John Salthouse

John Salthouse (born 16th June 1951) appeared in Coronation Street in September 1976 as Simon Lodge, an articled clerk who assisted Renee Bradshaw in her application to turn the Corner Shop into an off-licence.

He had been a professional footballer in the 1960s playing for Crystal Palace until an injury forced him out of the game. Turning to acting, he made his first credited television appearances in the early 1970s in series such as Dixon of Dock Green and Z Cars. The year after he appeared in Coronation Street, he got his first taste of fame when he was part of the cast of five in Mike Leigh’s improvised play Abigail’s Party which received huge audiences when it was transmitted on BBC1 on 1st November 1977, possibly due to ITV being on strike at the time but which has since become acknowledged as a television classic. Salthouse’s character of Tony had also been a professional football and Leigh encouraged the actors to use their own backgrounds in their performances.

After many other appearances in film and television over the next few years, Salthouse became something of a household name when he played hard-nosed Det. Insp. Roy Galloway in the first few seasons of The Bill from 1984 to 1987. His footballing background also came into use when he appeared in the few seasons of the Sky drama Dream Team from 1998.

External link
Wikipedia page on John Salthouse