.[13] From April 2012 he embarked on a book tour to promote Being Boycie, starting at Waterstones in Uxbridge.

On 6 September 2021, it was announced that Challis had to cancel several tours due to his cancer which was diagnosed in 2019.[14][better source needed]

On 19 September 2021, his friend Sheila Ferguson, former singer with The Three Degrees, announced via her Twitter page, that Challis had died over the weekend.[15]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1964 Where Has Poor Mickey Gone? Tim
1971 Say Hello to Yesterday Salesman
1981 Burning an Illusion Man in Car
1998 The Tichborne Claimant Rous the Landlord
2000 Five Seconds to Spare Shopping Centre Manager
2001 Dream Toby
Subterrain

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1967 The Newcomers Harry Kapper 5 episodes
1967 Z-Cars DC Armitage 2 episodes
1967 Coronation Street George Naylor 2 episodes
1968 City '68 Hospital Doctor Episode: "The Old Country"
1968 Virgin of the Secret Service Captain Kirby Episode: "The Rajah and the Suffragette"
1968 Mr. Rose DC Jackson Episode: "The Frozen Swede"
1968 Softly, Softly DC Rankin 2 episodes
1969 Big Breadwinner Hog First Operative Episode: "Self-Discipline Is Its Own Reward"
1969 ITV Playhouse Carstairs Episode: "The John Hilarian Salt Exhibition and Numerous Illustrated Slides"
1969 Who-Dun-It Rev. Lindsay Whittaker Episode: "An Embarrassment of Murder"
1969 Dixon of Dock Green Ray Episode: "Obsession"
1969 Canterbury Tales Farmhand Episode: "The Shipman's Tale"
1969 Strange Report Soldier Episode: "Report 7931: Sniper – When Is Your Cousin Not?"
1970 The Misfit Lofty Episode: "On Not Being Lost"
1971 Brett Riordan Episode: "All the King's Horses..."
1971–1975 Z-Cars Sgt. Culshaw 11 episodes
1971 Crossroads Jim Wright 9 episodes
1972 ITV Sunday Night Theatre Factory Guard Episode: "The Last Journey"
1974 Who Killed Lamb? Casson TV film
1974 Dracula Stockton-on-Tees Clerk TV film
1974 Whodunnit? Private Rhodes Episode: "Goodbye Sarge"
1974 Crown Court DI Stoddard Episode: "The Messenger Boy: Part 1"
1974–1977 Coronation Street DC Phillips 8 episodes
1975 Nightingale's Boys Pete Episode: "Decision"
1975 The Sweeney Skef Warren Episode: "Stay Lucky Eh?"
1975 The Legend of Robin Hood Castle Guard Episode: "Part 5"
1976 Doctor Who Scorby All 6 episodes of "The Seeds of Doom"
1976 Open All Hours Bread Man Episode: "Well Catered Funeral"
1976 Thriller Peter Episode: "Sleepwalker"
1976 The Cedar Tree Leonard Barnet 2 episodes
1976 The New Avengers Soldier Episode: "Dirtier by the Dozen"
1978 The Law Centre DS Sharp Episode: "Millstone"
1979 Doctor Snuggles Various Voice; All 13 episodes
1979 Bloomers Policeman Episode: #1.3
1980 Citizen Smith Chief Inspector Humphreys Episode: "The Letter of the Law"
1980 Play for Today Victor Mintell Episode: "Number on End"
1981 Play for Today Harry Episode: "Before Water Lilies"
1981–2003 Only Fools and Horses Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce 33 episodes
1981 Sink or Swim Man at Door Episode: "Ecology"
1982 Beau Geste Cpl. Dupré 4 episodes
1985 Relative Strangers CID Man Episode: #1.6
1985 Late Starter Policeman Episode: #1.5
1985 Storyboard Billy Cato Episode: "King & Castle"
1985 In Sickness and in Health Policeman Episode: #1.1
1985 Juliet Bravo Taylor Episode: "Hostage to Fortune"
1985 Howards' Way Morris 2 episodes
1986 Chance in a Million Policeman Episode: "And What Shall We Do for a Ring?"
1986 Strike It Rich! Big John Episode: "Suspicions"
1986 Roland Rat: The Series Policeman Episode: #1.6
1986 Lenny Henry Tonite Various Episode: "Gronk Zillman"
1987 C.A.T.S. Eyes Stark Episode: "A Naval Affair"
1987 Ratman Police Chief 2 episodes
1987 Alas Smith and Jones Mexican Hotel Receptionist Episode: #4.4
1987 Ever Decreasing Circles Maintenance Man Episode: "Half an Office"
1988 Wish Me Luck Victor Travussini 5 episodes
1988 Don't Wait Up Man in Jewellery Shop Episode: #5.2
1988 The Bill Ian Gore Episode: "Runaround"
1988 Casualty Harry Episode: "Living Memories"
1992 Sitting Pretty Boris Voice; Episode: "Anniversary Waltz"
1992 The New Statesman General Giray Episode: "A Bigger Splash"
1992 Sitting Pretty The Trainer Voice; Episode: "Happy Birthdays"
1993 Then Churchill Said to Me Major Harry Bouchet Episode: "Nanny by Searchlight"
1993 Get Back Monty Episode: "Money"
1996 Soldier Soldier Police Superintendent Episode: "Delayed Action"
1997 Wing and a Prayer DS Doughty Episode: "The Ties That Bind"
1998 Heartbeat Stan Fraser Episode: "Where There's a Will"
2002 Doctors James Fletcher Episode: "Feet of Clay"
2005–2009 The Green Green Grass Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce All 32 episodes
2006 The Impressionists Station Master Episode: #1.2
2007 My Family Jacob Marley Episode: "Ho Ho No"
2008 Last of the Summer Wine Jeremy Episode: "Is Jeremy Quite Safe?"
2015–2018 Benidorm Monty Staines 15 episodes
2015 Doctors Freddy Prenton Episode: "Vapour Trail"
2016 Are You Being Served? Captain Peacock TV film
2018 Sooty Henry Witham-Smythe Episode: "Just Desserts"

