John McArdle

John McArdle (born 16 August 1949) is an English actor. He is most notable for playing Billy Corkhill in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside from 1985 to 1990.

In 1996, McArdle co-starred with Helen Mirren in the fifth Prime Suspect story, "Errors of Judgement".

McArdle was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel on the set of Merseybeat.

In 2006, McArdle portrayed Frank Taylor in an episode of BBC TV's Surviving Disaster that concerned the Munich air disaster of 1958, which Taylor was the only newspaper reporter to survive.

In 2010, McArdle played Christopher Mead's father in Waterloo Road.

He is also a stage actor, seen in Our Country's Good at the Liverpool Playhouse.

He is a patron of the Octagon Theatre in Bolton.

From 2016 to 2017, he appeared in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale as regular character Ronnie Hale. In March 2023, he portrayed Phil Griffiths in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors.

In October 2025, McArdle reprised his role of Billy Corkhill in a special Brookside crossover episode with Hollyoaks, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the latter. He continued to portray the character in two further Hollyoaks episodes.

Filmography