Tim Healy

Tim Healy is an English actor who began his working life as a welder and a part time soldier in the Parachute Regiment before turning to the stage in the early 1970s. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne and raised in Ouston, County Durham, he answered an advertisement for the Northern Arts School in 1973 and joined the Live Theatre Company, a touring group that performed in community halls and working men's clubs. He gained wide attention in 1983 as Dennis Patterson in the comedy drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, a role he played on and off until 2004. His television work included the children's series Tickle on the Tum as the handyman Barney Bodger, the sitcom Benidorm as the cross dressing Lesley, and Still Open All Hours as Gastric from 2014 to 2019. On stage he took the role of Jackie Elliot in the West End version of Billy Elliot, and he appeared in the film Purely Belter.