Jeffrey Holland (actor)

For other people named Jeffrey Holland (actor), see Jeffrey Holland (actor) (disambiguation).

Jeffrey Holland
Jeffrey Holland in May 2011.
Born	Jeffrey Michael Parkes (1946-07-17) 17 July 1946 Walsall, West Midlands, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1963–present
Spouse(s)	Eleanor Hartopp (m.1971 - ?) (divorced) Judy Buxton (2004-present)
Children	2

Jeffrey Holland (born Jeffrey Michael Parkes, 17 July 1946) is an English actor well known for roles in television sitcoms, playing camp comic at the Maplin's holiday camp in Hi-de-Hi!, as well as BBC Radio comedy, including Week Ending.

Early life and career

Born in Walsall, Staffordshire, he was educated at Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall. Holland joined an amateur theatre company, and worked at a wine merchants and in the office of a manufacturing company before training at Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art and becoming a professional actor. His first stage appearance was at the Alexandra Theatre in 1967, in the Henry Cecil Leon play No Fear or Favour. He appeared in an episode of Dixon of Dock Green, Are You Being Served, several episodes of Crossroads and as a soldier in an episode of Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum. He broke through to public fame in the role of Spike Dixon, the camp comic at the Maplin's holiday camp in Hi-de-Hi!. He later appeared in Russ Abbot's Madhouse.

David Croft used three main Hi-de-Hi! actors (Paul Shane, Holland, and Su Pollard) in similar roles in a later Croft/Perry sitcom, You Rang, M'Lord? (1988–1993), and again in Oh, Doctor Beeching! (1995–1997), this time co-written with Richard Spendlove.

In 2011 he appeared in Coronation Street as Clive Drinkwater.

In 2012 he was cast in the film version of Ray Cooney's farce Run for Your Wife.

In 2013, he débuted his short one-man play, ….And this is my friend Mr Laurel, based on the life of Stan Laurel, at the Camden Fringe festival. This was taken on tour of the UK in 2014-2015. The play was devised by Holland and written by Gail Louw.

Personal life

Holland is married to the actress Judy Buxton. They married in 2004.

Television roles

Year	Title	Role
1964	Crossroads	Mike Hawkins
1974	Dixon of Dock Green	Alan Hunt
1976 to 1977	It Ain't Half Hot Mum	Aircraftsman Ormanroyd/ RAF Airman
1977	Dad's Army	Soldier
1977	Secret Army	Michel
1978	The Mayor of Casterbridge (mini-series)	Carter
1978	King Richard the Second	Duke of Surrey
1978	As You Like It	William
1977 to 1979	Are You Being Served?	The Blazer/ The Afro Pants
1979	The Life of Henry the Fift	Nym
1980 to 1988	Hi-de-Hi!	Spike Dixon
1981 to 1985	Russ Abbot's Saturday Madhouse	Various
1985	The Kenny Everett Television Show	Various
1986	Spitting Image	Lester Piggott
1986	The Les Dennis Laughter Show	Various
1988 to 1993	You Rang, M'Lord?	James Twelvetrees
1990	The Russ Abbot Show	Various
1995 to 1997	Oh, Doctor Beeching!	Cecil Parkin
2011	Coronation Street	Clive Drinkwater
2012	Run for Your Wife	Dick Holland
2015	Art Ache	Steve Phillips
2016	The National Union of Space People	Rupert Darling

External links

• Jeffrey Holland at IMDb
• Jeffrey Holland Interview Best British TV