LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mike Reid: Frank Butcher
built 647 days ago
When he was cast as Frank Butcher in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, Mike Reid was an occasional actor who was much better known as a stand-up comic. But he quickly grew into the part and created one of the show’s most durable characters, playing him on and off for more than 12 years.
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Stand-up comedian Mike Reid found fame playing the role of gruff-voiced second-hand car dealer Frank Butcher in the BBC soap EastEnders. He joined the show in 1987, quickly turning Frank into one of the soap’s most popular characters. After taking a couple of lengthy breaks from the show, he made his last appearance as Frank in 2005.
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Early in 2008 Albert Square residents will find out about the untimely death of Frank Butcher (previously played by Mike Reid)and a week of special episodes will mark the passing of one of Walfords most loved characters. Frank’s son Ricky Butcher will have already returned to the square and Sophie Lawrence and Charlie Brooks, who played Frank’s daughters Diane and Janine will be return for the funeral.
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Reid got his big break on ITV's The Comedians, that notorious series that introduced a generation of working men's club comics to a generation of stay-at-home fans. The list of comics who appeared on that show reads like a who's who of trad comedy: Russ Abbot, Lennie Bennett, Stan Boardman, Jim Bowen, Frank Carson, Manning, Reid and many more. Before The Comedians, they were virtually unknown outside the narrow confines of the working men's club circuit. Afterwards, they became household names, but most of them remained trapped within the gag-rigid straightjacket of that show.
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Reid, who first appeared as Frank Butcher in Albert Square in 1987, will reprise his character for daughter Janine’s murder trial. It will be the second time he has come back to the show. After quitting in 2000 complaining of exhaustion, he made a brief return in 2002.
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Reid played Frank Butcher in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and starred in the British gangster film, Snatch. Born in Hackney, London, he began his career as a stuntman, working on films such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Spartacus, as well as on The Saint as a stunt double for Roger Moore.
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Frank Butcher