Enjoy Celebrity Radio’s last Michael Elphick Interview RIP….
Michael Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC’s EastEnders.
In his prime, Elphick always looked older than he was, and with his gruff Cockney accent and lip-curling sneer he often played menacing hard men.
Elphick struggled with a highly publicised addiction to alcohol; at the height of his problem he admitted to consuming two litres of spirits a day, which contributed towards his death from a heart attack in 2002.
Michael was a well regarded theatre actor.
Alex went to meet Michael back stage in Nottingham…
In 1993 Elphick took the role of a former Fleet Street journalist running a Darlington news agency in Harry (1993, 1995).
He played the alcoholic and ruthless Harry Salter, who frequently used exploitation and underhand tactics to get a story. This series however was less successful and it was soon cancelled.
Elphick went on to play Billy Bones in Ken Russell’s televised version of Treasure Island (1995) and Barkis in David Copperfield (1999).
In 2001 he joined the cast of EastEnders, where he played Harry Slater, a romantic interest for Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor).
The plotline indicated that Slater had sexually abused his niece, Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace), at the age of 13 and her “sister” Zoe (Michelle Ryan) was the daughter born to her when she became pregnant by him.
Elphick’s heavy drinking began to affect his performances, so the character promptly left the series, and news of his death in Spain reached Walford four months later.
Interview by Alex Belfield for Celebrity Radio.
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