That
Belfast legend James Ellis was never quite that restricted but for decades his
TV roles demanded the wearing of different uniforms It all started in the
Sixties with Z Cars. As
far back as I can remember we had this groundbreaking series on our screens.
Long before I could appreciate the characterisation and social commentary
present in the tales of a mobile squad of Merseyside coppers I came to know all
the characters.. Z Cars made stars of
Brian Blessed, Stratford Johns, Colin Welland and others but, unlike most
American fare at the time and most UK crime shows ever since it was a real
ensemble cast. It was, if you like, The
Bill of its day, social realism well to the fore. Then there was the
distinctive theme tune, still earning its keep at Goodison Park welcoming the
Everton players onto the pitch.
The
only member of the Newtown police station who was (almost) ever-present from
1962 to its rather dull denouement in 1978 denouement was Bert Lynch,
portrayed by Ellis, a rare chance to hear a Northern Irish accent outside the
News. Apparently hardly any episodes remain from the late Sixties/early
Seventies era when I would watch it regularly, which is a real shame. In those
days, Lynch was the desk sergeant but, as the Ford Zodiacs and Anglias gave way
to Escort Mk 2s and Cortinas, and our TV graduated from monochrome to colour,
he was promoted to Inspector.
Having
played the same role in more than 600 episodes over sixteen years, James Ellis
could easily have become encumbered by the Bert Lynch association for the rest
of his career, but he was too good for that. In the early Eighties he earned
rave reviews as the tough, troubled patriarch Norman Martin in a trilogy of
Plays for Today focusing on ‘Billy’, as portrayed by a youthful Kenneth
Branagh. I think I saw one but they were a bit heavy for me at that time.
More
my cup of tea was a rather cosy nostalgic series about a zoo vet, BBC1’s One By One.
Although not the lead, Jimmy Ellis was a regular throughout the three-year run
as Paddy Reilly, so no need to disguise his natural accent! His peaked cap
sported no police badge, his former slim angular frame had filled out but he
was a pleasure to watch as ever.
The
early Nineties saw Ellis feature in two comedies. In 1990, he was back in
uniform, this time in Nightingales.
as a veteran security man called – in another nod back to his Z Cars days -
Sarge, I only caught a few episodes, largely because it was on Channel 4 late
in the evening, but I could appreciate the rather surreal humour and the
quality of Jimmy’s co-stars Robert Lindsay and the thuggish David Threlfall.
The span of Nightingales overlapped with one of the last series of In Sickness and in Health,
in which Ellis regularly appeared as Michael, frequently engaging in political
badinage with Warren Mitchell’s Alf Garnett. By that time, Jonny Speight’s
scripts may have lacked the visceral power of Till Death… but the supporting cast was always top drawer, and
Jimmy Ellis was as fine as any.
In
his seventies he was still in demand. He appeared in the 2002 Christmas special
of Only Fools and Horses (the ‘Gary’
episode) but didn’t have much of a part. However, two years later he was an
integral character, albeit bedridden in Holby General, in one of Casualty’s
periodic dramatic two-parters, but the familiar Belfast accent was sadly absent.
Tragically
in real life he outlived both his sons but he was more than a mere thesp. It
was only after his death in 2014 that I became aware of Jimmy’s parallel
careers as poet and translator from French. He was also extremely popular in
his native nation and his name was attached to a prominent bridge in East
Belfast. Not many TV or stage actors can command such respect. Give me James
Eliis over James Nesbitt any day of the week!
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