Spider’s Web – Cast Biographies
DENIS LILL
Denis Lill was born in New Zealand of English parents and came to England in 1967, after serving in the R.N.Z.A.F. After rep in Leicester, he toured the north-west with the Century Theatre, playing Prospero in The Tempest and Goldberg in Pinter’s The Birthday Party. A year in three-weekly rep in Canterbury followed.
Returning to London, Denis auditioned for the National Theatre: a one to one encounter with his hero, Laurence Olivier. Auditions have never held quite the same terror since! After two years at the Old Vic, he left to work in television. His extensive TV career includes: The Regiment, Fall of Eagles, Doctor Who? (two episodes, two Doctors), Rock Follies, the cult series Survivors, and the Prince of Wales/Edward VII in Lillie, Tesman to Diana Rigg’s Hedda Gabler, Major Benjy in Mapp and Lucia and many episodes of Rumpole of the Bailey. He played Rodney’s Father-in-Law in Only Fools and Horses and the odious Dennis in the award-winning Outside Edge. Denis is currently enjoying the part of Mr Rose, the pipe-smoking surgeon in ITV’s The Royal, and many appearances in TV’s Naughtiest Blunders.
His theatre credits include: touring productions of Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Cherry Orchard, The Devil’s Disciple, Mrs Warren’s Profession, Brassed Off, An Inspector Calls, The Marquise, Antony and Cleopatra at the Ludlow Festival, and at the Greenwich Theatre A Biography. West End credits include: Crucifer of Blood (Dir. Paul Giovanni) at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, When We Are Married (Dir. Jude Kelly) at the Savoy Theatre, Kafka’s Dick (Dir. Sir Peter Hall) at the Piccadilly Theatre, and An Inspector Calls (Dir. Stephen Daldry) at the Garrick Theatre. Films include: The Eagle Has Landed, Batman, China Rose, The Acts of Peter and Paul, Bad Blood, Arthur the King, Evita, Mrs Dalloway, Empire of the Sun and Richard III.
MELANIE GUTTERIDGE
Melanie trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Theatre: A Chorus of Disapproval, Private Fears in Public Places (Stephen Joseph Theatre); The Secret Rapture (Lyric Theatre, London); The Marriage of Figaro (Drill Hall); Habeas Corpus (SalisburyPlayhouse); Alone Together (the Mill, Sonning); Rebecca (Liverpool Playhouse). Film: Long Time Dead, Large, Greenwich Mean Time, Amazons and Gladiators. Television: The Bill, Rockface, The Art of War, 15 Storeys High, Manchild, Dr Terrible’s House of Horrible, Dalziel and Pascoe, The Vice, Frightmares, Dream Team, Warriors, Casualty, Arabian Nights, Picking Up the Pieces, The New Adventures of Robin Hood.
CATHERINE SHIPTON
Cathy is delighted to be playing Mildred Peake in Spider’s Web, having been an avid reader of Agatha Christie in her youth. You may be familiar with her work from the role of Duffy, which she created for the BBC series Casualty, playing from 1986-93, 1998 2004 and most recently filming a double episode in Cambodia to celebrate the show’s 21st birthday. Other screen work includes guest leads in Taggart, The Bill (live episode), Doctors, One Foot in the Grave (Christmas special),Agent Z and the Penguins From Mars. She had a cameo in the movie Spiceworld playing…. a nurse.
Recent theatre work includes: Between Friends at the OSO; Joking Apart at Windsor; Memory of Water at Watford Palace and Little Women for Theatreworks. Touring work includes: Having a Ball for Theatr Clwyd; Hiawatha for the Royal National Theatre and Murder Once Done by Richard Harris for Basingstoke and tour. She played Jane in the revival of Steaming in the West End at the Piccadilly.
When not working or running around after her daughter Tallulah, Cathy enjoys supporting Fulham Football Club and keeping fit. She has completed four London Marathons and has written a book on the subject with athlete Liz McColgan.
BEN NEALON
Trained at Drama Centre. Theatre includes The Unexpected Guest, The Hollow (Bill Kenwright), The Signal Man at Windsor and the tour of Passport for Pimlico. Other theatre includes seasons at Colchester and productions at Southwark Playhouse and the Finborough. On television Ben is best known as Lt. Forsythe in the popular drama series Soldier Soldier. Other TV includes guest parts in The Bill, Casualty, Survivors, Between The Lines, EastEnders, Bugs, Dream Team and as D. I. Baxter in Doctors.
His many film roles include the Bollywood blockbusters The Rising and Oscar-nominated Lagaan. Other films include Once There Was a Girl, The Grave, Perks and Northern Lights.
