Michael John Jackson was born on the 19th of January 1948 in Liverpool. Before becoming an actor Michael wanted to be a footballer and at 6'1" he probably would have made a good goalkeeper. He is a huge football fan, supporting Liverpool FC, and once said in an interview with the Daily Mirror he would never want to live abroad because he would miss the football too much. He studied at the University of London and obtained a BA Degree and, although he didn't go to drama school, he joined repertory theatre at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, followed by Coventry, Birmingham and Edinburgh. Following that he toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company with roles in 'King Lear' and 'Romeo and Juliet', appearing in several theatre productions early on in his career, these also included a West End production with Rowan Atkinson and Watford's Palace Theatre's production of 'The Incident at Tulse Hill'.
In 1973 he began his TV acting career when he made his television debut in 'Man About the House' followed by 3 episodes of 'The Legend of Robin Hood' (1975), 3 episodes of 'Crown Court' (1978), 6 episodes of 'Fairly Secret Army' (1986) and 20 episodes as a lead character in 'Wish Me Luck' (1988-90). In 1990 Michael, along with fellow cast member Kate Buffery, wrote episode three of the third series of 'Wish Me Luck' in which he had played a leading role since 1987. Apparently he had just asked Michael Chaplin, the producer, if he could have a go! Following the success of this show he appeared in one-off episodes of 'Maigret' (1993), 'Bugs' ( 1995) and 'Ellington' (1996) before undertaking the role of Ollie Simpson in the Liverpool soap 'Brookside' (1996–98). Before that he had also made appearances in many TV programmes including 'Anna Karenina' (1977), 'Till Death Us Do Part' (1981), 'Play For Today' (1982), 'Doctor Who' (1983), 'One Summer' (1983) and 'The Glory Boys' (1984). He won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer Actor in 1978 following his performance in 'Sweeney 2'.
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| The Simpson family |
In the UK he is probably best known for his role as Ollie Simpson and his family's controversial storyline in Channel 4's 'Brookside'. He was the head of the Simpson family, alongside wife, Bel Simpson and their children Nat, Georgia and Danny. Ollie was aghast to find Nat and Georgia were romantically involved, in the show's first ever incest storyline. Across the Atlantic, he is best known for playing the psychoanalyst Sean Burns in 'Highlander' (1996-97) which has now become somewhat of a cult. Highlander related sites are still going strong several years after the series ended.
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| as Jerry Walsh in Emmerdale |
In between his TV work he continued to work in theatres across the country, including working with Rowan Atkinson in the West End production of 'The Nerd' (1984), a stint as Duke Frederick in Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' (2000) and then starred as George Pye in 'Humble Boy' at the Northcott Theatre, Devon (2004). His next television role was in the drama 'Now You See Her' (2001) starring Amanda Holden and then in 2002, he appeared in the television drama 'Birthday Girl' starring Sarah Lancashire. Having played Dr. Mike Miles in 20 episodes of the BBC soap/drama 'Doctors' (2003–04) other 'soap' appearances followed, such as in 3 episodes of 'Casualty' (1999-2004) and in October 2010, he joined the cast of Emmerdale playing the character Jerry Walsh (2010-2011). Here he played the strongly homophobic father of Jackson, boyfriend of Aaron, who had punched his son when he had revealed that he was gay. Michael had previously appeared in Emmerdale in 1995 as Professor Andrew MacKinnon. 'Coronation Street' followed in which he appeared intermittently as businessman Sid Altree, a particularly slimy Underworld client who often acted over-flirtatiously in business meetings before agreeing to an order (2012-14).
During October/November 2007 he took part in a reality television show 'Make Me A Film Star' when he was on the judging panel auditioning hopeful actors for a role in a new film which he would co-direct with Phil Middlemiss (also on the panel). In 2008 he returned to teaching, working at Calderstones School in Allerton, Liverpool, firstly as an English teacher, but then teaching within the Drama department. Michael has also done some voice over work, narrated audio books and has appeared in one of the famous Barclaycard adverts in the 1990s.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/11/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-linda.html
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