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Playing Away With Charles Collingwood (The Archers' Brian Aldridge)

Monday 1 October 2012, 13:09
By Richard D'Arcy

The Churches of St Michael Pen Selwood and St Peter and St Paul Wincanton are proud to host Charles Collingwood's one man show entitled 'Playing Away'. This joint venture is in support of Wincanton's 'Roof Aid' appeal and Pen Selwood's annual revenue requirement.

This will take place at The Memorial Hall, Wincanton on Saturday 20th October 2012 at 7.30pm. Tea, Coffee and a Bar will be available. Tickets priced at £15 are available from the Parish Office, High Street, Wincanton Tel. 01963 824503 and Church Wardens of both churches.

Charles Collingwood 'Playing Away' poster

Playing Away with Charles Collingwood of BBC Archers' Fame

For BBC Archers fans Charles will be better known as gentleman farmer Brian Aldridge, a role he has played for over 30 years.

Charles was born in Canada and educated in Sherborne School before training at RADA. In his early years he spent time in repertory at several cities within England, before touring overseas with Relatively Speaking. At Greenwich he played opposite Penelope Keith in How The Other Half Love and then starred in Tom Stoppard's Dirty Linen at The Arts Theatre for over a year. More recently the last 25 years have been spent in broadcasting.

Charles has a string of TV credits to his name such as Hotel Bablyon, Can't Buy Me Love, White Teeth, Midsomer Murders, London's Burning, Inspector Morse, Outside Edge, Trouble In Mind, My Name Is David Lander and many more. He even co-hosted a game show series with the late Bernard Manning and appeared with Noel Edmonds on Telly Addicts. On radio, Charles recorded many comedy series with Jack Smethurst, Harry Worth, Richard Stilgoe and the much missed Roy Castle.

Whilst recording the voices for a TV puppet series he met his wife Judy. More followed including The Munch Bunch, Cloppa Castle and Mumfie The Elephant. During theses series romance blossomed and in 1975 Charles was invited to join Judy in The Archers as gentleman farmer, Brian Aldridge.

As a guest Charles has appeared on many shows. These include, winning Celebrity Weakest Link, Call My Bluff, Countdown, The Time and Good Morning With Anne and Nick, to name a few. Whilst on Radio 4, Just A Minute, Quote Unquote, Whispers and That Reminds Me.

In 2003 Charles was the subject of This Is Your Life for the BBC and continues to entertain audiences with his one man show Playing Away.

In 2009 Charles had a highly praised autobiography published, entitled Brian And Me. As a respected author he appeared on Loose Women, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and read the Sunday papers for the BBC Radio 4 Broadcasting House Show.

An evening of enthralling entertainment awaits you, as Charles guides you through his colourful life with personal anecdotes. Excerpts from shows, some surprising impressions will be included and a session of questions and answers will follow - where he's game for almost anything. The evening will conclude with Charles signing copies of his autobiography.

You can rest assured a lot will be learnt about his life in The Archers, the world of entertainment and a fair amount about his personal life. Perhaps the odd bit of spice!

Attribution to The Archers' website and Rada Enterprises for information in this article about Charles Collingwood's career.




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