Robson Green

He was named in the Northeast tradition of naming the first son after family surnames: Robson was his paternal grandmother's maiden name, while his middle name, Golightly, is the surname of his maternal grandmother, Cissie Golightly, daughter of William Golightly, a miner and well-known trade union leader in the 1920s.

Green attended Dudley Middle Comprehensive School.

After being inspired by jets flying overhead, he decided he wanted to join the Royal Air Force, and at the age of 16, he joined the Air Training Corps, though he decided against a career in the RAF after two weeks at an officer training camp.

Robson Golightly Green (born 18 December 1964) is an English actor, singer-songwriter, and television presenter.

Robson Golightly Green was born on 18 December 1964 in Dilston Hospital in Hexham, Northumberland, and grew up in Dudley, a small mining village south of Cramlington.

His father, also named Robson Green, was a miner, and his mother Anne was a cleaner and shopkeeper.

He also learned to play the guitar, later forming his first band, Solid State, in 1982.

He also spent one night a week at the Backworth Drama Centre, and appeared in a series of productions at both school and Backworth.

Green left school aged 16 with five O-levels, and joined Swan Hunter's shipyard as a draughtsman.

On one occasion, he also tried his hand at professional boxing.

He attended three boxing training sessions for the play Francie Nichol, in which he played a boxer.

After two years at Swan's, Green decided on a career in acting.

After auditioning, he began training with Live Theatre under the tutelage of artistic director Max Roberts, his previous director at Backworth.

During training he continued his musical career as a member of a successful local band, the Workie Tickets.

Growing up in Tyneside, Green was chosen to be the lead in a film made by Amber Films that narrated the contemporaneous social problems faced by working-class people in Thatcher's Britain.

Each episode examined one aspect of living in a harsh and embittered environment.

The soap opera gave Green his big break in film.

It was quickly followed by offers of work.

Green first made his name as an actor in the BBC series Casualty but, after three series, moved to national prominence as fusilier Dave Tucker in the drama series Soldier Soldier.

His first major TV role was as hospital porter Jimmy Powell in BBC drama series Casualty in 1989.

He was one half of the singing duo Robson & Jerome, along with fellow Soldier Soldier actor Jerome Flynn, who had several No. 1 singles in the 1990s.

He then went on to portray Fusilier Dave Tucker in the ITV military drama series Soldier Soldier, between 1991 and 1995.

In 1995, one episode called for Green and co-star Jerome Flynn to sing "Unchained Melody".

Subsequently, ITV was inundated by people wanting to buy the song and the pair were persuaded by Simon Cowell to release it as a single – a double A-side with "White Cliffs of Dover".

In 1995, Green won the Smash Hits Poll Winner's Party award for Favourite TV Actor.

It stayed at No. 1 for seven weeks in the UK Singles Chart, selling more than 1.8 million copies and making it the best-selling single of the year and winning the duo the Music Week Awards in 1996 for best single and best album.

Subsequently, they had two further No. 1 singles and two No. 1 albums, all remakes of standards.

The song gave Green the opportunity to sign a long-term deal with ITV to star in several of the network's dramas, including Touching Evil, Grafters and Reckless.

In 1996, he set up an independent production company, Coastal Productions, with business partner Sandra Jobling to give youngsters from the North East the opportunities he struggled for.

The company has since produced or co-produced most of Green's television work, as well as local productions at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle upon Tyne.

In 1997, Green starred in the TV film, The Student Prince which is no relation to either the Romberg operetta or the 1954 MGM film.

In July 1998, Green received an honorary degree from the University of Northumbria and, in September 2006, he was voted by the UK general public at No. 35 in a poll of TV's greatest stars.

In 2000, Green starred with James Bolam, Susan Jameson, Kerry Ann Christiansen and Jamie Bell in the ITV drama Close and True.

Between 2002 and 2008 he played Dr. Tony Hill in the ITV crime drama series Wire in the Blood.

As a TV presenter he has fronted shows such as Extreme Fishing, Extreme Fishing Challenge, and Tales from Northumberland.

He currently plays Detective Inspector Geordie Keating on ITV's Grantchester.

In 2002, Green starred as clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill in the crime drama Wire in the Blood.

Green's production company has brought at least four new dramas to the small screen in recent years, including the massive ratings hit Christmas Lights.

The success of this one-off drama led to a series being commissioned under the name Northern Lights, which was followed by a sequel called City Lights.

Coastal also produces drama series, including Hereafter starring Stephen Tompkinson and Dervla Kirwan.