Friday 11 May 2007

Neil Daglish, actor

In the next few weeks I hope to feature some Daglishes who have worked in the arts. I will start with Neil Daglish, an actor with an impressive career working in the theatre and in television.

Neil was born in in Hebburn, Co. Durham in December 1949, the son of Matthew Daglish and Mary Dobson. When he was ten, the family moved to the East End of London. After the death of his father, Neil left school at 15, working in a Magistrates Court as an assistant court clerk.

Neil writes: “After three years working in the Magistrates Court, I decided that I’d rather be an actor than a court clerk. I went to the Webber Douglas School of Acting in South Kensington and completed a 3 year course. I was employed (off and on) for the next 30 years as an actor in the theatre and television and thoroughly enjoyed it. I still work as an actor, but mostly in television and do very little theatre work”.

Among the highlights of his career, Neil lists:
  • appearing in the West End production of Terence Rattigan’s last play “Cause Celebre”, with Glynis Johns;
  • playing Ernest in “The Importance of Being Earnest”, with Penelope Keith;
  • appearing as Sir Robert Chiltern in Sir Peter Hall’s production of “An Ideal Husband”;
  • starring with Nicholas Lyndhurst in “Straight And Narrow” at the Wyndham’s Theatre;
  • five plays at The National Theatre, including Arthur Miller’s “The American Clock”, William Congreve’s “Love For Love” and “The Beggar’s Opera” with Tim Curry;
  • World tours with the Derek Nimmo British Airways Playhouse Company.

The programmes from two of these productions are shown here.

Neil’s many TV credits include everything from Dr. Who (with Peter Davison) to Rumpole of The Bailey, and his recent TV work has included appearance in popular favourites such as The Bill, Casualty and Eastenders.

My thanks to Neil for providing the information. I contacted Neil a couple of weeks ago to ask his permission and it has been a pleasure to find out more about his life and work.

Research shows that Neil's family tree goes back from Hebburn, where Neil was born, to Gateshead and then to Morpeth in the mid 19th century, back John Daglish who married Hannah Hall in Morpeth in 1768 - and we know that there were Daglishes living in Morpeth long before this date. This is a large and extensive family tree that we will visit again in coming weeks.

For anyone with connections to Hebburn, there are some interesting sites. The Hebburn Website has many old school photos - there are more on Norman Dunn's Hebburn on Tyne site.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

heya this is neils great great cousin. I know your cousin Elizabeth she has never saw neil since she was a little girl she always tell us the story about you being in the bill and all the other soaps i saw you once. bye

Former member of Renegades said...

just wondering if Neil was a member of the Renegades acting group in Ilford back in the 1970s?

Anonymous said...

Neil is a blackmailing baddy in Series 4 of
When the Boat Comes In.

Anonymous said...

Yes he was a member of the Renegades. He was a good friend and I acted with him there in many plays & pantomines.

Anonymous said...

Geoff, David, Margaret, Rita, Brenda, Malcolm, some of the members whose surnames i forget. One of the productions was A Murder Has Been Arranged by Emlyn Williams in which i played Cavendish.

Anonymous said...

Believe the group was called The Queens bury Players

Anonymous said...

I was also with the Queensbury Players, based in Forest Gate, London in the 1960's, and also remember Geoff, David, Margaret, Rita, Brenda and Malcolm. I remember we also used a primitive hall with a small stage in Romford, when the scenery fell down during a performance, creating great amusement. Those were great days. I still have photographs taken on stage at Durning Hall, Forest Gate.

Frank Carter. 7th November 2017

robert best said...

I am one of many of Neil's cousins. Neil's dad Matty Daglish and my mother Lilian were brother and sister. Often met Neil's dad when visiting another uncle at Hebburn but can only remember meeting Neil once when we were both kids about 1953. When older heard Neil had become an actor and we watched him in most of his TV appearances, such as Dr WHo, When the boat comes in, and Secret Army in many episodes as one of the German soldiers in the security office, including a couple of nail biters near end of the series which he survived ..........

Richard de Rothschild said...

Neil also played Wullner in the fantastic bbc drama Secret Army.