Nigel Havers

Nigel Allan Havers (born 6 November 1951) is an English actor and presenter.

In it, he and Clarke played former KGB spies who had assimilated into English life in the 1960s and were "lost" for 25 years.

Successfully and happily living as Englishmen, their worlds are turned upside-down when they discover that the KGB is looking for them.

As they resist going back to Russia, the ex-spies lead the KGB, CIA, and MI5 on a madcap chase through England.

His first film appearance was a small part in Pope Joan (1972) and he was a character in The Glittering Prizes (1976), but his first major success came with the leading role in a BBC dramatisation of Nicholas Nickleby (1977), closely followed by another BBC drama serial, A Horseman Riding By (1978).

He ended this part of his career when his girlfriend, who later became his first wife, Carolyn Cox, suggested they move in together in 1974.

In 1975, Havers's career began to pick up with an appearance in Upstairs, Downstairs, appearing in one of the series' last episodes, "Joke Over" as Peter Dinmont, one of Georgina's (Lesley-Anne Down) Roaring Twenties "party" friends.

Dinmont is in the Rolls-Royce when Georgina accidentally kills a farmer on a bicycle.

Dinmont refuses to testify on Georgina's behalf at a preliminary trial, as he was passed out drunk in the back seat and did not witness the accident.

It was also in 1975 that Havers appeared in the Granada Television daytime series Crown Court, in which he played a hapless heroin addict, Patrick Mills, who stands trial on a series of drug offences.

Havers was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, and is the younger of two boys (with an older brother, Philip), born of Sir Michael Havers (later Lord Havers), who was a barrister who became a controversial Attorney General for England and Wales and, briefly, Lord Chancellor in the Conservative Government in the 1980s.

His paternal aunt, Lady Butler-Sloss, his grandfather Sir Cecil Havers and elder brother Philip Havers KC also had prominent legal careers.

His paternal uncle, David Havers, was a Manchester-based businessman.

He co-starred for several years in the 1980s BBC sitcom Don't Wait Up (1983–1990) alongside Dinah Sheridan and Tony Britton.

His film roles include Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film Chariots of Fire, which earned him a BAFTA nomination; as Dr. Rawlins in the 1987 Steven Spielberg war drama Empire of the Sun; and as Ronny in the 1984 David Lean epic A Passage to India.

By the time he appeared in the film Chariots of Fire (1981), he had become a familiar face on British television.

Despite his work in such films as A Passage to India (1984), Empire of the Sun (1987) and Farewell to the King (1989), he never became a film star, but has continued in a succession of starring roles on television.

He also starred in The Little Princess (1986) with Maureen Lipman, which won him a dedicated audience.

He is also widely recognised in the Lloyds Bank television commercials.

Havers co-starred with Warren Clarke in the 1991 comedic mini-series Sleepers on the BBC.

Havers appeared on This Is Your Life in 1992, having been surprised by host Michael Aspel at Twickenham Film Studios.

He later wrote an autobiography, titled Playing with Fire, which was published in October 2006 by Headline Publishing Group.

Television roles include Tom Latimer in the British TV comedy series Don't Wait Up and Lewis Archer in Coronation Street, between 2009 and 2019.

In 2009, Havers appeared in the U.S. television drama Brothers & Sisters, and the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.

On 18 December 2009, he first appeared in the British soap (broadcast on the ITV network) Coronation Street playing the charming escort Lewis Archer, who woos Audrey Roberts.

He left on 13 August 2010.

In November 2010, Havers became a contestant on the tenth series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, which started on 14 November 2010.

On 21 November, Havers left the show after vehemently objecting to a challenge called Kangaroo Court in which contestants who lost the challenge would be subjected to an electric shock.

He returned to the role on 17 February 2012 and left again on 1 February 2013.

Havers took part in the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are?, broadcast in the UK in July 2013.

As part of the show he explored his ancestry from an Essex businessman, on his father's side, and a Cornish miller on his mother's side.

Havers was educated at Nowton Court Prep School in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and the Arts Educational School, an independent school in London, opting against the Eton education traditional to his family (except his father, who was educated at Westminster School), because he thought that fagging "sounded frightful".

Havers is most known for "playing the quintessential, old school Englishman with his dashing good looks, cut-glass accent and thoroughly charming manner".

Havers's first acting job was in the radio series Mrs Dale's Diary and he subsequently went on to working for the Prospect Theatre Company initially "carrying a spear and making cups of tea" as he puts it in his autobiography.

After this he had a stint working for a Jamie Symonds.

Symonds, who was interviewed on Richard and Judy, stated "Nige used to babysit for us back then as well as iron and generally fix things. I loved him greatly as I still do. I miss his fluffy hair and his strong hands".

From an early age Havers had an eye for the ladies; Kenneth More, a friend of his father, advised a young Havers that "If you are charming, you don't have to ask them to go to bed, they ask you".

He describes his experiences with an early leading lady, Maxine Audley thus: "I was in her dressing room doing whatever she asked me to, and I mean anything and everything. One afternoon I sauntered into her dressing room, still in my officer's kit, only to find a similarly clad new member of the cast rehearsing what I had perfected over the past few months. My time was up. She blew me a kiss and I slid away. Actually, I was rather relieved, I needed a rest."

After his theatre work, Havers slid into a period of acting unemployment, during which time he worked for a wine merchant.

He returned again on 1 June 2018 and remained in Coronation Street until the character's death on 1 January 2019.