Peter McNamara

Born: None

Peter McNamara, born in London and attended the National Youth Theatre and trained at LAMDA. Possibly best known as Ralph Passmore, the nemesis of Tucker Jenkin's in Tucker's Luck (1983), the spin off series of Phil Redmond's Grange Hill (1978). Peter was known for his fantastic singing voice in many theatre musical productions including South Pacific. He started out his long list of jobs as a supporting artist, working on such films as Quadrophenia (1979), The Shining (1980), Chariots of Fire (1981) and Star Wars (1977), before being cast in Grange Hill (1978). He worked frequently with Christopher Menaul who cast him as a Chelsea skinhead Rory in The Treatment (1984) and previously Tucker's Luck (1983). He became a well respected character actor in a career that eventually spanned four decades, he was often called upon to play the menacing hard-man and when Denzel Washington came to London to work on For Queen & Country (1988), Peter was asked to show him around and guide him on the Cockney accent. In 1990, Peter starred as Kenno in the controversial football hooligan film, Arrivederci Millwall (1990), one of the first films to tackle that subject. He went onto play Jimmy Cadogan in the children's TV series; Oasis (1993) in 1993 and a spot on 99-1 (1994) which reunited him with Arrivederci Millwall (1990) director Charles McDougall. Despite his hard-man roles Peter often played in a lot of comedy TV shows including Desmond's (1989) and Harry Enfield and Chums (1994). In 1995, he appeared in Funny Bones (1995) with Lee Evans, Jerry Lewis, Oliver Platt and Oliver Reed. Then in 1996 he was seen in the series No Bananas (1996) as DS Howard. He was in both the film and TV series of London's Burning (1988) and played recurring roles in numerous other British TV shows including Thief Takers (1995), The Bill (1984), Trial & Retribution (1997), Silent Witness (1996) and Casualty (1986). In 2002, he appeared as Frederick Michael Argyle in The Gathering (2002) where he acted alongside Christina Ricci, Ioan Gruffudd and Stephen Dillane. In 2004, he appeared in an extraordinary experimental drama documentary called Pissed on the Job (2004), Peter played a heavy drinker who was also a teacher, the film which can be seen online is a great example of his work, his subtle performance is extremely realistic in this damning piece about the dangers of alcohol. He showed up as a vampire drug dealer in the film Dead Cert (2010) in 2010 and had been working on some low budget films in the latter years of his career that sadly never got released due to budget and various technical issues. His last credit Dinklebrain (2012) was not the last film he made, rumour has it that he was very much actively making some independent short films, which hopefully will emerge in the near future. Sadly, Peter McNamara died in May 2018 at the age of 57 and he was cremated at Enfield Crematorium on 14th June 2018, a week after what would have been his 58th birthday. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Shona M


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as Dinner Guest (uncredited)
Released: 1980-05-23

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy...

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See!

Quadrophenia

as Mod (uncredited)
Released: 1979-09-14

Based on the 1973 rock opera album of the same name by The Who, this is the story of 60s...

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The Long Good Friday

as Young Man in Pub (uncredited)
Released: 1980-11-01

In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate...

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The Gathering

as Frederick Michael Argyle
Released: 2003-02-23

Itinerant traveler Cassie Grant comes out of a car accident in Glastonbury, England, with...

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For Queen & Country

as Pete
Released: 1988-05-17

A retired British soldier struggles to adjust to everyday life, with increasing difficulty.

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Tube Tales

as Roy (segment "Grasshopper")
Released: 1999-11-19

Nine short stories based on the true experiences of London Underground passengers: "Mr. Cool"...

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Shooting Fish

as Geoff
Released: 1997-08-22

Two con artists hire an unwitting medical-school student as a secretary for their latest scam.

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Lassiter

as German Guard
Released: 1984-02-17

Scotland Yard and the FBI force a thief and his girlfriend to steal Nazi diamonds from a German...

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Funny Bones

as Canavan
Released: 1995-09-20

Tommy Fawkes wants to be a successful comedian. After his Las Vegas debut is a failure, he...

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Lucky Break

as Ward
Released: 2001-08-24

Half-way through his 12-year prison sentence for an incompetent armed robbery, Jimmy Hands gets...

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When I'm Sixty-Four

as Aitch
Released: 2004-08-04

When widowed cabbie Ray and retired teacher Jim meet by chance, they discover they long for the...

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as The Chemist
Released: 2010-08-26

A gang of tough London gangsters get more than they bargained for when a group of businessmen...

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Don't See

Arrivederci Millwall

as Kenno
Released: 1990-01-03

A group of Millwall supporting hooligans travels to Spain for the 1982 World Cup Finals soon...

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London's Burning: The Movie

as Whitey
Released: 1986-12-07

It's Josie Ingham's first day at Blackwall Firestation but things aren't going so well being the...

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Break Clause

as Phil
Released: 2019-07-18

A trio of con-artists rip off some gangsters and lie low in a rented house. Christy tries to see...

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Fool's Gold: The Story Of The Brink's Mat Robbery

as Undercover Policeman
Released: 1992-11-14

A dramatized speculation of what happened in November 1983 when Micky McAvoy and some of his...

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Smack and Thistle

as Ben
Released: 1991-04-20

With a drug-addled lifestyle and a prison sentence firmly behind him, Abel is determined to go...

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Pissed on the Job

as Teacher
Released: 2004-01-14

Experimental dramadoc about high-functioning alcoholics and problem drinking in the workplace....

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Casualty

as Terry Cooper
First aired: 1986-09-06

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department,...

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Grange Hill

as Sixth Former
First aired: 1978-02-08

Children's drama series following the lives of students and teachers at Grange Hill...

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A Touch of Frost

as Trevor Cooper
First aired: 1992-12-06

Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and...

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Wycliffe

as Donald Ferris
First aired: 1994-07-24

Wycliffe is a British television series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective...

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Tucker's Luck

as Ralph Passmore
First aired: 1983-03-10

Tucker's Luck was a British television series made by the BBC between 1983 and 1985. The series...

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