BRUCE MONTAGUE
Bruce trained at the RADA. He is best known for his television work –over 300 credits including: Butterflies (as Leonard; BBC five years);Whoops – Apocalypse! (as the Shah; LWT); The Secret Army; For Maddie–With Love; The Linkmen; The Onedin Line and Doctors. Much more television includes: The Saint and Keeping Up Appearances. Films include: 20,000 Suspects (Rank) and The Vision with Lee Remick and Dirk Bogarde.
After early years in rep and five long theatre runs with Vivien Leigh, selected theatre includes: Touch of Spring (Comedy Theatre); In the Red (Whitehall); Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Strand); Ross (The Old Vic). Musicals: Fiddler on the Roof (with Topol at the Palladium); Oliver! (as Mr Brownlow; 900 performances at the Palladium); The Phantom Of The Opera (500 performances at Her Majesty’s) and 42nd Street (as Abner Dillon; national tour 2007).He has worked for Bill Kenwright for nearly 40 years; including: Dial
‘M’ for Murder; The Chalk Garden and Charley’s Aunt. He has read over 100 Audiobooks, mostly for the BBC.
As a writer, he has three projects in pre-production: Harvey 2 for Fox; a musical of Clochemerle for Paul Myers (music by Kenny Clayton) and Father Brown, a stage play based on Chesterton’s character. He played General Mackenzie in last year’s sell-out tour of And Then There Were None and was the Wizard of Oz at the Theatre Royal, Brighton last Christmas. For more information see: www.brucemontague.co.uk or www.cherishedtelevsion.co.uk/brucemontague
MARK WYNTER
Mark Wynter made his professional debut as a recording artist and went on to have nine top 20 singles, including ‘Venus in Blue Jeans’ and ‘Go Away Little Girl’ but decided to re-invent himself as an actor. Since then Mark has enjoyed an acting career that has spanned nearly forty years appearing in plays, musicals and pantomimes, on radio, and in television and film.
West End work includes the plays Conduct Unbecoming (Queen’s) and Charley’s Aunt (Adelphi), the musicals Phil the Fluter (Palace), Jack and the Beanstalk (London Palladium), On The Twentieth Century (Her Majesty’s), Charlie Girl (Victoria Palace), Gus in Cats (New London Theatre), the Phantom and M Andre in The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s) and Vittorio Vidal in Sweet Charity (Victoria Palace).Regionally Mark has played in Present Laughter, Romeo and Juliet (as Tybalt), Candide, Henry V (title role), School for Wives, Treasure Island (as Dr Livesey), Robert and Elizabeth (as Robert Browning), Macbeth (title role), The King and I (playing the King), My Fair Lady (as Professor Higgins), and the roles of Emile de Beque in South Pacific and Monsieur Richard in Ken Hill’s Phantom of the Opera. Overseas, he has appeared in The Golden Years in Dublin, Conduct Unbecoming in Australia, Side by Side by Sondheim in Toronto, a tour of the Far and Middle East with Oh, Coward! and in the title role of Barnum in Johannesburg.
Pantomime roles go back to the title role in Jack and the Beanstalk at the famed London Palladium and have now come up to date with more contemporary roles like Captain Hook and Mr Darling in Peter Pan and Abanazar in Aladdin.
On television Mark has been seen in his own series Call in on Wynter and in A Tale of Two Rivers, According to Dora, A Tribute to Terence Rattigan, Cedar Tree, Sally Ann, Once Upon a Time and Sounds Like a Story. Radio work includes the narration of The Danny Kaye Story for BBC Radio 2 and Mark’s long recording career includes Go Away Little Girl, The Pye Anthology, Van Helsing in Nosferatu and many other cast recordings. Film work numbers the lead in the musical film Just For Fun, The Haunted House of Horrors (a critic said “Mark Wynter died wonderfully”), Red, The Jealous Mirror and Superman. More recently Mark appeared as Peter Young in the BBC television series Doctors, toured nationally as Bella Zangler in the hit musical Crazy for You, shaved his head for three tours of Annie as Daddy Warbucks, appeared in two plays at the Theatre Royal Windsor: as Hugh in The Secretary Bird and as Inspector Cleaver in Murder With Love and for Christmas seasons was Captain Hook and Mr Darling in Peter Pan and Abanazar in Aladdin, not forgetting a tour of Pride and Prejudice as the crusty irascible Mr Bennet, a role he mastered years ago at home in Sussex with his wife and three children.
Mark spent all of 2007 touring with the Agatha Christie Company as the unscrupulous Julian Farrar in The Unexpected Guest, 2008 as Dr Edward Armstrong in And Then There Were None and is looking forward to spending 2009 in Spider’s Web by the redoubtable Dame. For more Wynter info and details of Mark’s new four CD compilation log on to markwynter.com