Iconic EastEnders’ villain’s tragic death at just 55 after chilling promise

He was a British acting legend who starred in some of the most successful TV series of the 1980s before joining EastEnders as one of the soap’s most evil and hated villains.

Born in Chichester, the son of a butcher, Michael Elphick caught the acting bug early. He starred in several theatre productions at school, including Noah and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

But the legend of the small screen didn’t seriously consider acting a career until he was 15, first toying with the idea of joining the Merchant Navy and working at his local boatyard during school holidays.

However, when he was taken on as an apprentice electrician at the Chichester Festival Theatre at 15 as it was being built, his interest in the performing arts became irresistible after watching stars such as Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave and Sybil Thorndike. It was actually Olivier who told the youngster to enroll in drama school and even gave him the two speeches he used in his audition.

At 18, despite being offered a number of places at drama school, Elphick made the decision to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage, London, in part because this was where Olivier himself had been a student.

When he graduated the first parts he was offered were as menacing ‘heavies’ in several roles but in 1969 he won the role of the Captain in Tony Richardson’s Hamlet, and from there his career bloomed.

Elphick won roles in the cult classic The First Great Train Robbery and The Elepphant and also played Phil Daniels’ father in the cult classic film, Quadrophenia in 1979. The iconic roles kept coming and he also starred as Pasha in 1983’s Gorky Park and Jake in Withnail and I in 1987.

It wasn’t just the world of film where Elphick was making his mark, he also had a long and varied career on the stage, playing the Player King in Hamlet both in the West End and on Broadway. His final West End appearance came in 1997 where he played Doolittle in Pygmalion at the Albery Theatre.

But it was the world of television where the actor was most recognisable. He had a small role in Coronation Street in 1974 before appearing in heavyweight series such as The Professioanls and Private Schulz, a World War Two drama where he played the lead role.

In the 1980s, Elphick played Irish labourer, Magowan, during the first series of the hugely popular series Auf Wiedersehen, pet, before winning the role of Sam Tyler in four series of Three Up, Two Down.

It was in 1986 he won his biggest role to date in the massive series Boon, where he played the leading role of Ken Boon. The retired fireman opened a motorbike despatch business and then became a private investigator. The show was hugely popular, running for seven series and with an audience of 11million viewers at its peak.

After Boon ended, Elphick played another leading man in the series Harry. His character, Harry Salter was a former Fleet Street journalist who had opened his own news agency in the North East. However, it didn’t capture the public’s imagination like Boom and was soon cancelled.

However, he was still a television force to be reckoned with, appearing at Billy Bones in Ken Russell’s treasure Island and Barkis in David Copperfield.

Then, came his role as iconic EastEnders’ villain Harry Slater in 2001. Introduced as a love interest for Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor, he was soon exposed as a truly evil character. In a truly harrowing storyline it emerged Harry had sexually abused his niece, Kat Slater, played by Jesse Wallace, when she was just 13.

This had resulted in the birth of her daughter, Zoe, played by Michelle Ryan, who was brought up to believe Kate was her mother. The scene where Kat revealed the truth to Zoe was one of the most iconic in the soap’s history and was watched by 19million people.

However, behind the scenes Elphick was struggling. His heavy drinking was starting to affect his performance and his character left in the same year he had joined and was killed off-screen.

The actor had a long standing issue with alcoholism and had first tried to stop drinking in 1988 before joining Alcoholics Annoymous in the early 1990s but in 1993 he admitted he was still drinking.

Three years later he confessed he was now drinking heavily and had even considered ending his life following the death of his long-term partner, teacher Julia Alexander, in 1996. The couple had been together since 1963 and remained a couple until she died of cancer.

He later said: “At the time of Julia’s death I said that I felt like shooting myself. I actually said I was going to shoot myself on my 50th birthday and that really was how I felt. But I don’t feel like that any more.”

Tragically, it would be Elphick’s alcoholism which would lead to his death at just 55. He collapsed at his home in London just days before his 56th birthday, complaining of chest pains. He died on September 7, 2002, from a heart attack complicated by his drinking.

Following his death his EastEnders’ co-stars paid tribute to the actor. Barbara Windsor said: “I liked him very much. He was a terrific actor and has left a great legacy of great shows.”

June Brown, who played Dot Cotton added: “I was so shocked. He was a very humble man who had no side to him. He was such a wonderful actor over the years and I’m sure the world of theatre and TV will miss him.”

Martin Kemp, who worked with Elphick in the crime thriller The Krays as well as on EastEnders, said: “He was lovely to work with and he was a great actor.”

His mother, Joan, also said following his death: “He wanted to be an actor from the age of 10 and was very quiet and very kind, just like his father – a very nice person. Michael won a scholarship to the Central School of Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage in London when he was 18. Before that he did a lot of theatre and worked with Laurence Olivier.”