Adam Rickitt
Encyclopedia
Adam Peter Rickitt is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

.

Biography

Rickitt was born in Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...

, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

, the youngest of four brothers. His father is co-owner of an estate agency
Estate agent
An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting or management of properties, and other buildings, in the United Kingdom and Ireland. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent...

. Rickitt was educated at Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...

, a boarding school in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

.

Rickitt has spoken publicly about suffering from bulimia in his teenage years and about how male sufferers have largely been neglected.

Modelling

Prior to his acting career, Rickitt had briefly been a child model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

. He subsequently has modelled for numerous UK magazines such as Attitude and Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...

.

Coronation Street: 1997–2004

Rickitt is most famous for his role on popular ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

, where he took over the role of Nick Tilsley
Nick Tilsley
Nicholas Paul "Nick" Tilsley is a fictional character in the British soap opera Coronation Street. Originally known as "Nicky", he was the first-born child of Brian Tilsley and Gail Platt , and has been portrayed by three different actors. Warren Jackson from 1981 to 1996, then by Adam Rickitt...

 in 1997. His girlfriend sent his pictures to various showbusiness agents, one of whom was Nigel Martin-Smith
Nigel Martin-Smith
Nigel Martin-Smith is a Manchester-based musical band manager who formed 1990s British boy band Take That.-Biography:Martin-Smith entered the entertainment industry in the early 1980s working as a casting agent from offices in Manchester's Royal Exchange...

. At first Martin-Smith had the idea of putting him in a boy band he was forming, but when he found out that Coronation Street were re-casting the part of Nick, Rickitt auditioned for the part and got the job. The part had previously been played by actor Warren Jackson until 1996 when the character moved to Canada.

Rickitt left the series in 1999, returning briefly in 2002 and for a longer spell from 2003 to 2004 after which he along with several cast members were sacked when a new producer came to the show. His most famous and controversial storyline was in 2003 when the character of Nick was involved in the series' first gay kiss with Todd Grimshaw
Todd Grimshaw
Todd James Grimshaw is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Coronation Street, played by Bruno Langley. He originally appeared from 13 January 2001 till 22 September 2004 and returned for a brief stint in from 15 October 2007 till 7 November 2007...

 (played by Bruno Langley
Bruno Langley
Bruno Langley is an English actor. He is best known for playing Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street and Adam Mitchell in Doctor Who.- Early life :...

).

Pop career: 1999–2000, 2010

Rickitt left Coronation Street in 1999 to start a music career. He signed a six-album deal with Polydor, although he only released one album - Good Times - in 2000. Rickitt's first single, "I Breathe Again", reached no.5 in the UK and was certified Silver by the BPI
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

, but follow up singles "Everything My Heart Desires" (also recorded by Mandy Moore
Mandy Moore
Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore is an American singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer. Moore became famous as a teenager in the late 1990s, after the release of her teen pop albums So Real, I Wanna Be with You, and Mandy Moore. In 2007, she took an adult pop-folk direction with the release of...

), and "Best Thing
Best Thing
"Best Thing" is the first single released by the band Styx from their self-titled debut album, Styx. It charted at #82 on the Billboard Hot 100.The song was also included on the original release of the band's fourth album, Man of Miracles....

" were less successful, reaching no.15 and no.25 respectively. The album was also a commercial failure and did not chart. Rickitt was then dropped by his record label Polydor, which led him to abandon his career in pop music. In 1999, at a performance at The Prince's Trust Party in the Park
Party in the Park
Party in the Park is the generic name given to music concerts organised by various radio stations and local authorities in England and Wales, typically in large parks during the summer.-Leeds' Party in the Park:...

, a member of the audience sprayed gas onto the stage when Rickitt was performing. Rickitt fainted after inhaling the substance and was taken to hospital.

In 2010 Rickitt announced that he was working on a new album. The first single from it, "Tonight", failed to chart.

