Adam Rickitt
Adam Peter Rickitt (born 29 May 1978) is an English actor, singer and model. He played Nick Tilsley in the soap opera Coronation Street from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2004. He is now part of the pop group 5th Story, set up for The Big Reunion.
He married Good Morning Britain presenter Katy Fawcett on 20 December 2014.[1]
Early life
Rickitt was born in Crewe, the youngest of four brothers. His father is co-owner of an estate agency. Rickitt was educated at Sedbergh School, a boarding school in Cumbria.[2]
Rickitt has spoken publicly about suffering from bulimia in his teenage years and about how male sufferers have largely been neglected.[3]
Career
Modelling
Prior to his acting career, Rickitt had briefly been a child model. He subsequently modelled for numerous UK magazines such as Attitude and Cosmopolitan.
Television
Rickitt is most famous for his role on popular ITV soap opera Coronation Street, where he took over the role of Nick Tilsley in 1997. His girlfriend sent his pictures to various showbusiness agents, one of whom was Nigel Martin-Smith. At first Martin-Smith had the idea of putting him in a boy band he was forming, but when he found out that Coronation Street were re-casting the part of Nick, Rickitt auditioned for the part and got the job. The part had been played by actor Warren Jackson until 1996 when the character moved to Canada.
Rickitt left the series in 1999, returning briefly in 2002 and for a longer spell from 2003 to 2004 after which he along with several cast members were sacked when a new producer came to the show. His most famous and controversial storyline was in 2003 when the character of Nick was involved in the series' first gay kiss with Todd Grimshaw (played by Bruno Langley).
In March 2006, Rickitt took part in the Channel 4 reality show The Games. He took part as a replacement, after the scheduled contestant, electronic musician Goldie, had to pull out, following an accident during training for the water ski jump, in which he fractured his femur. Rickitt himself sustained two black eyes after over-rotating off the diving board.[4] He finished last in the contest.
Rickitt joined the cast of the Shortland Street in early 2007 as the mysterious Kieran Mitchell with his first appearance being on 16 March 2007. The character was written out of the series in 2010, with Rickitt's final episode airing on 2 August 2010. He had said that he preferred his role on Shortland Street to working on Coronation Street.[5] He currently stars in Hollyoaks, playing regular character Kyle Kelly.
Music career
Rickitt left Coronation Street in 1999 to start a music career. He signed a six-album deal with Polydor, although he only released one album - Good Times - in 1999. Rickitt's first single, "I Breathe Again", reached number five in the UK and was certified Silver by the BPI,[6] but follow up singles "Everything My Heart Desires" (later recorded by Mandy Moore), and "Best Thing" were less successful, reaching no.15 and no.25 respectively. The album was also a commercial failure, peaking at no.41 and dropping out of the chart after only one week.[7] Rickitt was then dropped by his record label, and he abandoned his career in pop music. In 1999, at a performance at The Prince's Trust Party in the Park, a member of the audience sprayed gas onto the stage when Rickitt was performing. Rickitt fainted after inhaling the substance and was taken to hospital.[8]
In 2010, Rickitt made an appearance at London's G-A-Y club and announced that he was working on a new album. The first single from it, "Tonight", failed to chart[9] and the album was never released.
In 2014, he became part of the supergroup 5th Story, who are taking part in the second series of The Big Reunion along with Kenzie from Blazin' Squad, Dane Bowers from Another Level, Kavana and Gareth Gates.
Stage work
Rickitt starred as Mark Cohen in the 2002 UK tour of the musical Rent before moving to London's West End. He made a return to the London stage to star in Bill Kenwright's production Office Games, followed by a new play, Final Judgement, and also appeared in Nick Moran's play Telstar on UK tour.[when?] [citation needed] In December 2006, Rickitt appeared in his first pantomime, Cinderella, in the role of Prince Charming at the Norwich Theatre Royal.[10]
Political aspirations
In October 2005, Rickitt was approved as a prospective parliamentary candidate for the Conservative Party.[11] As part of this attempt to reinvent himself, in February 2006 he appeared on the political debate show Question Time,[12] as the non-partisan guest.[13] In May 2006, he was one of 100 would-be MPs chosen for the Conservative party A-list.[14] The following month, he appeared on Sunday AM with Andrew Marr.[15] He attended national and local Conservative party functions in the hope of being selected as a candidate,[16][17] and developed a political blog on his website.[citation needed] However, a newspaper article alleged[18] that he was not a member of the Conservative Party and had only decided to support them because of his dislike of then Prime Minister Tony Blair.[19] Rickitt refuted these claims and confirmed that he was a member,[19] while the newspaper retracted its claims the following week.[20] Along with David Cameron, he also provoked the anger of Sir Nicholas Winterton when it was revealed that Rickitt was being tipped to stand for the safe Conservative seat of Macclesfield, which the outraged Winterton had represented for nearly thirty years. Winterton responded that he had no intention of standing down from this seat: "I wish Adam luck, but there are no vacancies here."[8][21][22]
Rickitt has been unsuccessful in progressing his political career.[23] According to his website, in July 2007 he decided to continue his acting career in New Zealand, rather than seek selection as a candidate, although politics remains a long-term goal.[24]
