John McArdle

For the American psychologist, see John J. McArdle.

John McArdle
Born	(1949-08-16) 16 August 1949 Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Alma mater	East 15 Acting School
Occupation	Actor
Spouse	Kathy Jamieson

John McArdle (born 16 August 1949) is an English actor. He is most notable for playing Billy Corkhill in the soap opera Brookside, with many other smaller appearances in other soaps and dramas. Playing a regular character in Brookside's heyday (alongside Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston, and working with writers such as Jimmy McGovern), he made himself memorable with his portrayal of a man beyond breaking point, which culminated with him ranting at neighbours and churning up their lawns as he drove his car around in circles.

McArdle was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel on the set of Merseybeat.

In 2006, McArdle portrayed Frank Taylor in an episode of BBC TV's Surviving Disaster that concerned the Munich air disaster of 1958, which Taylor was the only newspaper reporter to survive.

In 2010, McArdle played Christopher Mead's father in Waterloo Road.

He is also an accomplished stage actor, recently seen in Our Country's Good at the Liverpool Playhouse.

He is a patron of the Octagon Theatre in Bolton.

From 2016 to 2017, he appeared in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale as regular character Ronnie Hale. Then in March 2023, he portrayed Phil Griffiths in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1982–1984	Brookside	Mr. P. Todd	4 episodes
1984	Charlie	First Shop Steward	2 episodes
	Scully	Teacher	Episode: "#1.3"
1985–1990	Brookside	Billy Corkhill	83 episodes
1985	How We Used to Live	Doctor Wallace	Episode: "1915: Epidemic"
	Seaview	Policeman	Episode: "The Godfather"
	Fell Tiger	Reporter	Episode: "#1.1"
1986	Screen Two	'Election Countdown' Panel	Episode: "Frankie and Johnnie"
1992	Underbelly	Jack Preston	4 episodes
	Thacker	Martin Strickland	TV movie
1992–1994	Firm Friends	Peter Creswell	7 episodes
1993	Gallowglass	Paul Garnet	3 episodes
	Spender	Sam Harper	Episode: "Best Friends"
1994	Screen One	Harry	Episode: "Bambino Mio"
	The Chief	DC Dave Corbyn	Episodes: "Four and Twenty Blackbirds" and "Strained Relations"
	Screen Two	Dilke	Episode: "Skallagrigg"
	Cracker	Tom Carter	Episode: "Men Should Weep, Part 1"
	Seaforth	Fred Spence	7 episodes
	Finney	Louis Souter	3 episodes
1995	Wycliffe	Alex Keir	Episode: "The Trojan Horse"
	Rich Deceiver	Malc Freeman	TV movie
	Heartbeat	Terry Tinniswood	Episode: "Vigilante"
1996	Kavanagh QC	Simon Lloyd	Episode: "Men of Substance"
	And the Beat Goes On	Charlie Woods	8 episodes
	Prime Suspect	DCS Ballinger	Episodes: "Errors of Judgement", parts 1 & 2
	Throwaways	Spindor	TV movie
1997	The Place of the Dead	Major Ron Foster	TV movie
	Born to Run	Eddie Gallagher	Episode: "#1.3"
	Casualty	Pete Ellington	Episode: "A Taste of Freedom"
1998	Out of Hours	Dr. Daniel Laing	6 episodes
1999	Playing the Field	Graham	Episode: "#2.3"
	City Central	Michael Dennison	Episode: "Paradise Lost"
	Holby City	Ken	Episode: "Staying Alive, Part 1"
2000	Peak Practice	Clive Richards	Episode: "Faith, Hope & Love"
	Metropolis	Steve Norris	Episodes: "#1.3" and "#1.4"
	Where the Heart Is	Eddie Armitage	Episode: "Shifting Sands"
	In Defence	DCI Brian Walsh	Episode: "#1.4"
	My Fragile Heart	Roy Lavery	2 episodes
	There's Only One Jimmy Grimble	Headmaster
2001	Always and Everyone	Mr. Rogers	Episode: "Med School Educate"
	The Cazalets	Tonbridge	6 episodes
2001–2004	Merseybeat	Supt. Jim Oulton	Series 1—4; 38 episodes
2003	Gifted	Steve Moran	TV movie
2004	Casualty@Holby City	Frank Morgan	2 episodes
	Dalziel and Pascoe	Matthew Davis	Episode: "The Price of Fame"
	Through My Eyes	McAuley	2 episodes
	The Afternoon Play	Bob Collins	Episode: "Viva Las Blackpool"
2005	The Bill	Commander Ian Barrett	8 episodes
	Heartbeat	Nat Jubb	Episode: "Duty of Care"
2006	Surviving Disaster	Frank Taylor	Episode: "Munich Air Disaster"
	Foyle's War	Stan Davies	Episode: "Invasion"
	Blue Murder	Colin McAteer	Episode: "The Spartacus Thing"
2007	Mobile	Paul Stoan	Episode: "The Soldier"
2008	Doctors	Les Robson	Episode: "The Front Page"
2009	All the Small Things	Jimmy	6 episodes
	U Be Dead	Brian Pemberton	TV movie
2010	Waterloo Road	Oliver Mead	6 episodes
	Casualty	Mick Garland	Episode: "Going Solo"
	Law & Order: UK	Dan Callaghan	Episode: "Denial"
	Doctors	John Fairley	Episode: "A Child Called Moon"
2011	Waking the Dead	Murray Stuart	Episodes: "Solidarity", parts 1 & 2
	The Case	Gordon McAllister	4 episodes
2012	Doctors	Clive Royle	Episode: "Fall of a Sparrow"
	Vera	Marty	Episode: "A Certain Samaritan"
	Holby City	Jock Buchan	Episode: "When Sacha Met Chrissie"
	Crime Stories	Bill Jones	Episode: "Jackpot"
2013	New Tricks	Jim Marshall	Episode: "Things Can Only Get Better"
2016–2017	Emmerdale	Ronnie Hale	116 episodes
2023	Doctors	Phil Griffiths	Episode: "Runaway Train"

External links

• John McArdle at IMDb