Although he claims he is not gay, Rickitt actively courted gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 audiences during this period, appearing regularly at gay venues, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 series Gaytime TV
Gaytime TV
Gaytime TV was a late-night gay-themed comedy and lifestyle magazine programme broadcast on BBC 2 in the United Kingdom. It was the first regular BBC television programme to directly address the gay and lesbian community, and won praise from the Daily Mail for its "lightness of touch that other...

and in a photoshoot for gay lifestyle magazine Attitude
Attitude (magazine)
Attitude is a British gay lifestyle magazine owned by Vitality Publishing. It is sold worldwide as a physical magazine and a digital download for the iPad and iPhone via the App Store. The first issue appeared in May 1994....

, as well as children's television and mainstream pop festivals. During his 2010 comeback attempt, his stage appearances were almost all at gay venues and events.

Shortland Street: 2007–10

Rickitt joined the cast of the Shortland Street
Shortland Street
Shortland Street is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera, first broadcast on Television New Zealand's TV2 on 25 May 1992. It is the country's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously for over 4500 episodes and 19 years, and is one of the most watched television programs in...

in early 2007 as the mysterious Kieran Mitchell
Kieran Mitchell
Kieran Mitchell is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who was portrayed by British actor Adam Rickitt through numerous high profile storylines from early 2007 to mid 2010....

 with his first appearance being on 16 March 2007. Rickitt finished playing the role with his character's last appearance on 2 August 2010. Previously he said that he preferred his role on Shortland Street, to working on Coronation Street.

His character was originally the main suspect for the serial killings but was cleared when the murderer was found, he then was involved in several criminal activities over 2008. 2009 focused on Kieran's love life and attempt to play it straight. In 2010 Kieran was charged for a hit-and-run that killed one main character, but was cleared when his brother took the blame. Kieran Mitchell is the owner of local bar The IV and his character married his 18-year-old girlfriend Sophie McKay
Sophie McKay
Sophie Juliette McKay is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. She was introduced in late 2006 as the daughter of surgeon Justine Jones and GP Callum McKay. She was briefly married to Kieran Mitchell in early 2010 before they separated.-2006-2008:Sophie McKay...

. Producers decided to write Kieran out when the series received a revamp in tone, and his character met his demise by slipping off a cliff after a fight with a former crime partner.

Theatre

Rickitt starred as Mark Cohen in the UK National touring of the musical Rent, moving to the West End of London for a record-breaking run. He made a return to the London stage to star in Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright CBE is a leading West End theatre producer and film producer.He is also the Chairman of Everton Football Club, an English professional football club from the city of Liverpool....

's production Office Games, followed by a new play, Final Judgement, and also appeared in Nick Moran's play Telstar on UK Tour.

In December 2006, Rickitt appeared in his first pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

, Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...

, in the role of Prince Charming
Prince Charming
Prince Charming is a stock character who appears in a number of fairy tales. He is the prince who comes to rescue of the damsel in distress, and stereotypically, must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell...

 at the Norwich Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Norwich
The Theatre Royal is the largest theatre in Norwich, Norfolk, England. It presents a large range of drama, dance, comedy, music and other entertainment...

.

RSPCA work

Rickitt now works for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a charity in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. In 2009 the RSPCA investigated 141,280 cruelty complaints and collected and rescued 135,293 animals...

 as a capital appeals manager.

Other ventures

Rickitt also took part in the Channel Four reality show The Games during March 2006, although he only had two weeks' training, compared to the other contestants' 12. He took part as a replacement, after the scheduled contestant, electronic musician
Electronic musician
An electronic musician is a musician who composes or plays music from synthetic sounds generated with synthesizers, samplers, drum machines or music sequencers....

 Goldie
Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. He is well known for his innovations in the jungle and drum and bass music genres, having previously gained exposure for his work as a graffiti artist...

, had to pull out, following an accident during training for the water ski
Water skiing
thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...

 jump, in which he fractured his femur
Femur
The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...

. Rickitt himself sustained two black eye
Black eye
A black eye , or or 'shiner', is bruising around the eye commonly due to an injury to the face rather than eye injury. The name is given due to the color of bruising. The so-called black eye is caused by bleeding beneath the skin and around the eye...

s after over-rotating off the diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

 board. He finished last in the contest.

