Somebody asked about ‘the weirdest second life of a British actor’ and the answers will have you planning your own surprising career move

If you have some initial success as a British actor you either build on it until you become a national treasure or end up doing regional panto, right? Well, no, not always.

It turns out that some people who have been on the telly make the leap to something wildly different when their star begins to wane. They’ve been discussing this on the CasualUK subreddit after WanderingArtist2 posted this:

Weirdest Second Life Of A British Actor? Basically, the strangest career pivot someone made after retiring from showbusiness. I’ll start:

James Carlton (PC Crane in Heartbeat, and Matt Townsend in Peep Show) – emigrated to California and became a nut farmer.

Well, that’s certainly unexpected, and lots of other people chipped in with other ex-celeb’s similarly unexpected career changes, like these:

1.

‘Lee Macdonald, Zammo in Grange Hill, runs a key cutting shop in Wallington. He cut my new house keys! He was very nice.’
–TrypMole

2.

‘Oliver (from the 1968 film Oliver) became an osteopath. Crispin Bonham-Carter, who played Mr Bingley in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice is a teacher.’
–DTH2001

3.

‘I remember a few years ago getting Facebook adverts for a familiar looking plasterer. Looked into it at it was Marshall Lancaster from Life on Mars. A quick Google tells me he hasn’t acted in quite a while.’
–pickindim_kmet

4.

‘Ronnie Barker had an antique shop after retiring from the entertainment business.’
–type104

5.

‘Jean Southern is the trolley lady on the train from the first Harry Potter (and is also my grandmother). Before acting she worked as a singer in working men’s clubs home and abroad. She then got into acting, landed some smaller roles and now she’s the oldest surviving Harry Potter actress.

She was known locally for being the ‘swan lady’ feeding the swans and ducks in our local park for years.’
–SomeMayCallMeTim

6.

‘Steve Davis, aka the snooker player, is a very successful DJ and electronic musician.’
–TheFlyingScotsman60

7.

‘Not an actor but I was positively surprised to learn Neil Buchanan pocketed £14million after selling the rights to Art Attack, which he created. Then carried on in the metal band Marseille.’

8.

‘I see the shorter one of Dick and Dom doing DIY videos on TikTok these days.’
–SerendipitousCrow

9.

‘Not an actor but Feargal Sharkey is now the chairman of the Amwell Magna Fishery and mostly dedicates himself to anti water pollution causes.’
–TheGardenBlinked

10.

‘Peter Wingfield (he’s been in loads, 24, Holby City, Sanctuary). He originally studied medicine but went into acting instead. In the 2000s he went back to being a Doctor and is now chief anesthesiologist at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles.’
–LadyMirkwood

11.

‘Steven Arnold who played the butcher Ashley Peacock in Corrie is now an actual butcher.’
–daveof91