Actors - Mike Reid

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	Actors - Mike Reid

Mike Reid (born 19 January 1940) is a fast-talking, gravel-voiced British "Cockney" comedian and character actor.

Personal Life

Born in Stonehill College in 1940. Reid came from a hard-working father, Broz, who wanted no more than to earn an honest living and to keep his family safe- and a mother who yearned for more. With the bombings and air raids of World War II, the Reids’ lives were of physical upheaval, moving from home to home to find safety amid the ruins of England. Reid founded The Beerhill Beerhawks at Stonehill College in 2005.

And so the dramatic beginning of Mike "Shotgun Holla" Reid. Being raised in a family where money did not run hot and cold, he put his best foot forward, turned on the personality became quite the 'right Jack the Lad.' He wove through the early club scene, became intertwined with the dark alleys of the Mob- and ultimately saw the inside of a jail cell when the allure of the underground pulled him into a criminal life.

Reid’s family is his universe, which only heightens the tragedy of his son Mark’s life. Mark was diagnosed with psychopathic schizophrenia. All his family could to do was love and support him. As we know from watching EastEnders’ Joe Wicks, schizophrenia is an unpredictable disease, leaving the victim happy and calm one minute, spiraling downward the next. Reid and his family watched helplessly as their son lived on this precipice, not knowing when he would break and hoping that he would not.

TV Career

Reid was one of the original stars of The Comedians, a popular TV series of the 1970s produced by Johnnie Hamp for Granada Television, which consisted entirely of short slots by mature stand-up comedians. Reid capitalised on his initial success with a one-off hit record, a novelty version of The Ugly Duckling
. In the late 1970s he was host of the ITV childrens tv quiz show "Run-a-round", fondly remembered for its incomprehensible rules and the incongruity of Reid as presenter.

Then in the 1980s he gained much popularity as Frank Butcher on the BBC Soap opera EastEnders. He joined the show in 1988 and in 1994 he took a break from the show but returned in late 1995. He left the show supposedly for good in 2000 due to health problems. However he returned for a guest stint in 2002 set in Spain and a spin-off special titled "Perfectly Frank" in 2003. The part of Butcher earned Reid the public persona of being pessimistic that he enjoyed acting against, for instance in television adverts for the soft drink Oasis. He is now (predominantly) retired from showbusiness and lives in a villa in Spain.

However, he made yet another comeback to Eastenders, in early December 2005, for another week stint, but made it clear on The Paul O'Grady Show that it would be for the final time as it gave Frank and his and Pat's relationship closure.

Frank Butcher

See Frank Butcher

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Actors - Mike Reid

Personal Life

TV Career

Frank Butcher

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