Geoff Hinsliff, the former Coronation Street star, has died aged 87 after a short illness.

Hinsliff, who also had minor roles in the films O Lucky Man and I, Claudius and who also played a wireless operator in Richard Attenborough’s epic A Bridge Too Far, won the role of Don Brennan on the soap after previously appearing in one episode a decade earlier, in 1977, as a minor character named Eric Baile.

His family said: “Geoff was a working-class boy from a family of five who left school in Leeds aged 15 with no qualifications, yet went on to study at Rada with a scholarship and to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was an English teacher who encouraged him to act, and all his life he fervently believed in the power of education.”

He joined the Coronation Street cast playing Brennan, a taxi driver, in 1987. Brennan was a dastardly character, involved in serious crimes including kidnapping and attempted murder, who met his demise behind the wheel after crashing his car into a viaduct.

Hinsliff’s other credits included appearances on Z-Cars, Holby City, Doctor Who and Brass. His final on-screen role was on Heartbeat in 2003.

His family added: “He thoroughly enjoyed playing the forelock-tugging George Fairchild in the cult ITV satire Brass, a pastiche of gritty northern dramas which said so much, and so cleverly, about class divides and the north of his childhood.”

There is an ‘Obituaries’ playlist on this channel under “People (& famous animals) – Obituaries (2016+)” here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL93gCV9Iym3fmpLTsMtZ9Px7WZf6qXDKx

#geoffhinsliff
#RIP
#Obituary

Wikipedia:
Geoffrey Hinsliff was an English actor best known for his portrayal of Don Brennan in Coronation Street from 1987 to 1997.