| 21st | Top performers on Top of the Pops: 2003 |
| Shane Richie | |
|---|---|
 Shane Richie in January 2005 |
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| Born | Shane Patrick Richie 11 March 1964 Harlesden, London, England |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, television presenter, singer, media personality |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Spouse(s) | Coleen Nolan (m. 1990–1999) Christie Goddard (m. 2007–present) |
Shane Richie (born 11 March 1964) is an English actor, comedian, singer and media personality, known for his portrayal of the character Alfie Moon in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders.
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Born Shane Patrick Roche[1] in Harlesden to Irish Catholic parents,[2] Richie was a member of a youth theatre as a child, and began his professional career in adolescence as a bluecoat entertainer in Pontins holiday camps. He progressed to the live stand up circuit - receiving a nomination for best new stand-up at the inaugural British Comedy Awards - and made his first high-profile television appearances as one of five comics on the BBC One sketch show You Gotta Be Jokin.
He later branched out into anchoring game shows after proving successful as host of the kids' quiz show Run the Risk, which was played during the BBC Saturday morning show Going Live. He moved into mainstream presenting with Caught In The Act, Win, Lose or Draw, The Shane Richie Experience (later revamped as Love Me Do) and Lucky Numbers. He also replaced Danny Baker in the 'doorstep challenge' TV ads for Daz detergent; he had previously replaced Baker as host of Win, Lose Or Draw.
Richie was a success in musicals - including Boogie Nights and a London production of Grease. He released two albums, to limited commercial response, and almost scored a Number 1 single in the UK Singles Chart in 2003, with his Children in Need single, a cover version of Wham!'s "I'm Your Man". It occupied the top spot going into Sunday of its first week on the chart, but was eventually outsold by Will Young's "Leave Right Now".
Over Christmas 2005, Richie appeared in a touring run of Scrooge: The Musical.
He took part in an early edition of Blind Date. After being asked the question "How would you wow me on a first date?", Richie burst into song, singing "Wild Thing."
In 2009, Richie was scheduled as the opening act for Michael Jackson's concerts at the O2 Arena, supported by Calvin Harris & his backing band N-Dubz.;[3] The concerts were cancelled following Jackson's death. He also appeared as aladdin at the wycombe swan. It ran from the 12th december 2009 to the 10th january 2010.
From 2002 to 2003, Richie played the villainous Danny Dexter on Night and Day. He won supporting roles in low-profile British films beginning with Chris Barfoot's award winning short comedy movie Dead Clean and then later Distant Shadow. In 2003 he was executive producer for the British film Shoreditch, in which he also appeared in a lead role. He invested a six-figure sum into the budget of the film, which ultimately made little profit.
As Alfie Moon, in EastEnders, Richie received immediate acclaim for bringing humour to a programme often panned for being too depressing. The role won him numerous awards including the award for "Best Male European Actor" at the Rose D'or Festival and National Television Awards for "Most Popular Actor" in 2005, shortly before he left the programme.
In 2007, Richie starred in a new ITV1 drama The Good Samaritan, and Father Frank for BBC One. He also starred in the second series of Skins on Channel 4 as Bruce Gelcart, a lecherous college drama lecturer.
It was announced on 28 January 2008 that Richie will be hosting a brand new music lyric quiz show on Sky1 called Don't Forget the Lyrics!, whereby contestants must finish off the lyrics to lines of popular songs in order to win money. This commenced on 11 May 2008.
On 25 April 2008, he was due to be a guest on The Paul O'Grady Show, but due to Paul O'Grady falling ill, Richie had to stand in as host.
On 8 May 2008, he said in an interview with Digital Spy that he would love to return to EastEnders as Alfie Moon.[4]
On 23 July 2009, he announced on The One Show that his character Alfie Moon would return to EastEnders. No date was given at this time. On 7 February 2010 it was announced that Richie would be returning to Eastenders as Alfie Moon.[5]
Starting in February 2009 Ritchie was set to star in a revamp of the series, Minder, in a six part series on Five. Rather than a remake of the original, Ritchie stars as Archie Daley, the nephew of the character Arthur Daley from the original series, which ran from 1979 to 1994 on ITV[6]
On 26 July 2009 Shane appeared in a one-off TV drama called Whatever It Takes. He played a character called JJ Merrick who comes to the aid of a girl who wins a radio competition — and catapults her into stardom, thus giving her a new lease of life to what she has been used to before in her lifetime.
