Joe McGann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joe McGann
Born
Joseph McGann

(1958-07-24) 24 July 1958 (age 65)
OccupationActor
Years active1982–present
Children1
Family

Joseph McGann (born 24 July 1958) is an English actor. His roles include the lead role of Charlie Burrows, the housekeeper in the TV comedy series The Upper Hand (1990–1996), Night and Day and his voice role as Sir Gideon Ofnir in the video game Elden Ring (2022).

Life and career[edit]

McGann was born in Kensington, Liverpool to a metallurgist father also named Joe, and a teacher mother named Clare.[1][2][3]

His three younger brothers – Paul, Mark and Stephen – are also actors. He also has a younger sister named Clare after their mother.[1][2] Together with Stephen and Mark, he starred in Tom, Dick and Harry, a play by Ray and Michael Cooney at the Duke of York's Theatre, in 1995. That same year, all four brothers starred in the BBC drama The Hanging Gale.[4]

In 1982, McGann successfully auditioned for the role of Barry Grant in the British soap opera Brookside, after he was cast by show creator Phil Redmond. [5] McGann was refused an Equity card and producers had to recast the role with Paul Usher.[5]

In 1989, he portrayed Lord Glozelle in the BBC version of Prince Caspian. The following year, he started playing the role of Charlie Burrows in the long-running ITV sitcom The Upper Hand, alongside Diana Weston and Honor Blackman. During this period, he also appeared in All Creatures Great and Small and Dangerfield (TV series).[6]

In 1992, he voiced "Masklin" in the TV adaptation of Truckers, the first of Terry Pratchett's three books in The Nome Trilogy. He featured as Grimes at the Chichester Festival Theatre in the 2003 stage musical adaptation (by Jason Carr and Gary Yershon) of the novel The Water Babies.[7]

On 16 December 2007, he played one of the three Magi in BBC Three's Nativity; a live performance of the Bible story of Jesus's birth, set in modern-day Liverpool. His main solo song was "Lady Madonna", singing to the newly-born Jesus who is lying in a shopping trolley in a pub garage.[8]

McGann appeared on tour with Fiddler on the Roof playing the paterfamilias, Tevye, in 2008 but left the show 2 months before the tour ended due to an arm injury sustained on stage.[9] In 2009, he appeared on BBC's Celebrity MasterChef alongside Linda Barker and Ninia Benjamin and dropped out in the semi-finals. In May-June 2009, he appeared as Richard in "Lost Monsters" by Laurence Wilson at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. As of 2011, he can be seen occasionally guest presenting STV's daily magazine show, The Hour, alongside regular host Michelle McManus.[6]

In 2012, he was cast as Ray Say in a UK touring production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. However he dropped out of the tour midway through with understudy Phil Andrews taking over his role for the remainder of the tour. In October 2015, he joined the cast of Elf: The Musical, playing the role of Walter Hobbs at the Dominion Theatre.[10]

It was announced in 2019 that McGann had joined the cast of Hollyoaks as Edward Hutchinson, the father of established character Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard).[6] In December 2020, it was announced that McGann had filmed his final scenes on the soap, which aired later that month.[11]

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1985 No Surrender 2nd Policeman
1987–1988 Rockliffe's Babies PC Gerry O'Dowd Recurring role
1989–2019 Casualty Various Roles 8 episodes
1989 Norbert Smith: A Life Brian Beale/Ken TV film
Prince Caspian Lord Glozelle TV film
1990-1996 The Upper Hand Charlie Burrows Main role
1990 All Creatures Great and Small Nat Briggs Episode: Knowin' How to Do It
1990-1992 Harry Enfield's Television Programme Barry Scouser 7 episodes
1992 Truckers Masklin (voice) Miniseries
1995 The Hanging Gale Sean Phelan Miniseries
1997 Food of Love Sam Film
1998 The Brylcreem Boys Captain Deegan
2000 Madame Bovary Charles Bovary TV film
2001–2003 Night & Day Alex Wells Recurring role
2005–2015 Doctors Daz/Jake McIntyre 2 episodes
2007 Liverpool Nativity Magi TV film
2011 My Family Detective Cole Episode: Booked
2016 Midsomer Murders Jez Oliver Episode: Breaking the Chain
2019–2020 Hollyoaks Edward Hutchinson Recurring role
2022 Elden Ring Sir Gideon Ofnir Video game
2024 Casualty Wyatt 1 episode

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Shennan, Paddy (30 July 2017). "Surviving famine, the Titanic and D-Day - the amazing story of the McGanns". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b Dwyer, Ciara (21 August 2017). "McGann: 'I have their blood in my veins - but I own my story'". Independent Ireland. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Paul McGann Biography". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
  4. ^ "The Hanging Gale - Screen Ireland". www.screenireland.ie. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b Johnston 2012, p.160.
  6. ^ a b c Westbrook, Caroline (21 October 2019). "Who plays Tony Hutchinson's dad in Hollyoaks and where have you seen him before?". Metro. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Stage: The Water Babies, Chichester Festival Theatre, July 11 to August 31". The Argus. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Three Programmes — Liverpool Nativity". BBC. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Fiddler McGann says the show must go on". www.expressandstar.com. 20 September 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Full casting announced for Elf at Dominion". whatsonstage.com. Whats On Stage. 18 August 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Hollyoaks spoilers: Dramatic Christmas exit revealed for evil Edward Hutchinson". Metro. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.

External links[edit]