Reece Dinsdale

Reece Dinsdale (born 6 August 1959) is an English actor and director. His credits include Threads, A Private Function (1984), Winter Flight (1984), Home to Roost (1985–1990), Haggard (1990), ID (1995), Hamlet (1996), Murder in Mind (2000), Spooks (2003), Conviction (2004), Ahead of the Class (2005), Love Lies Bleeding (2006), Life on Mars (2006), The Chase (2006), Silent Witness (2008), Midnight Man (2008), Moving On (2011), Waterloo Road (2011), The Knife That Killed Me (2014).

His most notable roles were as Joe McIntyre, in 157 episodes of the long running soap Coronation Street (2008–2010), and as Paul Ashdale in 87 episodes of Emmerdale (2020–2021).

Early life Dinsdale was born in Normanton, West Yorkshire. He was just 12 years old when he played the lead role in Tom Sawyer at Normanton Grammar School. 1984 also saw Dinsdale appearing in one of his first feature films, Alan Bennett's A Private Function, and the TV movie Winter Flight opposite Nicola Cowper. Based on a true story, Dinsdale won the International Critics Award for best actor at the Geneva Film Festival. Since then, he played leading guest roles in Waterloo Road, Taggart and Moving On.

In 2020, Dinsdale joined the ITV soap opera Emmerdale playing the villainous Paul Ashdale. Dinsdale left the soap in 2021 after appearing in 89 episodes when his character was killed off in an explosion.

He directed the episodes "Scratch" (2015),

Writing In 2009, Dinsdale wrote the short film Imaginary Friend which was subsequently filmed and stars Maxine Peake and Zara Turner. The film premiered on 8 May 2010 at the 360/365 Film Festival in New York City.

Personal life Dinsdale is a football fan and supports Huddersfield Town A.F.C.

In 2017 he became a patron of the Square Chapel, an arts centre in Halifax. He is also an honorary patron of The Old Courts multi-arts centre in Wigan.

After living in London for 24 years, he married Northern Irish actress Zara Turner and they moved north back to his homeland to raise their children.

Credits (incomplete)

1980–1981 Exeter Northcott TheatreNottingham PlayhouseBirmingham Repertory Theatre 1981 Knife Edge (ITV) 1982 The Secret Adversary (ITV)Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime (ITV)Out on the Floor (BBC) 1983 Beethoven's Tenth (Vaudeville Theatre) 1983–1984 Red Saturday (Royal Court Theatre) 1984 Glamour Night (BBC)Minder Series 4, Ep 9, Willesden Suite. (ITV)A Private Function (Handmade Films feature film)Winter Flight (Channel 4)Threads (BBC TV) 1985 Bergerac (S4E7 "The Tennis Racket" BBC TV)Robin of Sherwood (ITV)Home To Roost (ITV) 1986 Woundings (Theatre at the Royal Exchange, Manchester)The Storyteller (Channel 4)Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Hampstead Theatre)Home to Roost (series 2) (ITV) 1987 Old Years Eve (Royal Shakespeare Company)Don Carlos (Theatre at the Royal Exchange, Manchester)Coppers (BBC)Home to Roost (series 3) (ITV) 1988 Rhinoceros (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton)Take Me Home (BBC TV) 1989 Boys Mean Business (Bush Theatre)Home to Roost (series 4) (ITV)The Attractions (BBC) 1990 Haggard (ITV)Wild Oats (West Yorkshire Playhouse) 1991 Racing Demon (National Theatre)Playboy of the Western World (West Yorkshire Playhouse)Young Catherine (American/Canadian TV mini-series) 1992 Full Stretch (ITV)The Revenger's Tragedy (West Yorkshire Playhouse) 1993 A Going Concern (Hampstead Theatre)Report Writing (Video Arts Ltd. instructional video) 1994 Morning and Evening (Hampstead Theatre)Mirandolina (Lyric Hammersmith theatre)ID (Parallax Pictures feature film) 1995 Bliss (ITV)Thief Takers (ITV) 1996 Thief Takers (second series) (ITV)Hamlet (Fishmonger Films feature film)China (Channel 4 short film) 1997 Romance and Rejection, Feature Film 1998 Love You, Too (Bush Theatre) 1999 Family Fortunes (King's Head Theatre) 2000 Murder in Mind (BBC TV)Visiting Mr. Green (West Yorkshire Playhouse) 2001 In Deep (BBC) 2002 The Investigation (Canadian TV/BBC)Born and Bred (BBC TV) 2003 Spooks (BBC TV) 2004 Ahead of the Class (ITV)The Trouble with George (BBC)Conviction (BBC TV)Rabbit on the Moon (Headgear Films feature film) 2006 Love Lies Bleeding (ITV) 2006 Life on Mars (BBC TV)Dalziel and Pascoe episode "The Cave Woman" (BBC TV)The Chase (BBC TV) 2007 The Chase (BBC) 2008 Silent Witness (BBC TV)Midnight Man (ITV) 2008–2010 Coronation Street (ITV) 2009 Acid Burn (Red Productions short film) 2010 The Lady From The Sea (Theatre at the Royal Exchange, Manchester)Taggart (STVITV) 2011 Waterloo Road (BBC TV) 2011 Moving On (LA Productions for BBC1) 2013 This House (National Theatre) 2014 The Knife That Killed Me (Green Screen Productions feature film) 2014 Untold Stories (West Yorkshire Playhouse) 2015 The Absence of War (Headlong theatre tour) 2015 Richard III (West Yorkshire Playhouse) 2017 The Fall of the Master Builder (West Yorkshire Playhouse) 2020–2021 Emmerdale (ITV)