He returned to the political scene in October 2010 as a guest reporter for the ITV breakfast television programme Daybreak covering the Conservative Party Conference from Birmingham,[25] and hosted a conference gay party.[26]
Charity work
Rickitt works for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as a capital appeals manager.[27]
He left in 2013 to begin working with the cancer charity Help Harry Help Others, and Chief Executive of the mental health foundation, the Caerus Partnership.[citation needed]
Shoplifting incident
On 21 September 2007, Rickitt was arrested and charged with shoplifting a block of cheese, a bottle of HP sauce and a jar of coffee beans from an Auckland supermarket. During an interview with Herald on Sunday he claimed that it was an honest mistake[28] though later claimed that he was drunk at the time of the incident.[29]
Filmography
Films
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Whatever Happened to Pete Blaggit? | Clive | Released on DVD in 2012 |
TV
Year | Show | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1997–1999, 2002–2004 | Coronation Street | Nick Tilsley | Series regular - 301 episodes |
2001 | Doctors | James Neville | 1 episode: Sun God |
2005 | Judge John Deed | Roy Storidge | 1 episode: Popular Appeal |
2007–2010 | Shortland Street | Kieran Mitchell | Series regular - 400 episodes |
2014 | The Big Reunion | Himself | |
2017- | Hollyoaks | Kyle Kelly | Series regular |
Discography
Albums
Year | Information | UK | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | Good Times
|
Singles
Year | Single | UK | Album |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | "I Breathe Again" | 5 | Good Times |
"Everything My Heart Desires" | 15 | ||
2000 | "The Best Thing" | 25 | |
2010 | "Tonight" | — | — |
References
- ^ "Adam Rickitt marries Good Morning Britain reporter Katy Fawcett". Mail Online. Archived from the original on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ The Independent (Adam Rickitt - True Blue Hunk) Archived 9 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Health | Male eating disorders 'go untreated'". BBC News. 17 August 1999. Archived from the original on 29 December 2006. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Fatter, older, slower ... Melbourne a distant second to Games for a laugh Times Online, 25 March 2006
- ^ NZ Herald[dead link]
- ^ "Certified Awards". BPI. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Roach, Martin. The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums (ISBN 978-0-7535-1700-0) Virgin Books (2009)
- ^ a b Hoggard, Liz (14 May 2006). "Adam Rickitt: True blue hunk - Profiles - People". London: The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Sarah Bull (23 August 2010). "Adam Rickitt returns to G-A-Y 10 years after I Breathe Again made him gay icon". Daily Mail. London. Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Norfolk - Entertainment - Interview: Adam Rickitt". BBC. 20 January 2007. Archived from the original on 25 March 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ The Scotsman
- ^ "Programmes | Question Time | This week's panel". BBC News. 1 February 2006. Archived from the original on 6 February 2006. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Christine Bleakley's M&M story leaves bad taste with ex-Coronation Street star Adam Rickitt - News, Film & TV". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
- ^ Tory A-lister urges well-off to avoid burdening NHS Times Online, 21 May 2006
- ^ "Programmes | The Andrew Marr Show | Guests on The Andrew Marr Show". BBC News. 4 November 2007. Archived from the original on 15 March 2009. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Lea, Michael (18 October 2005). "Corrie Adam Tory MP plan | The Sun |News". London: The Sun. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Former Street star denied election chance | Mail Online". London: Dailymail.co.uk. 8 June 2006. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ The Observer, 6 August 2006
- ^ a b "ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog: David Cameron on the A-list". Conservativehome.blogs.com. 6 August 2006. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "For the record | Comment | The Observer". London: Observer.guardian.co.uk. 15 February 2011. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
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suggested) (help) - ^ Kite, Melissa (8 October 2006). "Tory grey list thwarts the A-list". London: Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 May 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Oliver Marre: Pendennis". The Observer. London. 12 February 2011. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Oliver Marre: Pendennis". The Observer. 12 February 2011. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Adam Rickitt Journal July 2007 Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Adam Rickitt's new Day job". London: The Sun. 4 October 2010. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Geen, Jessica. "Soap star Adam Rickitt to host Conservative gay party". PinkNews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 December 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ "How Adam Rickett Went From Corrie Heart-throb To Animal Helper - UK & World News - News". Mirror.co.uk. 19 June 2011. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
{{cite web}}
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Shortland Street star questioned by police over shoplifting - Television - NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. 23 September 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
- ^ Botting, Caroline (23 July 2010). "Adam Rickitt's sensational tell-all: my life exposed - New Idea Magazine - Yahoo! New Zealand Lifestyle". Nz.lifestyle.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
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External links
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