North West

Playing age:36 to 45 years
Height: 5 feet 9 inches (175cm)
Appearance: White
Eye colour: Green
Hair colour: Light/Mid Brown
Hair length: Mid Length
Voice quality: Warm
Voice character: Engaging

Biography

BACKGROUND: Nick Cochrane was born in Manchester and at the age of 15 was plucked from school to audition for the role of ’Andy McDonald’, within a few weeks he joined the cast of ITV1’s Coronation Street.

TELEVISION: Nick’s first appearance on Coronation Street came during the infamous Blackpool tram accident episode in 1989, the show that night was seen by 21 million viewers.He spent the next decade on the cobbles of Weatherfield as Andy McDonald playing equally demanding high drama and more light hearted comedy storylines on a daily basis with many memorable moments including; hilarious driving of a JCB truck, sibling rivalry and fights with his brother Steve, romances good and bad, in addition to storylines covering serious issues like alcoholism, when Andy’s relationship with dad Jim (played by Charlie Lawson) led to him drinking heavily forcing a striking confrontation.In 1997 Nick’s character Andy left Weatherfield to go to Spain where he remains an English teacher. Nick has since successfully reprised his role as Andy in 2000, 2004 and 2009, each time to support his family, in particular his brother Steve played by Nick’s friend and former school mate Simon Gregson. The McDonald family remain one of the most popular and important in the 50 year history of Coronation Street and Nick would,of course, love to return to Weatherfield to support the McDonald clan!

Nick played a totally contrasting role also on ITV on ‘Heartbeat’, he played  1960’s professional golf player ‘Barry Scripps’ a serious but nice sportsman. This role gave Nick the perfect opportunity to work on his 15 handicap!. He has the ability to play many different types of character for TV equally well and following a short break from TV acting for family reasons, we would love him to be seen for suitable TV roles.
More recently Nick has played 2 guest lead roles in BBC Doctors.

THEATRE:  Nick Cochrane has starred in the No.1 nationwide tour of ‘Spring and Port Wine’ with the Middle Ground Theatre Company touring venues including London, Oxford, Manchester, Crewe and Brighton amongst others. The tour received critical acclaim and was a Manchester Evening News theatre award winner.

Nick has also appeared in numerous successful pantomime productions, raising the roof on hundreds of performances and playing to sell out audiences around the country. He has great comedy and drama skills in shows in addition to a good light baritone voice and an excellent sense of timing for visual and physical comedy items. He has  appeared in the timeless fairy tale stories Jack and The Beanstalk, Wizard Of Oz, Peter Pan, Aladdin,Snow White and Cinderella playing many classic panto roles like Buttons, Genie of the Lamp, Prince Charming, King, Scarecrow and Smee. Nick has topped the bill and played as a principal performer in pantomime at several venues including Cambridge Corn Exchange, The Mansfield Palace, Cannock, Chesterfield, St Helen’s, Leamington Spa and Llandudno. He has worked well for many producers including QDos and Regal Entertainments for who between 2011-2014 he has played numerous box office record breaking Easter and Christmas pantomimes,all at St Helen’s Theatre Royal.

In 2013 he starred as ‘Basher’ the drummer of a band in musical ‘Heart and Soul’ at Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre (formerly the Neptune Theatre).

TV GUEST APPEARANCES: Nick has made television guest appearances on many shows including ‘This Morning’ , ‘Loose Women’ (ITV1), ‘Canada AM’ (national breakfast TV) ‘The South Bank Show’ (ITV1), ‘Live and Kicking’ (BBC1), ‘To Me To You’ (CBBC), ‘Confessions’ (ITV), ‘Win Lose or Draw’ (ITV1), Celebrity Eggheads for BBC2 and most recently ‘Piers Morgans Life Stories (ITV1).In addition Nick Cochrane has contributed to many Coronation Street related entertainment shows and documentar including;  ‘Farewell Liz’ ‘A Nightmare on Coronation Street’, ‘The Kids from Coronation Street’, ‘Women of Coronation Street’, ‘Coronation Street Through the Keyhole’, ‘The Stars of the street 50 years 50 classic characters’, ‘Happy Birthday Coronation Street’, ‘Classic Coronation Street’, ‘Coronation Street Secrets’ ,‘Coronation Street The Macdonald Family Album’ and most recently he featured in many classic soap clips on ‘The Corrie Years’.In addition he has presented radio shows for Talksport and recently appeared on BBC 5 live.