01.01.1943 (81 years) (Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK)
Edward Peel (born 10 June 1943) is an English television and stage actor. He was described by The Times in 2010 as a "veteran star of TV dramas" and "a familiar face on television for the past 40 years".His roles include Lennie in The Sweeney episode "Bait" with George Sewell (1978), Pieterzoon in Shogun (1980) and Ted Turton in Minder episode "Broken Arrow" (1982). He played police officers in ongoing episodes of both Juliet Bravo (1983–1985) and Cracker (1993–1995) and played two different roles in Emmerdale Farm (Tom Merrick: 1981-1982, Tony Cairns: 1997-1998). He played Kane, the main villain in the 1987 Doctor Who serial Dragonfire. He also appeared as different characters in two episodes of Heartbeat, playing the part of a bank manager in the first series and later appearing as Clifford Chappell in episode 17 of series 15 entitled "Get Back". Peel also appeared in an episode called "Fair Means and Foul" in All Creatures Great and Small. Peel starred in the prime time ITV drama series London's Burning, which focused on the lives of the firefighters of London Fire Brigade's fictional fire station Blackwall. His first appearance was in Series 12 Episode 9, which aired on 5 March 2000. He played John Coleman who was the newly appointed Station Officer. He later became the Station Commander in Series 13 Episode 1. His last appearance in the programme was in Series 13 Episode 16, where he was trapped and nearly killed in a Hospital Fire, no explanation was ever given as to his sudden departure from the show. Most recently he has been cast in The Royal Today as David Collingworth, and as the Chief Inspector in the short film comedy Homicide: Division B, directed by Abner Pastoll. Peel is a part of Shakespeare's Globe and appeared in their A Midsummer Night's Dream performance. He was the face of the Direct Line Group commercials.