Johnny Briggs (actor)

Johnny Briggs, MBE (born 5 September 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Mike Baldwin in the soap opera Coronation Street, in which he appeared from 1976 to 2006 and again in 2012 in the Text Santa special as a ghost. He received a lifetime achievement award at the 2006 British Soap Awards for his thirty years of contribution to the soap.

A graduate of the Italia Conti Academy stage school, where he was a contemporary of Lorna Fendall and Anne Hart, Briggs also had roles in a number of other British shows including Crossroads, The Saint and No Hiding Place, as well as several Carry On films.

In 2005, Briggs announced his intention to leave the role of Mike Baldwin. He cited the hectic filming schedule as the main reason for his departure from Coronation Street. His final scenes in the show were recorded on 13 March and broadcast on Friday 7 April 2006, when his character (who had been ill with Alzheimer's Disease for several months) collapsed and died in the arms of Ken Barlow in the street after suffering a heart attack.

His most recent theatre appearance was at the Opera House, Manchester 2007 pantomime in which he played the father of Cinderella alongside former co-star Tina O'Brien.

Despite suggesting he was to retire from acting after leaving Coronation Street, Briggs has made appearances in both Agatha Christie's Marple and Holby City in 2007, as well as the short-lived ITV soap opera Echo Beach. In 2012 on 21 December he also appeared in a Coronation Street sketch to raise money for the charity Text Santa.

Selected filmography

Briggs lives in Portishead, Somerset a few miles from Bristol. He was appointed an MBE in the New Year's Honours in December 2006.

Briggs' role in the film The Office Party is referred to in the novel Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh; one of the characters watches the film in an all-night cinema in London, as he has nowhere to stay the night.