| The man who played Wes... Mr Ian Liston Apart from a long and successful career as an actor, Ian is the founder of The Hiss & Boo Company and has directed the company since its inception in 1976. He appears at many of the company’s Music Hall performances as Mr Chairman, a role he has played over 3,000 times. As an actor his claims to fame include seven years as Ron Brownlow in Crossroads, several different characters in both Brookside and Coronation Street and many other TV plays and series including The Bill, Dr Who, The Brothers, Onedin Line, Z Cars, Warship, Softly Softly, Dixon of Dock Green and The Professionals to name but a few. He was in Carlton TV’s series Bramwell as, of all things, The Music Hall Chairman and appeared as a newspaper editor in the lottery comedy It could be you! for BBC TV. He played a football manager in Call Red, an ITV series about the flying ambulance service. He appeared in Silent Witness for BBC TV, for whom he also appeared in two episodes of Bugs, and was seen recently in an episode of Peak Practice and played the lead role of Sir Thomas Blunt in Channel Four’s South Sea Bubble. His films include Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back playing rebel pilot Wes Janson, A Bridge Too Far (as Sergeant Whitney) , Scum (as Mr White, the Prison Catering Officer), White Nights (the pilot of the crashing plane) and Captain Jack with Bob Hoskins and Maureen Lipman as The Coastguard. Apart from the Hiss & Boo Show in its many forms, Ian has produced several plays and Musicals in London’s West End (including An Ideal Husband, Corpse!, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Nunsense and the much praised Groucho: A life in Revue) and over thirty plays on the touring circuit. He is the author of several plays which have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Apart from his Music Hall & Variety Shows, in which he loves to perform, he is an active producer of plays and seasonal attractions. He has recently produced Alan Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings for a national tour, Danny La Rue’s celebratory tours for his ’50 years in the business’ and many prestigious pantomimes at major UK regional venues - all written for Hiss & Boo by Roy Hudd. He continues to produce The Shakespeare Revue (which began life with The Royal Shakespeare Company) and a new show, Come Rain, Come Shine, with members of the cast of BBC Radio 4’s The Archers. His other interests include travelling, cooking, eating, and, of necessity, keeping fit!! A keen cricket fan and lover of steam railways and paddle steamers, Ian lives ‘in the middle of nowhere’ in the heart of the Sussex countryside with his wife Vivien (a lawyer) and a very large black and white cat called Bruiser.
Star Sign: Leo.
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