Obituary: Colin Tarrant - Long-standing star of hit police series The Bill who appeared in other soaps and on stage

Published on Wednesday 1 February 2012 00:00

Born: 14 June, 1952, in Derbyshire. Died: 26 January, 2012, in Bristol, aged 59

COLIN Tarrant, who is thought to have taken his own life, became a well-known face in the long-running police drama The Bill. As Inspector Andrew Monroe, Tarrant portrayed a stern and authoritarian figure who did everything by the book. Monroe was very much a traditional policeman who ensured the Sun Hill station was run strictly and efficiently while displaying a more sympathetic side at home with his wife Rachel. Tarrant’s character was killed off in a fire at the station in 2002 but this allowed him to accept more stage work and he made two visits to Scotland.

Colin Tarrant was brought up in Shirebrook and read English at Exeter University. He went on to teach before joining Peter Cheeseman’s theatre-in-the-round at Stoke-on-Trent. Tarrant involved himself in the company’s strongly focused community work and appeared in many specially written new plays.

He then got small roles on television and theatre work – notably appearing for two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the early Eighties performing in plays directed by Trevor Nunn and Ronald Eyre. This brought Tarrant to the notice of casting directors and, in 1988, he was offered the role of Will Brangwen in the BBC’s adaptation of The Rainbow, opposite Imogen Stubbs.

The series was based on the novel by DH Lawrence and followed three generations of the Brangwen family living in Nottinghamshire.

Finely directed by Stuart Burge, Tarrant delivered a well-judged performance as a disenchanted miner and two years later he was signed up to play the role of Inspector Andrew Monroe in The Bill.

Tarrant was to play the role of the inspector with much distinction for 12 years. Amid all the criminal dramas, Tarrant invested his character with a certain dry sense of humour, which reduced the tension at Sun Hill and brought many a smile from viewers.

Much of the drama of the series was internal and the result of rivalry and personality clashes: Tarrant’s character was often at loggerheads with DS Ted Roach and DI Frank Burnside. At one stage, the inspector had to discipline the officers for drinking on duty with Tarrant’s Monroe playing everything by the rule book, only for Roach to punch his inspector on the nose.

Tarrant was an integral part of The Bill’s success: his commanding figure was often seen around the station and Tarrant’s uniformed presence suited his influential status. He appeared in almost 600 episodes but the show was axed, amid much controversy, in 2010. By then it had a huge cult following and was the longest-running police series in the UK and among the longest-running British TV series.

Tarrant brought an air of authority and reason to the role of the inspector and viewers were surprised when the scriptwriters had killed him off in a fire. In truth, a new producer took over in 2002 and, as part of the drive to increase ratings, the series was considerably revamped. It became more of a soap opera and some of the long-standing characters were killed when a petrol bomb was thrown into Inspector Monroe’s office.

Jeff Stewart, who played PC Reg Hollis, commented yesterday: “Colin was a lovely man and a greatly admired colleague. Inspector Monroe was iconic to Bill fans.”

Although Tarrant was often to return to the television studio and appeared in Holby City, Midsomer Murders, Casualty and Heartbeat he relished the opportunity to perform on stage. These included two visits to Scotland. Firstly in 2007 he came to the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh in Mark Thomson’s modern dress production of The Winter’s Tale.

He returned last year for a tour of Scotland with the hit comedy Calendar Girls in which he played the role of the put-upon husband John opposite Lesley Joseph and Ruth Madoc. It was expected that he would return to the production at the end of this year.

Other theatre work included a virtuoso performance in the title role of Brian Clough, Spirit of the Man, which did a national tour in 2006 and The Railway Children at the National Railway Museum in York.

In 2007 Tarrant had a delightful scene in ITV’s Heartbeat, which typified his ability to make the most of a small scene. His character is accused of murdering a neighbour but, in a slight Yorkshire accent, he dismisses the suggestion with a becoming smile and eyes aglow, “I put down rat poisoning to kill the dog. But I am not a murderer.”

Tarrant was a keen follower of cricket and football, and had been a player in his youth. He separated from his wife Patricia Woodhouse more than a decade ago.

He is survived by their son. ALASDAIR STEVEN