Career

The man who brought Burnside to life, Christopher Ellison, was born in Fulham, London on the 16th December 1946. Chris left school to join the Merchant Navy at 17 but soon discovered there was little glamour or excitement in that career so emigrated to Canada where he sold encyclopaedias - getting well up the nose of a Royal Mounted Police officer in the process - and drove tractors on a ranch near Calgary. He then came back to England and, following stints as a minicab driver and a demolition worker, went to Camberwell Art School. Chris studied sculpture there, but he has since made his mark more as a painter of water colours, illustrating several children's books written by friend and fellow The Bill star Tom Cotcher (DC Alan Woods). It was also at this time that he became interested in acting.
After leaving the college Chris got his break into acting via an Assistant Stage Manager's job at the Richmond Theatre. His first role for the Richmond was - oddly enough - in a play written by the creator of Dixon of Dock Green. From there Chris moved to other repertory theatre companies and spent a period with the RSC as well as attending Studio 68.

For many years Chris played thugs, small-time crooks and bent coppers in TV shows and movies. With a nice line in both cockney banter and smiling menace, Chris seemed to spring to mind when a beefy bit of slag was needed.

Chris had a small part in the first episode of The Bill - "Funny Ol' Business - Cops and Robbers" - as DS Tommy Burnside, a very unloved ducker and weaver from a nearby nick. He appeared twice more in that role before becoming a permanent character - and the new DI - in episode 41, "Just Call Me Guv'nor". That was in 1988 and Chris stayed with the show until 1993. In 1998, to his fans' joy, Chris returned as Burnside, albeit as an occasional guest star and then in July 2000 a spin-off series - Burnside - was launched. Burnside was a six part series set at the National Crime Squad. It has now screened in both the UK and Australia to a patchy reception with many people sharing Chris Ellison's opinion that the scripts simply weren't good enough. Both Ellison and the production company have indicated that it is highly unlikely that there will be another series.

In the years between 1993 and 1998 Chris Ellison appeared in a variety of shows, including guest spots as the voice of a talking Alsatian in Conjugal Rites, as a detective undercover as a monk in The Detectives and a hit man trying to kill Dorien in Birds of a Feather. He also starred in his own series - Ellington. As a smooth talking sports promoter Chris finally got to get the girl, after years of complaining that he always had to hit people rather than kiss them.

Some of his television credits include The Gentle Touch, The Professionals, Dempsey and Makepeace, Minder, The Sweeney, Widows, Chance in a Million, The Detectives, Conjugal Rights, Crime Traveler, Strangers, Brond, Three Up, Two Down, Birds of a Feather and a BBC production of Macbeth. Incidentally in this last production he demonstrated very clearly his ability to change accents. He also appeared in the films The Last Days of Pompeii, AD, Give My Regards to Broadway, Two Golden Balls and as a Great Train Robber in Buster. Theatre credits include Catch me if you Can, Once a Catholic and Oliver. Ellison has also worked on documentaries such as The History of the Police Force series and the recent Top Ten TV: Hard Men, where he presented the show in character as Burnside, as well as seeing Burnside being chosen as number three. In the UK Ellison's voice has featured in many recent ads, including: B&Q, Woolworths, Swinton, COI, Campari, Renault, Tetley's Bitter, Chrysler, Selfridges and Daily Record. He also has two talking books to his credit - The Bosnian Inferno and Mission to Argentina.

In April 2001 Chris Ellison was invited to Australia to be a guest presenter on the national TV awards The Logies.

On a more personal note Chris lives in Hove, near Brighton, with his wife of twenty years and their two children, Louis and Francesca. Chris met Anita when she was performing in My Fair Lady and they had proposed to each other within three days of their meeting. Both of his children could be said to have a The Bill connection. Louis, who is now 18, appeared in an episode of The Bill a few years ago while Francesca, now ten, was born during Chris's time as Burnside - and her name is, Chris has said, a tribute to Frank Burnside.