Ian Reddington (born 25 September 1957) is an English actor.
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Ian Reddington was born in Sheffield. He was educated at Frecheville Comprehensive. He had no formal drama training, but became a leading figure in the Meatwhistle youth theatre project run by youth workers in the city. This gave him his first appearance as The Herald in Peter Weiss's Marat Sade at the Sheffield Crucible in 1973 directed by Glen Walford . He also played percussion and sang backing vocals in proto-punk outfit Musical Vomit alongside Glen Gregory, who later went on to become lead singer with Heaven 17. He then went on to study Drama at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (1976–1979) At the time one of their youngest ever entrants. There he won The William Poel Prize and The Arthur Talbot Smith Award.
Ian's first TV appearance was before a live audience in an episode of Three Up, Two Down for the BBC .He then filmed Doug Lucie's Hard Feelings for the 'Play For Today' series. His many subsequent appearances have included episodes for The Bill, Boon, Casualty, Holby City, Doctors, Peak Practice, Playing the Field, Robin Hood, Inspector Morse and Cadfael. The series : The Sculptress, The Queen's Nose , Jane Hall and Yellow Thread Street and memorably as Tommy the council worker in Shameless, Being April and his own children's series Snap. He was voted Best Villain for his portrayal of the Chief Clown in Doctor Who's The Greatest Show In The Galaxy He became The Nation's Favourite as Richard Cole aka Tricky Dicky in EastEnders and then became the only actor to create a major role in the United Kingdom's two biggest soap operas after his portrayal of Vernon Tomlin the hapless drummer in Coronation Street.
Reddington's theatre work is extensive and started with The Royal Shakespeare Company. He played Master Froth in Measure for Measure, The Tailor in The Taming of the Shrew (Play of the Year), a 'shape' in The Tempest (along with Ruby Wax and Juliet Stevenson!), The Churchill Play, The Shepherds Play, the Multi Award Winning Piaf and for the RSC in the West End both Wild Oats and Once In A LIfetime. He then went onto The Bristol Old Vic to play Kent in Edward the Second and Oh What A Lovely War. It was then out into Rep with leading roles at Plymouth, Stoke, The British Premiere of Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts for Exeter, and in Nottingham Byron's Cain. For Gteat Eastern Stage he performed in Travesties. Back at The Bristol Old Vic he appeared in Androcles and The Lion and She Stoops To Conquer and in The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband for Nottingham Playhouse. Then to The Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow where he was seen in World Premieres Judith and Saint Joan. In London's Fringe he played the title role in Katie Mitchell's Arden of Faversham at The Old Red Lion, Alec D'Urbaville in Tess at The Latchmere. Also there he performed The Promise with his own company One Word, The Collector at The Spice Of Life and Rutherford And Son at The New End. At The Bush Theatre under Mike Bradwell he appeared in the Award Winning Hard Feelings and Flamingoes.Black Masfor Foco Novo and Pamela for Shared Experience. A Who's Who Of Flapland for Lakeside, Nottingham. World Premieres of In Pursuit Of The English and Hangover Square at The Lyric Hammersmith. He worked with English experimental company Lumiere and Son in War Dance and then in Italy with the Avant-Garde La Zattere Di Babele in Tamburlaine. Further classical work saw him perform Hamlet for Oxford Stage Company, Richard the Third for The Stafford Festival and Macbeth in London. For The International New Writers Festival in Birmingham he appeared in Car Thieves,and also a platform performance of A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg at The Royal National Theatre. He has also been seen in Peter Nichol's Blue Murder, Happy as A Sandbag,the award Winning Dead Funny, Ben Elton's Gasping and The Woman in Black with Frank Finlay. For The West Yorkshire Playhouse he appeared in the much acclaimed The Lemon Princess.
He played the part of Joe's dad in the Olivier Award Winning musical Our House and the part of Mr Fulton in High School Musical 2.
He has adapted for the stage John Fowles's The Collector and (with his friend Paul Bower) Ramon Del Valle Inclan's Luces De Bohemia.
In 2011 he played Pop in the hit musical We will rock you, his acting in said musical has got to be the best in a long time and he was very much in character.
Ian appeared as Bassett in the original Highlander film fighting Cristopher Lambert
Mothertime for BBC
Crime for C4 and
St Elucia's Island
Speak Like A Child
Who needs A Heart
For Sheffield Wednesday Football Club he has written and recorded : MOVE ON UP FOR STEEL CITY The Hillsborough Crew
IF IT'S WEMBLEY IT MUST BE WEMBLEY The Hillsborough Crew (blue wave SWFCP1)
OH YES The Wednesday Kop Band (blue wave kop band 1)
EUROMANIA Elevenveeeleven (cherry red records cdgaffer6)
He is a supporter of The Bobby Moore Fund, which raises money for research into bowel cancer. He is a patron of Ali's Dream and [Brain Tumour Research http://www.braintumourresearch.org] He was guest star at one of the first Wii charity tennis events to be held in the United Kingdom.[1] He is an active participant and supporter of [The National Student Drama Festival http://nsdf.org.uk]