Nicholas Ball

Nicholas Ball was an English actor best known for starring as James Hazell, the private detective at the center of the television series Hazell, a part he played between 1978 and 1979. Born in Leamington Spa, he died in 2024. His television work ranged widely: he played the gang lord Terry Bates in EastEnders from 2007 to 2009, and Garry Ryan in the fifth series of Footballers' Wives and in both series of its spin-off, Footballers' Wives: Extra Time. Supporting parts came in shows such as Z-Cars, The Young Ones, Bergerac, Tales of the Unexpected, Red Dwarf, The Bill, Heartbeat, Jonathan Creek, Cold Feet, New Tricks, Casualty, Hustle, Holby City and Doctors. He also narrated audiobooks, among them titles by Christopher Hitchens and James Maybrick, and in 2019 appeared in a Premier Inn advertisement as Lenny Henry's manager.