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Stephen Hancock

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Stephen Hancock
Born
Philip Stephen Hancock

(1925-11-24)24 November 1925
Died1 November 2015(2015-11-01) (aged 89)
Southwold, Suffolk, England
Occupation(s)Actor, musical director
SpouseJocelyne Page
Children2
RelativesChristopher Hancock (brother; deceased)

Philip Stephen Hancock (24 November 1925 – 1 November 2015) was a British television and stage actor, musical director and pianist.

He was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham and attended the Chorister School, Durham and the Darlington Grammar School before reading music at Durham University as a mature student.[1] He served as a radio engineer in the Royal Air Force during World War II.[2]

He was best known for his role as Ernest Bishop in Coronation Street. Introduced as wedding photographer Gordon Bishop in a 1967 episode dedicated to one of Elsie Tanner's marriages, he later re-emerged as the regular character Ernie and played the character from 1969 until being written out in a fatal shooting during a burglary at Mike Baldwin's factory in 1978.[2][3] Late minor TV roles included appearances in Victoria Wood as Seen on TV in 1985/1986.[4] He appeared as Mr Lillie in the Tales of the Unexpected (TV series) episode (9/6) "The Facts of Life" (1988).

He was also musical director of many stage productions and composed music for radio.

His brother was the late Christopher Hancock who played Charlie Cotton in EastEnders.[5] In 2011 he appeared in a Coronation Street tribute programme.

References

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  1. ^ "Oblique". Palatinate (106): 5. 8 November 1957. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b Hayward, Anthony (3 November 2015). "Stephen Hancock obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  3. ^ https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/10/b2/ff/10b2fff847810a3f5671e36f43d609e6.jpg [bare URL image file]
  4. ^ "Stephen Hancock". BFI. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Christopher Hancock". The Independent. 19 November 2004. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
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