Shane Richie
- Profession: Actor
- Place/Date of Birth: Hampstead, 11 May 1964
What We Did On Our Holidays is on ITV1 on October 8.
Shane leaves soap land - May 05
Shane has shocked his Eastenders bosses by announcing his departure from the show.
Shane predictably picked up the Best Actor prize at the latest British Soap Awards, and during his acceptance speech said ’As you know this is my last soap awards.’
According to The Sun speaking backstage he added: "I don’t think it went down too well with the bosses. They’re trying to play it down." He has previously announced he was taking a year off but said: "The truth is I don’t know if I’m coming back."
Shane has apparently signed a two-movie deal with Dreamworks studio. He also has other projects coming up in December, and it is rumoured he may be shortly treading the boards in London’s West End in a musical. In fact, there are so many speculations about what Shane is going to do next that I wouldn’t be surprised to hear he is going to rival Brad Pitt in Hollywood.
Time Out - May 04
Apparently Shane Richie would like time away from Eastenders so he can accept other drama roles.
Eastenders has acted as a springboard for new opportunities for Shane, and since he now has a few Best Actor awards tucked firmly under his belt, it seems those new opportunities are now flooding his way. The Mirror reports that Shane has been offered a varied range of roles, including one called Mad Dog, a drama in which he would play a jailed crook who swaps lives with a camp actor who portrays him on Crimewatch.
Eastender bosses have told Shane that they cannot discuss his ?200,000 contract, which runs out in September, until late summer. A ’friend’ of his told the paper ’Shane has had many offers and there are several he is really interested in. But while he’s in the show he can’t do anything else. He needs permission and has asked for an appointment."
Shane’s dig at Grantham - May 04
Shane Richie couldn’t resist having a dig at Leslie Grantham at the British Soap Awards.
Richie collected his gong for best actor last week and although he never mentioned Dirty Den by name, made references to double entendres and Freudian slips during his speech and saying that there is a "fantastic atmosphere" among the cast despite recent events.
We chat to Shane Richie’s pal! - March 04
Chris Barfoot , BAFTA member and director of AngloAmerican Pictures, directed Shane Richie in the film Dead Clean, a gritty 15 minute black comedy in which Shane plays a Greek assassin opposite Andrew Sachs and Mark Chapman. We reported on a press story about this film in August of last year, but some of the facts were wrong, in which case we are glad Chris contacted us to put it right!
Chris spoke of a part in the film in which the press picked up on, which spoke of an ad-libbed kiss between Shane and one of his male co-stars. We now have the story of what really happened!
Chris explained that to describe Shane as a comedian or a prankster on set would not be far off the mark, and whilst he is great fun, if you are shooting something serious sometimes you want to slap him! Shane wanted to play a joke on Mark Chapman, the actor playing his rival in the short film. Shane’s joke was the ad-libbed kiss, but Chris’s joke was he said he wanted to get it on film as it might be good for the movie, in which case he made them re-take the kiss 4 or 5 times, before letting them both in on the joke!
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Shane auditioned for Pontins to be a Bluecoat that summer, and lied about his age, pretending he was 18. He got the job and enjoyed being a 16-year-old bouncer and turning away older lads trying to get into the holiday camp bar. Shane also called the bingo, organized Donkey Derby’s and was part of the live entertainment in the evenings.
He enjoyed doing stand up comedy and went on to do gigs with Lenny Henry - who persuaded Shane to change his surname to Richie. Work offers started coming in and he worked with Cannon & Ball - who christened Shane ’The Legend!’
When Shane finished his contract with Pontin’s he had his first appearance on TV - in a variety show called Summertime Special. He impressed the producers so much that they asked him to appear regularly. This led to a gradual build up of Shane on the box - he hosted many shows such as Up to Something, You Gotta Be Joking, and Caught in the Act. He was also the fella to be found doing outside broadcasts for SKY One at the BAFTA’s. By 1992 he had added dozens of DAZ commercials and a childrens show ’Run the Risk’ on CBBC’s Going Live. In between all this Shane was also starring as Kenickie in the stage show Grease. He took time out to film the show ’Win, Lose or Draw’ - which was loved by grannies and students alike and he ran riot - cracking jokes about Dale Winton, doing impressions, singing - and running the quiz!
1994 saw Shane take over the lead role in Grease as Danny Zuko and yet more TV shows - Lucky Numbers and ’The Shane Richie Experience’! The last received a lot of press attention - some bad, some good as a couple would win a quiz to get married live on air. After a while the show was called ’Love Me Do’.
At the end of 1997, Shane started to write his own musical - Boogie Nights. This was a huge success and the only other actor to have written, starred in and produced a play at the Savoy theatre in London was the late, great Noel Coward!
But it has been playing as Alfie Moon - the wideboy pub landlord in EastEnders, that has managed to cast off the cheesy gameshow host persona and won Shane a host of new fans. In fact, the character of Alfie has been a tonic to Eastenders, and Shane has fitted in like he should have always been a part of the Vic.
Shane married Coleen Nolan (the youngest of The Nolan Sisters) and they have two children Shane Juinor and Jake. Shane and Coleen divorced in 1998, and Shane now lives with his girlfriend Christie Goddard. They live in Buckinhamshire, not bad for the boy from Brent!
February 2008