Daniel Brocklebank

Daniel Brocklebank (born 21 December 1979) is an English actor, best known for portraying the roles of Ivan Jones in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale (2005–2006), and Billy Mayhew in ITV's other long-running soap Coronation Street (2014–2026). He is also known for his performance in the films Shakespeare in Love, and The Hole (2001).

Career From 1994, Brocklebank has starred in various TV programmes such as Down to Earth (BBC), Born and Bred (BBC), Ed Stone is Dead (BBC 3/Channel 4), Casualty (BBC), The Bill (ITV) and played Ivan Jones in ITV's Emmerdale between the beginning of 2005 to the end of 2006. Other TV credits include The Crazy World of Captain Llama, Fair City, Doctors and Waterloo Road. Brocklebank's other films include: The Hole starring opposite Keira Knightley and Thora Birch, The Hours opposite Meryl Streep, Another Life, Merlin, The Devil's Arithmetic and The Criminal with Eddie Izzard.

Brocklebank has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in productions of As You Like It playing Silvius, Chiron in Titus Andronicus, Rowland in The Tamer Tamed and Ralph in Lord of the Flies. His other theatre credits include Martin Von Heilmann in The Curse of the Werewolf at the Union Theatre in London, John Rutherford in Rutherford and Son at the Royal Exchange in Manchester and John Honyman in Cressida for the Almeida Theatre in London's West End. Among other projects in 2008, Brocklebank starred in One Night in November, a new play by Alan Pollock directed by Hamish Glenn at the Belgrade Theatre, and in Big Love at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

In 2009, he played Brother Jasper and Kaisa in His Dark Materials, a co-production between the Birmingham Rep and the West Yorkshire Playhouse. In 2009, he completed filming Release, a British feature film, written by Christian Martin and Darren Flaxstone of FAQ's LTD, in which he plays the lead role of Father Jack Gillie. In 2010, Brocklebank starred in one of three new dark tales Little Deaths directed by Andrew Parkinson.

In December 2014, he joined the cast of Coronation Street as Billy Mayhew, the new vicar at Emily Bishop's parish, St. Mary's, and began dating the barman Sean Tully. He appears as Carl Saunders in the second (2014) and third (2015) series of the BBC's WPC 56. Brocklebank has played roles in other films such as Admiral; Soft Lad, and Native.

Personal life Brocklebank is gay. In a 2021 interview with Daily Mirror (reported by Attitude), Brocklebank said, I pretend for a living, I didn't want to pretend in my private life. When you spend your life on screen, it's important to hold on to the bits that are real. Who I am in my real life should bear no relevance to what I play on screen [...] I remember my management in Los Angeles trying to convince me not to come out because they said it would affect work – and it did [...] I stopped being screen-tested for the heterosexual male leads, and I was either the gay best friend or the character parts.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1994 Brum Newspaper boy Episode: "Brum and the Very Windy Day" 1995 Casualty Greg Althorpe Episode: "Shame the Devil" 1997 The Bill Simon Episode: "The Old Pals' Act" 1998 Merlin Young Merlin Miniseries; 2 episodes Monk Dawson Young Dawson Film Shakespeare in Love Sam Gosse 1999 The Devil's Arithmetic Schmuel Lubitch Television film The Criminal Jonny Film Oliver Twist Board Clerk 1 episode 2000 Sam's Circus Private Mooch Television film 2001 The Hole Martin Taylor Film Another Life Newnie Graydon 2002 The Hours Rodney 2002–2003 Ed Stone Is Dead Adam Dearfield All 13 episodes 2002 Doctors Tim Garrett Episode: "Time Bomb" 2003 Born and Bred Connor Docherty Episode: "His Brother's Keeper" 2005 Down to Earth Ben 2 episodes Pandora Declan Short film 2005–2006 Emmerdale Ivan Jones Regular role; 107 episodes 2008 The Bill Ian Andain Episode: "Spilt Blood" 2010 Release Father Jack Gillie Film Doctors Matthew Thorn Episode: "Echoes" Silent Things PC Kearns Short film EastEnders Roger Green 2 episodes 2011 Casualty Tom Watkins Episode: "Choose Your Illusion" Little Deaths Frank Film Justice Jason Episode: "Like Father Like Son" Age of Heroes RMP Sergeant Hamilton Film Waterloo Road Karl Johnson Series 7: Episode 2 2012 Jeffrey Jeffrey Short film 2013 Cal Ivan Film Waterloo Road Stuart Cooper Episode: "Lies Mothers Tell" Imaginary Boys Simon Film 2014 Three Minutes Casey Short film Doctors Dave Walker Episode: "Blink" Holby City Craig Donovan Episode: "My Name Is Joe" Air Daniel Short film Turn Off Your Bloody Phone Model Chasing Shadows Dr Francis Episode: "Off Radar: Part 1" 2014–2026 Coronation Street Billy Mayhew Regular role 2014–2015 WPC 56 Carl Saunders Main role; 6 episodes 2015 Admiral Lord Chancellor Film Midsomer Murders Brian Grey Episode: "The Ballad of Midsomer County" Soft Lad Jules Film 2016 Native Delin Film Prisoner Zero Voice only; 17 episodes The Confessions of Dorian Gray James Anderson 4 episodes

Theatre Lord of the Flies (Ralph) (1995) RSC Mensch Mier (Ludwig) (1996) Leicester Haymarket The Tamer Tamed (Rowland) (2003–2004) RSC Titus Andronicus (Chiron) (2003) RSC As you like it (Silvius) (2003) RSC Cressida (John Honyman) (2000) Almeida in the West End His Dark Materials (Brother Jasper) (2009) Birmingham Rep Young Frankenstein (musical) (Dr. Frederick Frankenstein) (2025) UK Tour