
Gary Beadle
Department: Acting
Biography
Gary Beadle (born 8 July 1965) is a British actor. Beadle was raised as one of five children in Bermondsey, South London, where he was baptised a Roman Catholic. As children, he and his elder brother Rikki produced a version of the 1976 youth musical-gangster film Bugsy Malone for Southwark London Borough Council. Directed by Rikki who starred as Talula, Gary played janitor Fizzy. Rikki tried to invite the original film's director Alan Parker to the performance, but his assistant did come, and used her connections to get Rikki, Gary and their younger sister into the community-based Anna Scher Theatre School. After developing a love of hip hop, and especially Run-D.M.C. and the Sugarhill Gang, Beadle moved to New York City in his early twenties. On his return to London, using the moniker 'Pretty Boy Gee', he formed a rap group called The City Limits Crew alongside 'Little Stevie Bee'. In 1985, the duo released two 12" singles, "Keep It On" (w/ "The Mutant Rockers") and "Fresher Than Ever" on the independent record label Survival Records. Also that year, the crew recorded a session on BBC Radio 1 for John Peel and performed at Electro Rock, an international hip hop event at the Hippodrome. He also worked as a comedian but started to work as an actor, and appeared in The Young Ones (BBC 1984); the 1986 film Absolute Beginners; Jerusalem, the 1987 short film starring the Style Council pop group; Making Out in 1989–91 as Simon; the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, where he played the gay lover of Eddie's (Jennifer Saunders) ex-husband Justin; the TV series Born to Run in 1997; the ITV police drama The Bill and BBC medical drama Casualty (2001). In 2001, he started in the role of Paul Trueman in EastEnders. A loveable rogue, Beadle left the role when his contract was due to terminate - as he had not appreciated the director and script writers wanting his character to become a drug dealer. He therefore departed from the show and his exit featured the character being killed off by his gangland boss Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs). In 2007, he appeared in BBC Three comedy Thieves Like Us. In 2008, he appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures series 2 as Clyde Langer's father, Paul. In 2009, he appeared in Malice in Wonderland as DJ Felix Chester, a Cheshire Cat allusion. In 2010, he appeared in the Royal Court Theatre's Sucker Punch by Roy Williams. In 2012, he appeared in Hustle as a police officer. In 2015, he played Docker in BBC One drama The Interceptor and also featured in the Ron Howard-directed film In the Heart of the Sea which was released in December 2015. In 2016, he performed as Abioseh, an ex-tribesman in the Royal National Theatre's production of Les Blancs. He also starred as a Detective Chief Inspector in an episode of Silent Witness.
Known For

Until Death
2007

Malice in Wonderland
2010

Blank Shores
2021

Rye Lane
2023

Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose
2023

Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout
1996

Les Dogs
1990

Persuasion
2022

Jealousy
1993

The Crying Game
1992

Wild Turkey
1992

Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown
1993

Queen of the Wild Frontier
1993

Space Virgins from Planet Sex
1993

The Hunt for Tony Blair
2011

30 Years of Comic Strip
2012

The Comic Strip - A Retrospective
2005

Opening Up
2024

Nightworld: Lost Souls
1999

Bashment
2011

Extinction
2019

The Imitators
1996

Squall
2022

Plebs: Soldiers of Rome
2022

Cockneys vs Zombies
2012

Night Voice
1990

Wit
2001

White Mischief
1987

Written in Blood
1998

Stars of the Roller State Disco
1984

In the Heart of the Sea
2015

Absolute Beginners
1986

The Best of EastEnders
2018

Playing Away
1987

We Die Young
2019

GLC: The Carnage Continues
1990

National Theatre Live: Les Blancs
2019

Shall I Be Mother?
1983

The Toll
2021

Demon
2021

JerUSAlem
1986

A Glass House
2024

Hard Truths
2024

My Jerome
2023

Death Angel
1981

47 Meters Down: The Wreck
—

The Cut
2025

FIT
2010

The Bluff
2026

The Sarah Jane Adventures
2007

EastEnders
1985

The Bill
1984

Operation Good Guys
1997

Absolutely Fabulous
1992

The Young Ones
1982

The Glam Metal Detectives
1995

Johnny Vaughan Tonight
2002

Patrick Melrose
2018

It's Only TV But I Like It
1999

Hustle
2004

Making Out
1989

Casualty
1986

The Detectives
1993

Around the World in 80 Days
2021

The Wheel of Time
2021

Death in Paradise
2011

Casualty
1986

Casualty
1986

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
2024

Skint
2022

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
1996

Hatton Garden
2019

The Gentlemen
2024

Andor
2022

Dark Money
2019

Best Interests
2023

Midsomer Murders
1997

Jerk
2019

Summer of Rockets
2019

Play for Today
1970

The Comic Strip Presents...
1982

The Comic Strip Presents...
1982

Small Axe
2020

Born to Run
1997

The Interceptor
2015

The Squad
1980