John Nettles

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John Nettles : biography

11 October 1943 –

John (Jim) Vivian Drummond Nettles, OBE (born 11 October 1943) is an English actor and writer who is best known for playing the lead roles in Bergerac and Midsomer Murders.

Personal life

He married his first wife, Joyce, in 1966. They had a daughter Emma (born 1970) and divorced in 1979. He married his second wife, Cathryn Sealey, in July 1995 in Evesham, Worcestershire. He had met Sealey while doing a pantomime. They currently live in Pyworthy, Devon.

Books

During the filming of Bergerac, filmed on the island of Jersey, he wrote Bergerac’s Jersey (BBC Books, 1988; ISBN 0-563-20703-5), a travel guide to filming locations in the series. He followed up with John Nettles’ Jersey: A Personal View of the People and Places (BBC Books, 1992; ISBN 0-563-36318-5) about the island’s landscape, personalities and history.

In 1991 he wrote the semi-autobiographical Nudity in a Public Place: Confessions of a Mini Celebrity (Robson Books; ISBN 0-7451-1961-1) about becoming a "reluctant heartthrob" to female viewers of Bergerac.

In 2012 Nettles wrote Jewels and Jackboots (ISBN 978-1-905095-38-4) about the German Occupation of the British Channel Islands 1940-1945.

Other television work

In early 2010, Nettles wrote, presented and produced a three-part documentary, Channel Islands At War, to mark the 70th anniversary of the German invasion and subsequent occupation of the Channel Islands. He received threatening letters from some residents of Jersey, accusing him of implying that islanders were collaborators. He defended the documentary saying "There is no possible way you could have avoided collaboration with the occupying power who had power over the civilian population. If you had not toed the line you would have been shot." This view was supported by local historians and members of the Channel Islands Occupation Society.

Honours

Nettles was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Birthday Honours 2010. On September 21st, 2012, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Plymouth.

Early life

John Nettles was born in St Austell, Cornwall in 1943. He was adopted at birth by a carpenter Eric Nettles and his wife Elsie and he attended the local grammar school in St Austell. When he was seven years old he learned that his birth mother was a Roman Catholic Irish nurse who had been working in England during World War II. She was placed into a mental institution after illegitimately giving birth and died of tuberculosis at the age of 28. Nettles has never discovered the identity of his father, but did discover he has a brother and two sisters.

In 1962, Nettles won a scholarship and studied history and philosophy at the University of Southampton. At Southampton he first performed and, having found he liked acting, he was given several amateur parts.

Acting career

In 1969–70 he was in repertory at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter and in the latter year had his first screen role in the film One More Time. The following year he played Dr. Ian Mackenzie in the period drama A Family at War, a role he continued until 1972. Following that he had small parts in many TV programmes including The Liver Birds, Dickens of London, Robin of Sherwood and an episode of Enemy at the Door called Officers of the Law, first broadcast in March 1978.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0571852/ The latter was set in Guernsey during the World War 2 German occupation and Nettles played a police detective ordered to work for the Germans and anguished over the conflict between his duty and collaborating with the enemy. He played fraudster Giles Sutton in ITVs Heartbeat.

In 1981, John Nettles won the role that made him a household name, that of Jim Bergerac in the Jersey-set crime drama Bergerac. This ran for 87 episodes until 1991. Following the end of Bergerac Nettles did five seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in A Winter’s Tale, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Julius Caesar, Richard III and The Devil is an Ass. In 1992, he appeared in an episode of Boon and in 1993, Nettles appeared as Jim Bergerac in the spoof police comedy The Detectives.

In 1995, John Nettles was approached by Brian True-May to play Tom Barnaby in a new murder mystery series he was to produce called Midsomer Murders. This was to be the second major role of his career, again playing a policeman. Midsomer Murders has made him a household name not only in the UK, but also across the world. In 2003, he played Barnaby in the Boxing Day episode of French & Saunders. Nettles narrated the BBC documentaries Submarine and Airport from 1996 to 2005 and appeared in an episode of Heartbeat. In 2007, he appeared in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Will Smith Presents the Tao of Bergerac alongside comedian Will Smith about an obsessive fan of the series.

In February 2009, it was announced that John Nettles would be leaving Midsomer Murders after two further series were made. His final appearance on-screen was on 2 February 2011, by which time he had appeared in 81 episodes.