Nicholas Lyndhurst

Nicholas Lyndhurst
Lyndhurst in 2011
Born	Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst[1] (1961-04-20) 20 April 1961 (age 62) Emsworth, Hampshire, England
Alma mater	Corona Theatre School
Years active	1973–present
Spouse	Lucy Smith ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	1
Relatives	Francis Lyndhurst (grandfather)

Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst (born 20 April 1961) is an English actor. He began his career as a child actor and became best known for his role as Rodney Trotter in the sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003). He also had major roles in other sitcoms including Goodnight Sweetheart (1993–1999, 2016) (as Gary Sparrow), Going Straight (1978), Butterflies (1978–1983), The Two of Us (1986–1990), The Piglet Files (1990–1992) and After You've Gone (2007–2008). He starred in the comedy-drama series Rock & Chips (2010–2011) and co-starred in the procedural crime drama series New Tricks (2013–2015). In 2023, he was cast in the revival of the US sitcom Frasier.

Lyndhurst won two National Television Awards for his role in Goodnight Sweetheart, as well as being nominated for a British Comedy Award and three British Academy Television Awards for his role in Only Fools and Horses.

Early life

Lyndhurst was born on 20 April 1961,^[1] to parents Joe Lyndhurst and Liz Long,^[2] and raised in Emsworth, Hampshire. His parents met at the holiday camp run on the farm owned by Lyndhurst's grandfather, Francis Lyndhurst, a theatrical scenery painter and film director, who set up an early film studio at Shoreham Fort, Shoreham-by-Sea. Lyndhurst's parents separated when he was young, reuniting and separating permanently later on. Joe Lyndhurst had had an affair and started a family with another woman by the time Lyndhurst was eight, leaving Lyndhurst and his mother "poverty-stricken".^[2][3] He attended East Wittering Primary School^[1] and Corona Theatre School in Hammersmith, London.^[4]

Career

Lyndhurst appeared in various television adverts and children's films in the 1970s^[5] before winning the starring role of Tom Canty/Prince Edward in a BBC Television version of The Prince and the Pauper,^[1] directed by Barry Letts and transmitted in January 1976.^[6] Lyndhurst gained increased national recognition two years later in two BBC sitcom roles - Raymond Fletcher, the teenage son of Ronnie Barker's Norman Stanley Fletcher in Going Straight,^[1] and Adam Parkinson, a son of Wendy Craig and Geoffrey Palmer in Carla Lane's Butterflies.^[1]

Lyndhurst achieved his best-known role in another BBC sitcom, Only Fools and Horses,^[7] in which he played Rodney Trotter, the younger brother of the main character, Derek "Del Boy" Trotter, played by David Jason.^[8] Only Fools and Horses was first aired in 1981 and increased in popularity until it reached its peak in 1996 with its Christmas Day show in the UK. In a BBC poll in 2004 it was voted Britain's Best Sitcom by television viewers.^[9] Lyndhurst appeared in the show from the start until its final airing at Christmas 2003.

In 1986, Lyndhurst had a minor part in the film Gunbus/SkyBandits. The film went straight to video and was never seen in British cinemas. During the mid-1980s and 1990s Lyndhurst also played Ashley Phillips in ITV's The Two of Us, which co-starred Janet Dibley, and MI5 agent Peter "Piglet" Chapman in The Piglet Files, as well as in a number of stage performances.^[5]

Between 1993 and 1999, he played the lead character of Gary Sparrow in the time-travelling sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart.^[10] At around the same time he was the face and voice on the TV and radio commercials for the telecommunications chain Peoples Phone. Lyndhurst said that he declined an opportunity to play the lead role of Gary in the 1997 British film The Full Monty.^[11]

Between 1997 and 1999, Lyndhurst was the public face of the stationery chain store WH Smith, starring in their adverts as all four members of one family.^[1] He won a BAFTA for his acting in the adverts.^[1] In 1999 he played the villainous Uriah Heep opposite Daniel Radcliffe and Dame Maggie Smith in David Copperfield.^[12]

In 2013, he joined the cast as a regular in the BBC police procedural series New Tricks alongside Dennis Waterman and Tamzin Outhwaite.^[13][14]

In 2016 Lyndhurst revived his Goodnight Sweetheart character, Gary Sparrow, in a one-off special episode, which aired on 2 September 2016.^[10] In 2017, Lyndhurst played the role of Star Keeper in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel at the English National Opera.^[15] In 2019, he played the Governor/Innkeeper in Man of La Mancha for English National Opera at the London Coliseum opposite Kelsey Grammer as Cervantes/Quixote, Danielle de Niese as Aldonza/Dulcinea and Peter Polycarpou as Sancho.^[16] In January 2023, Lyndhurst was cast as Alan Cornwall in the new Frasier series.^[17]

Personal life

Lyndhurst lives in West Wittering, West Sussex, with his wife, Lucy, a former ballet dancer.^[18] The couple married in Chichester, West Sussex, in 1999.^[1] Their son, Archie Lyndhurst (born 4 October 2000), was also an actor appearing in So Awkward.^[12] On 22 September 2020, Archie died from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at the age of 19.^[19] In a statement, Lyndhurst said he and his wife were "utterly grief stricken and respectfully request privacy".^[20]

Lyndhurst's hobbies include underwater diving, beekeeping and piloting his own aeroplanes.^[1][21]

Filmography

Film

Television

Radio

• My First Planet (2012–2014)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Nicholas Lyndhurst at IMDb
• Nicholas Lyndhurst at the BFI's Screenonline
• Nicholas Lyndhurst discography at Discogs