In 2003 Richie produced and starred in Shoreditch in which he reportedly invested half a million pounds of his own money. The film received negative reviews and was not widely seen.[7][8]
In 2006, Richie played a rat named Sid in the Aardman Animation film Flushed Away and appeared in What We Did on our Holidays is None of Your Business for ITV1. He has recently been seen in the UK stage tour of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as Randle McMurphy, and heard as a presenter on Virgin Radio, where he interviewed Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet.
He will be seen in the film Prisoners of the Sun with former EastEnders co-star Michael Higgs.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Dead Clean | Nicos Malmatakis | Short film |
| 1999 | Distant Shadow | Paul | |
| 2001 | Silent Soul | Chippy | Short film |
| 2003 | Shoreditch | Thomas Hickman | Also executive producer |
| 2006 | Flushed Away | Sid | Voice role |
| 2010 | Prisoners of the Sun | Kalfhani | Post-production |
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Grange Hill | Schoolboy | Uncredited; 1 episode: 1.1 |
| 1990 | Up to Something! | Various Roles | |
| 1991 | You Gotta Be Jokin' | ||
| 1998 | Macbeth | Porter | |
| 2000 | Burnside | Tony Shotton | Recurring |
| 2002-2005 2010- |
EastEnders | Alfie Moon | Series regular |
| 2003 | Night and Day | Danny Dexter | Recurring |
| 2003 | French and Saunders | 1 episode: Christmas Celebrity Special | |
| 2006 | What We Did on Our Holiday | Nick Taylor | |
| 2007 | The Good Samaritan | Brian Guest | |
| Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind | Trooper #1 | Voice role | |
| 2008 | Skins | Bruce Gelcart | 1 episode: Sketch |
| 2009 | Minder | Archie Daley | 6 part series |
| Whatever It Takes | JJ Merrick | ||
| New Tricks | Johnny Tevis | 1 episode: Death of a Timeshare Salesman |
In 2003 he released his autobiography Rags To Richie, which was a best-seller. In the book, he claims to have had sex with six girls in a chalet, during his time as a Pontins Bluecoat and he broke the law by orchestrating ticket touts outside of Grease. He also claims to have given free tickets to the touts, who went on to sell them at a large profit for Richie.
Richie married Coleen Nolan in 1990, but they divorced in 1999 due to his infidelity. They have two sons, Shane and Jake.
He proposed to his fiancée Christie Goddard at her 26th birthday party in April 2005, and on 23 April 2006 she gave birth to a boy, Mackenzie Blue. They got married on 21 July 2007. They confirmed in an interview with Hello Magazine on 10 June 2008 that they were expecting a girl. Christie gave birth to their daughter Lolita Bell on 28 July 2008.
He is very close friends with his former Eastenders co-stars Jessie Wallace and Kacey Ainsworth.
Shane Richie has recently become patron of Shinfield Players Theatre, an amateur theatre company in Reading, Berkshire, taking the role from recently deceased Anton Rogers.[9] He made his first appearance in the audience on 11 July 2009 for the Youth Group production of Disco Inferno. After having a couple of photos taken with the performing cast, including Luke West and Mark Read (who played Heathcliffe and Jack respectively) and two children from the non-performing cast, he chatted to some of them and the director of the show, Gordon Bird.
   | Shane Richie appearing in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at The Mayflower Theatre Southampton - The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton - What's On - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest |
| | Shane Richie from the beginning - Shane Richie from the beginning |
| | Official MySpace page - MySpace.com - Shane - 45 - Male - - myspace.com/ragstorichie |
| | Shane Richie as Alfie Moon on the BBC's EastEnders page - BBC - EastEnders - Characters & Cast - Shane Richie |
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