Warren Clarke

About Warren Clarke

Familiar to many as one-half of the crime-busting Dalziel and Pascoe, Warren Clarke has had a career spanning over 30 years. Inspect our case file on the man with the lugubrious looks.

News hound

Warren Clarke was born in Oldham in 1947. After leaving school at the age of 15, he joined the Manchester Evening News as a copy boy. He later moved onto amateur dramatics and performed in repertory theatres, before taking up acting full-time.

What goes around

Warren's acting career took off in the 1970s with the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange. The controversial film has only recently been re-released after being yanked from cinemas by Kubrick. He remains proud of the film, and has expressed joy at it finally finding a wider audience. "It's nice the response it's having from young people who truly enjoyed it," he says. "It was slagged off 30 years ago."

In the line of duty

Warren has had his fair share of close shaves during filming of his various roles. He nearly died of hypothermia in Norway on the set of the film Gulag in 1984. He fell asleep between scenes whilst filming on glaciers in temperatures of minus 25C. More recently, he was trodden on by a cow while filming the drama Down to Earth.

Top cop

One of Warren's most popular roles is as Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel in the crime drama Dalziel and Pascoe. But he is keen to distance himself from his boozy on-screen character, calling him a "chauvinist pig, whose idea of a good night out is swilling back 10 pints in the pub with his supper waiting for him and the little woman tucked up in bed with a welcoming smile". He admits he likes going to the pub, but is quick to add his wife goes too.

Sorry, darling

Despite previous successes, Warren says he has no plans to return to his theatrical roots. He was offered a part in the long-running West End play Art, but turned it down. The man who accepted it was none other than his sidekick in Dalziel and Pascoe, Colin Buchanan.

Admiring fans

Warren has said that, despite having to put up with less-than-complimentary comments about his looks, he receives his fair share of saucy letters. One of these admiring women sent a nude photo of herself to him. Being a happily married man, however, Warren rejected the chance to don his Dalziel mask and investigate...