Simon O'Brien was born in Garston, Liverpool on the 19th of June 1965 and attended Highfield Comprehensive School, Broadgreen, Liverpool. Having been born and bred in Liverpool, this young actor's big break came at the age of 17 when he won the role of Damon Grant, in the Channel 4 soap, 'Brookside' (1982-87). Channel 4 had gone to his school to audition one of his mates but with their teacher having the foresight to ask if they could send some other pupils along for the audition too, as it would be a good experience for them, Simon volunteered as Tuesday afternoon was double maths. He was an original cast member and appeared in the pilot episode which aired on Channel 4's launch night in November 1982. As part of the Grant family and youngest son of Bobby and Sheila, Damon was portrayed as a loveable scally, faced with all the typical trials of being an adolescent. As audience figures increased, Simon became something of a teen heartthrob, and his on-screen romance with Debbie McGrath (played by future 'Emmerdale' star Gillian Kearney) gained him a legion of adoring fans until his character was killed off in York in a three-part special spin-off series entitled, 'Damon and Debbie' (1987). This 'soap bubble' earned Simon a place in British soap history as being one of the first characters to feature in a standalone episode.
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| 'Damon and Debbie' |
In 1989 he starred in the British version of 'Fraggle Rock' (1984-87), created by Muppets inventor Jim Henson, where he portrayed the Lighthouse Keeper called BJ in the much acclaimed musical puppet TV series. With his Damon character being very popular with younger people it seemed like a good idea to try presenting and that really was how he started, just doing kids telly, a really useful string to his bow. Staying with kids TV, he was a presenter on 'Move It' (1988-90), a BBC children's sport series which aimed to get youngsters out and about. Next followed the TV series 'Young, Gifted and Broke' (1989), about the misadventures of a group of no-hope teenagers working in an electrics company which was followed by single episodes in 'Dancin' Thru the Dark' (1990), 'The Bill' (1991) and 'Heartbeat' (1992). He then moved to America, where he played Angus McEwan in 19 episodes of 'Out All Night' (1992-93), a sitcom about a singer who runs an L.A. nightclub but upon returning to Britain he quit showbusiness for a while to set up a vegetarian cafe.
Broadcast as part of BBC2's DEF II strand, 'Standing Room Only' (1991-94) was hosted by Simon and amongst others David Baddiel, Rob Newman and Michel Platini. It was a magazine show taking a look at contemporary football matters, produced by the BBC's Youth and Entertainment Features department which was headed up by Janet Street Porter to serve the teenage market. Between 1991 - 94 around 40 episodes were filmed including specials on the 1994 World Cup and the show's award ceremony - the Platinum Parrots. DEF II was also the vehicle for 'Rough Guide' (1994-95), also on the BBC, which saw Simon and Magenta de Vine explore some of the world's most popular tourist destinations, along with some hidden gems to form a comprehensive travel guide for the independent traveller. Each week the pair took in a different destination: from investigating rap and racism in Marseilles and talking to cowboys in the Camargue in their guide to the South of France, to shark-defying surf stunts in South Africa. After appearing in 4 episodes of 'Liverpool 1' (1999), the gritty police drama set in the heart of Liverpool's underworld he left TV again and, with Alan Bate, set up Liverpool Cycle Centre, a combination of vegetarian café, cycle shop, cycle parking and other resources relevant to his enthusiasm for cycling before moving into property development. He returned to acting and presenting, with the short-lived football quiz show, 'Do I Not Know That?' (2001-02) on ITV Sport Channel 13 and presented BBC Radio Merseyside's breakfast show with Lucinda Moore from September 2006 until the 25th of June 2007, when he resigned after the accidental broadcast of a promotional preview clip of a forthcoming radio show of him saying "fuck the government, fuck the planners". Simon's next big TV role was playing caretaker Wally Scott in 'Grange Hill' (2003-05) before returning to co-presenting with the BBC One show 'To Buy or Not to Buy (2011). Having bought a derelict house when he was 19 he says, " it was so derelict you could stand in the cellar and look at the sky. So, whenever I wasn’t working, I would be renovating the house." He began buying and renovating other dilapidated properties and TV spotted his passion and in 2014 he began presenting the TV reality series 'My Dream Derelict Home', before moving on to 'Find It, Fix It, Flog It' (2016) with fellow presenter Henry Cole. Now a property expert he now hosts Channel 4’s 'The Great House Giveaway', for which he won a BAFTA.
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| As 'Great House Giveaway' presenter |
In 2022, it was announced that Simon would appear on 'Coronation Street' as Frank Bardsley a short-term boyfriend of Sean Tully with him appearing in 11 episodes of the ITV soap opera. It was revealed he had a darker side as the former school bully who made undertaker George Shuttleworth’s childhood a misery. For the last thirty years he has successfully combined dual careers of acting and presenting and still lives with wife Elizabeth and daughter Rosa in the first house he renovated in Liverpool. When not working in his two main creative fields Simon splits his time between developing and shooting his independent films and scouring Europe seeking out derelict properties to renovate: all done from an ecological perspective. Simon is uncompromising in his attitude toward our interaction with the natural environment. This philosophy has been practically applied to all his building developments and has more recently become the focus of his film making.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/10/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-david.html
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