Edward Peel

Edward Peel is an English stage and television actor whose career spans more than four decades in film, television, and theater. He made his Broadway debut in 2017, appearing in Farinelli and the King.

Peel grew up in Bolton Villas and attended Swainhouse Primary School before continuing his education at Belle Vue Grammar School. Before pursuing acting, he spent a year working as a primary school teacher and a summer employed as a gravedigger. He subsequently joined the Bradford Civic Theatre and went on to train at Rose Bruford College, where he came to the attention of Esme Church.

His television work began in the 1970s and accumulated steadily over the following decades. Among his earlier credits are the role of Lennie in the 1978 Sweeney episode "Bait," opposite George Sewell, and Pieterzoon in the 1980 miniseries Shogun. He played Ted Turton in the 1982 Minder episode "Broken Arrow" and took on recurring roles in both Juliet Bravo, from 1983 to 1985, and Cracker, from 1993 to 1995, portraying police officers in each. Peel appeared in Emmerdale Farm twice under different characters: Tom Merrick from 1981 to 1982 and Tony Cairns from 1997 to 1998. In 1987, he portrayed Kane, the principal villain, in the Doctor Who serial Dragonfire. He also appeared in two separate episodes of Heartbeat, playing a bank manager in the first series and Clifford Chappell in episode 17 of series 15, titled "Get Back," as well as in two episodes of the original All Creatures Great and Small, "Fair Means and Foul" and "Barks and Bites." From 2000 to 2001, he appeared regularly as John Coleman in the ITV drama London's Burning, and in May 2020 he played Eddie Morgan in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors.

Peel's film credits include O Lucky Man! (1973), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Britannia Hospital (1982), and Lassiter (1984). On stage, he has performed at Shakespeare's Globe in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Anne Boleyn, Troilus and Cressida, and The Winter's Tale, in addition to his 2017 Broadway appearance in Farinelli and the King. He also appeared in commercials for the insurance company Direct Line. His son is scriptwriter Benjamin Peel.