References

  1. ^ Being Boycie (2011) – p 9
  2. ^ Fagan, Gabrielle (8 February 2020). "John Challis: 'After three failed marriages I was resigned to being single, but meeting Carol was a turning point, she believed in me and grounded me'". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2020. John Challis is happy to accept he'll always be best known for playing Only Fools And Horses' cigar-chomping wide boy Boycie
  3. ^ Being Boycie (2011) – p 9
  4. ^ Challis, John (2011). Being Boycie. Wigmore Books Ltd. p. 250. ISBN 0956906109.
  5. ^ Challis, John (2011). Being Boycie. Wigmore. ISBN 978-0956906106.
  6. ^ "The Green Green Grass". BBC Online. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  7. ^ Richardson, Andy (28 September 2019). "'It's been a remarkable career': John Challis talks Only Fools and Horses, Beatles encounters, and his upcoming tour". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  8. ^ Enfield, Laura (10 November 2014). "Laura Enfield catches up with John Challis – Boycie from Only Fools and Horses – ahead of his appearance at the Abbey Theatre in St Albans". St Albans Review. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  9. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916–2005 – April, May, June quarter 1995
  10. ^ "John Challis: Loving our real home from home". www.shropshirestar.com.
  11. ^ "Star 'Boycie' gets prickly with bird charity over hedeghogs". www.shropshirestar.com.
  12. ^ "'I'm on my fourth wife... not counting Marlene'". Birmingham Mail. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  13. ^ Chilton, Martin (6 October 2012). "Boycie & Beyond by John Challis: review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  14. ^ "'Only Fools and Horses icon John Challis cancels tour amid secret cancer battle'". Daily Mirror. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  15. ^ Ferguson, Sheila (19 September 2021). "Sheila Ferguson 3°". Retrieved 19 September 2021 – via Twitter. I've been waiting for this for a few days now. It is with great sadness that I tell you that my dear friend, John Challis (Boycie from OFAH) has just passed
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