Chris Chittell Biography

Chris Chittell born Kelvin Fletcher born Christopher John Chittell is an English actor, he is known for his role as Eric Pollard in ITV’s Emmerdale, since 1986.

After leaving school, he wanted to join the Royal Navy, but became a model instead. In 1964, he begun acting with the National Theatre, at Chichester Festival Theatre, in Peter Shaffer’s, The Royal Hunt of the Sun.

His film appearances included To Sir, with Love in 1967, The Charge of the Light Brigade in the 1968, The Weekend Murders in 1970 The Beast in the Cellar in 1970, The Raging Moon in 1971, The Last Valley in 1971, Erotic Inferno in 1975, Golden Rendezvous in 1977, Game for Vultures and Zulu Dawn in the 1979. In the 1970s, he made appearances in a number of Swedish sex films including The Intruders and Let Us Play Sex in 1975 and Girl on Her Knees in 1977.

Chris Chittell Age

He was born on 19 May 1948 in Aldershot, United Kingdom. He is 70 years old as of 2018.

Chris Chittell Wife

He is married to Lesley Dunlop, his Emmerdale co-star who plays Brenda Walker. The couple married in 2016.

Chris Chittell Height

He is 5ft 9 inches tall.

Chris Chittell Photo

Chris Chittell Interview: Emmerdale Interview with Michelle Hardwick and Chris Chittell

Emmerdale legend Chris Chittell’s raunchy past as adult film star has been uncovered

Updated: march 23, 2018

For all you Emmerdale fans out there, it’s time to brace yourselves, because things are about to get weird…

The Emmerdale cast is quite the mixed bag, and I think the same can be said for most British soaps, as actors come from different backgrounds, having taken different routes to get to where they are, and it’s only naturally that that is the case.

However, that’s all well and good to say, but no cast member of Emmerdale has got a more sketchy career choices lurking in their past than mainstay Chris Chittell, who plays Emmerdale’s cornerstone Eric Pollard.

Just like there is a number of generations now that couldn’t remember a Manchester United without Alex Ferguson at the helm, or a time when Coronation Street wasn’t on ITV, few today can remember a time in Emmerdale’s history before Eric Pollard was a part of it, when he joined in 1986 as the wheeler dealer turned bed and breakfast king.

Known for his romances with a string of ladies, including soap favourite Val (Charlie Hardwick) and more recently Faith Dingle (Sally Dexter), it seems as though Chris Chittell is well versed in the art of Casanova’ing, and his past career choices only prove that!

Because long before he got his big break on one of telly’s most beloved soaps, the 69 year old tried his hand at a slightly different route to get his acting career off the ground – starring in a series of Swedish adult films.

Yes, that’s right. Swedish adult films.

I’ll repeat that.

Swedish adult films…And he reveals the lot!

Sir David Jason admits he was in a naughty movie too – scroll down to read the story

His list of credits include the bluntly titled Let Us Play S** (which, I’ll be honest, made me laugh for about four hours when I first read the title), and Practise Makes Perfect, which is also the subtle, nuanced, understated art house film known as…Girl On Her Knees.

But Pollard’s past career cheeky films secret isn’t something the actor is afraid to talk about or something that he tries to keep hidden. In fact, it’s rather the opposite, as he gave an insight into his “colourful”, shall we say, acting career in an interview back in 1997.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, he revealed: “I did films like Let Us Play S** and a few more when I was on my uppers, after running up terrible bills and seeing various ventures fail.

“One was an antiques business. Another was a Jewish-Italian restaurant in Hatton Garden, London.

“I took them to pay off some heavy-duty people and clear the bills.”

But Chris’ daring venture into soft adult film industry lead the actor fearing he may never work in the UK.

“I always thought I was going to be fired, even after years in Emmerdale,” he explained.

“I thought I would never work in England again because of the content of those films.

“Thank God I’ve been on the up ever since.”

On the up, you say? I wish I had one of those Carry On whistles.

Sir David Jason stayed in some rather cheeky movies too…

But Chris Chittell isn’t the only old school actor that has made one or two dodgy decisions in the early days of his career. Even Sir David Jason has had to delve into the world of vintage (well I suppose it wasn’t then) sex films in order to get a foot on the ladder and pay the bills.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Sir David said that even he had appearances in some rather naughty films, but thankfully, he wasn’t in the rudest bits!

He wrote: “One of my biggest breaks was being given an opportunity to star in my first
film. That in itself was tremendously exciting — opening an envelope and pulling out
a screenplay rather than just a play or script. It was called Albert’s Follies and I settled down to read it in a state of pink-cheeked glee.

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“It seemed to be a fairly innocent farce, with me playing Albert Toddey, a meek
civil servant. The screenplay was by David McGillivray. He went on to write a lot of scripts for the British adult film industry. Perhaps you’ve seen his I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight from 1975, or 1974’s The Hot Girls?

“Or maybe you’ve seen the script for his, sadly unmade, 1976 piece Unzipper Dee
Doo Dah? Whatever, all that was in the future for him — and unknowable for me in 1973. I told my agent I was up for it. They certainly weren’t on a blockbuster budget.”

No sh*t.

He continued: “I was starring with Imogen Hassall, an actress known as the Countess of
Cleavage, although she was smarter and more sensitive than her reputation. Filming went from bad to worse, but the crisis point came in the final week when Imogen and I were required in a scene which involved us walking down a passage together.

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