Nicky Henson

Nicholas Victor Leslie Henson was a British actor.

Early life

Henson was born in London, the son of Harriet Martha and comedian Leslie Henson, a few days after VE Day, hence his middle name, Victor. Adam Henson, a farmer and regular presenter on BBC TV's Countryfile, was Henson's nephew; being the son of Nicky's brother Joe Henson.
He attended St. Bede's Prep School in Eastbourne and Charterhouse in Godalming. He trained as a stage manager at RADA and first appeared on stage himself as a guitarist. As a member of the Young Vic Company, he played Pozzo in Samuel Beckett's ''Waiting for Godot.''

Career

Television

Henson appeared in various television roles, including guest roles in Fawlty Towers, Minder, Boon, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Heartbeat, After You've Gone, Lovejoy and Doctors. In 1990 he played the doctor in the BBC’s adaptation of Kingsley Amis’ Ghost story The Green Man. He played the eponymous hero in Shine on Harvey Moon when the series was revived in 1995.
In 2005, he played Hugo, an antiques dealer, in Bad Girls. In February 2006, Henson joined the cast of EastEnders, playing Jack Edwards. Henson left the production towards the end of the year due to health problems.
Henson played three different characters in the police drama series The Bill, the first in 1991, the second in 1998, and the third in 2007. In 2010, he appeared as Charles Grigg, a former acquaintance of Carson the butler, in an episode of Downton Abbey and appeared in two episodes in 2013.
He also played Randolph Mepstead, the older brother of David Jason's character in the pilot episode of the mid-1970s series Lucky Feller.
Henson played the role of Mr Johnson in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Psychiatrist". He stated that despite his 50 years of professional acting, his tombstone will probably read "Here lies Nicky Henson – he was in one episode of Fawlty Towers". He was paid a modest appearance fee and he was told he might earn the same again in repeats fees.

Films

Henson's film appearances include Witchfinder General, There's a Girl in My Soup, Mosquito Squadron and Psychomania. He graduated to lead roles in The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones and No. 1 of the Secret Service, before returning to supporting roles in Vera Drake and George Clooney's Syriana.

Theatre

On stage, Henson played many Shakespearean characters and had leading roles in Look Back in Anger, Man and Superman, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, She Stoops to Conquer, Noises Off and others. He appeared as Mordred in the original 1964 London version of Camelot opposite Laurence Harvey as King Arthur. Henson made his Broadway debut in a production of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, opposite Stephanie Beacham. Henson played Colonel Vershinin in a notable 1990 production of Anton Chekhov's play Three Sisters, alongside the Cusack sisters and their father Cyril Cusack at London's Royal Court Theatre. He was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical of 1997 for his role in Enter the Guardsman.
Henson started directing with a Restoration workshop at LAMDA with a production of The Provok'd Wife. In 2009, he directed the Jack Shepherd play Only When I Laugh at the Arcola Theatre in London and Alan Ayckbourn's Intimate Exchanges at Sheringham Little Theatre.

Radio

Henson played Lemuel "Chipper" Barnet in Space Force series 1 and 2. He also played Major in Dombey and Son.

