George Christopher was born George Wilson on the 5th of March 1970 in West Derby, Liverpool and began his career at the Liverpool Everyman youth theatre in the early 80s, where he attended and acted in a few plays and first appearing on TV in an uncredited role as a young lad in 'No Surrender' (1985), set at a seedy bar in Liverpool where a group of Irish Protestant and Irish Catholic pensioners gather to clash and bash the new year. His big TV breakthrough came in 1985 when he was cast as the affable scouser, Ziggy Greaves, in the acclaimed children's drama series, 'Grange Hill' (1986-89). The character was a hit with viewers, and George himself has compared his alter-ego with the series' original hero, Tucker Jenkins. Coming from West Derby, he moved to Huyton where he was inspired to start acting by his two drama teachers. 'Grange Hill' was looking for a northern male character and he decided to attend auditions in Manchester. Speaking to the Liverpool Echo he said, " It ended up being between me and a guy from Leeds. Producer Ron Smedley picked me but the next day I went to meet Phil Redmond as he would have the final say. When he chose me it was the best moment of my life." Living in London for four years there were a few bad times but he soon relished in this new way of life, met some amazing people, loved working on the show, the laughter with the cast and the nightlife. Sadly things began to spiral out of control for him. He got in trouble with the police, witnessed the horrendous scenes at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 first hand, became unemployed and became reclusive. These are just a few of the things that gradually put him in his first Psychiatric hospital for six months in 1991. Not only affecting him but his family and friends too. Eventually he'd get out and for seven years live a normal and exciting life living and working abroad.
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| Ziggy - the Grange Hill pupil |
After 'Grange Hill' and the unfortunate turn in his private life, he took another uncredted part, this time as a man in a cafe in 'Let Him Have It' (1991), and then took on another high-profile role in Phil Redmond's Channel 4 soap 'Brookside' (1991-96) when he played Little Jimmy who resented his father, Jimmy Corkhill for a number of years, having caught him having sex with his aunt, Val Walker. In 1996, Little Jimmy returned to Brookside Close after spending time in a French prison for drug-related offences and his mother, Jackie Corkhill discovered he had smuggled a large amount of heroin back into Britain. A few months later the drug dealers came looking for Little Jimmy and his body was later found by his father after he was murdered by them.
Then in the summer of 1999 he found himself back in a Psychiatric Hospital in South Wales, after all hell broke loose on a mountain top. Since then he has managed to overcome his troubles and has taken on a variety of stage, TV and film roles, including a play about the Hillsborough disaster. He has also been very open about his mental health struggles after being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder at the age of 40. George has been with his partner, Mel since 2001 and lives with their young son Kirk and he has been writing and producing plays around the UK. In late-2019 he released a biographical book titled, "From Grange Hill to Bipolar", detailing his ongoing battle with mental health issues, originally published: 2nd of December 2019.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/11/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-leanne.html
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