Personal life, illness and death

Henson married actress Una Stubbs. The couple had two sons, including Christian. The marriage ended after Henson began an affair in 1974 with actress Susan Hampshire, his co-star in several stage productions.
He later married ballerina Marguerite Porter, with whom he had a third son, Keaton.
Henson was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. Surgeons removed tumours from around his spleen, but a routine check-up in 2006 showed that other tumours had grown and it would have been dangerous to remove them. As such, he was put on a regime of chemotherapy and he worked regularly to raise funds for cancer charities, especially Marie Curie Cancer Care. He died on 15 December 2019, aged 74.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	The Avengers	Crowd member	Series 1, episode 20
1964	Paris 1900	Dardillon	Series 1, episode 5
1964	The Human Jungle		Series 2, episode 8
1966	The Frost Report	Various roles	Series 1
1967	Vacant Lot	Rock	Series 1, episodes 1 & 3
1968	ITV Playhouse	Amos Wild	Series 1, episode 21
1971	Shirley's World	Beanie	Series 1, episode 7
1971	Comedy Playhouse	Nicky	Series 11, episode 5
1972	BBC Show of the Week		1 episode
1972	Arthur of the Britons	Garet	Series 1, episode 3
1974	Comedy Playhouse	Nick Ransley	Series 14, episode 9
1975	Prometheus: The Life of Balzac	Honore de Balzac	Miniseries
1975	Lucky Feller	Randolph 'Randy' Mepstead	Pilot episode
1977	The Foundation	Douggie Taylor	Series 1
1977	Cottage to Let	Steve	Series 1, episode 4
1978	That's the Way the Money Goes	Paul	Series 1
1979	Fawlty Towers	Mr Johnson	Series 2, episode 2
1979	Minder	George Wilson	Series 1, episode 2
1980	Seagull Island	Martin Foster	Miniseries
1981	Whoops Apocalypse	Engelbert	Series 1, episode 4
1982	BBC2 Playhouse	Tosh	Series 8, episode 29
1983	The Happy Apple	Charles Murray	Series 1
1984	Driving Ambition	Allan Hearshner	Series 1, episodes 5 & 8
1987	Sunday Premiere	Alistair	1 episode 1986 "" Season's Greetings" by Alan Aykbourne BBC play
1987	Home to Roost	Edward Willows	Series 3, episode 2
1988	Singles	Gerry	Series 1, episode 5
1988	Thin Air	Richard Heller	Miniseries
1989	Inspector Morse	Vince Cranston	Series 3, episode 3
1989	Boon	Terry Patterson	Series 4, episode 13
1990	After Henry	Ian	Series 3, episode 10
1990–1991	The Upper Hand	Michael Wheatley	Series 1–2
1990	The Green Man	Jack	Miniseries
1991	The Bill	Colin Mathews	Series 7, episodes 75 & 76
1992	Between the Lines	Ch. Supt. Charlie McGregor	Series 1, episode 10
1993	Wales Playhouse	Gruff	Series 2, episode 3
1993	Sitting Pretty	Philip	Series 2, episode 1
1994	Health and Efficiency	Anthony Bolt	Series 1, episode 4
1994	Class Act	Sammy Buchanan	Series 1, episode 2
1995	Shine on Harvey Moon	Harvey Moon	Series 5
1995–1997	All Quiet on the Preston Front	Greg Scarry	Series 2–3
1995	Coronation Street: The Feature Length Special	Henri de Vence	Direct-to-video
1996	Pie in the Sky	Harrington Smithfield	Series 4, episode 3
1997	Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...	CID Officer	Series 2, episode 2
1998	The Bill	John Defoe	Series 14, episode 67
1999–2000	A Touch of Frost	DS Larry Finlay	Series 7, episodes 1 & 2
2001	Midsomer Murders	Simon Reason	Series 4, episode 5
2002	Heartbeat	Alan Jones	Series 11, episode 16
2002	NCS: Manhunt	Vincent Fairey	Series 1, episode 3 & 5
2003	Swiss Toni	Mike Black	Series 1, episode 3
2003	Blue Dove	Gerry Weston	Miniseries
2005	Bad Girls	Hugo	Series 7, episode 3
2006	EastEnders	Jack	37 episodes
2007	Midsomer Murders	Terence Charteris	Series 10, episode 7
2007	After You've Gone	David	Series 2, episode 4
2007	The Bill	Vince Murray	Series 23, episodes 73 & 74
2008	Doctors	Carl Knight	Series 9, episode 205
2010	Casualty	A Dawson	Series 24, episode 20
2010, 2013	Downton Abbey	Charles Grigg	Series 1 & 4
2014	No Point	Charity Shop Customer
2016	Grantchester	Frank Archer	Series 2, episode 2
2017	Doctors	Eddie Canbray	Series 19, episode 57

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001, 2008	Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures	Anton Lichfuss Dick Turpin / Grel	Series 2, episode 5 Series 9, episode 9
2010	Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures	Gregson Grenville Ice Warriors	Series 4, episode 5 Series 4, episode 6