Political interest: 2005–10

In October 2005, Rickitt was approved as a prospective parliamentary candidate
Prospective parliamentary candidate
Prospective parliamentary candidate is a term used in British politics to refer to candidates selected by political parties to fight individual constituencies in advance of a general election. This terminology was motivated by the strict limits on the amount of expenses incurred by an actual...

 for the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

. As part of this attempt to reinvent himself, in February 2006 he appeared on the political debate show Question Time, as the non-partisan guest. In May 2006, he was one of 100 would-be MPs chosen for the Conservative party A-list. The following month, he appeared on Sunday AM
Sunday AM
The Andrew Marr Show is an hour-long British television programme broadcast on BBC One on Sunday mornings from 9am. It is presented by Andrew Marr, previously the BBC's Political Editor. In it, the host interviews political figures and others involved in the current events of the week...

with Andrew Marr
Andrew Marr
Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....

. He attended national and local Conservative party functions in the hope of being selected as a candidate, as well as developing a political blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

 on his website. However, a newspaper article alleged that he was not a member of the Conservative Party and had only decided to support them because of his dislike of then Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

. Rickitt refuted these claims and confirmed that he was a member, while the newspaper retracted its claims the following week. Along with David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....

, he also provoked the anger of Sir Nicholas Winterton
Nicholas Winterton
Sir Nicholas Raymond Winterton is a retired British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Macclesfield from 1971 until he retired from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election....

 when it was revealed that Rickitt was being tipped to stand for the safe Conservative seat of Macclesfield
Macclesfield (UK Parliament constituency)
Macclesfield is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

, which the outraged Winterton had represented for nearly thirty years. Winterton responded that he had no intention of standing down from this seat: "I wish Adam luck, but there are no vacancies here."

Rickitt has so far been unsuccessful in progressing his political career. According to his website, in July 2007 he decided to continue his acting career in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, rather than seek selection as a candidate, although politics remains a long-term goal.

He returned to the political scene in October 2010 as a guest reporter for the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 breakfast television
Breakfast television
Breakfast television or morning show , is a type of infotainment television program, broadcast live in the morning...

 programme Daybreak
Daybreak (ITV)
Daybreak is the weekday breakfast television programme on the British commercial ITV network that broadcasts on weekday mornings from 06:00 to 08:30 and is currently presented by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley from Monday to Thursday with Dan Lobb and Kate Garraway on Fridays...

covering the Conservative Party Conference from Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, and also hosted a conference gay party.

Alleged shoplifting

On 21 September 2007, Rickitt was arrested and charged with shoplifting
Shoplifting
Shoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....

 a block of cheese, a bottle of HP sauce and a jar of coffee from an Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 supermarket. During an interview with Herald on Sunday he said that it was an honest mistake.

Films

Year Film Role Notes
2010 Whatever Happened to Pete Blaggit? Clive

TV

Year Show Role Notes
1997–99, 2002, 2003–04 Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

Nick Tilsley
Nick Tilsley
Nicholas Paul "Nick" Tilsley is a fictional character in the British soap opera Coronation Street. Originally known as "Nicky", he was the first-born child of Brian Tilsley and Gail Platt , and has been portrayed by three different actors. Warren Jackson from 1981 to 1996, then by Adam Rickitt...

Series regular
2001 Doctors James Neville 1 episode: Sun God
2005 Judge John Deed
Judge John Deed
Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove...

Roy Storidge 1 episode: Popular Appeal
2007–10 Shortland Street
Shortland Street
Shortland Street is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera, first broadcast on Television New Zealand's TV2 on 25 May 1992. It is the country's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously for over 4500 episodes and 19 years, and is one of the most watched television programs in...

Kieran Mitchell
Kieran Mitchell
Kieran Mitchell is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who was portrayed by British actor Adam Rickitt through numerous high profile storylines from early 2007 to mid 2010....

Series regular

Albums

Year Information UK Album Chart Position
1999
1999 in music
-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation.**Paul McCartney attends the first of his stepdaughter Heather's first housewares collection in Georgia....

i>Good Times
  • Debut studio album
  • Released: 18 October 1999
  • Formats: CD
    Compact Disc
    The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

    , Cassette
    Compact Cassette
    The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...

did not chart

Singles

Year Single UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 Position
Album
1999 "I Breathe Again"
5
Good Times
"Everything My Heart Desires"
15
2000 "The Best Thing"
25
2011 "Tonight"
-

External links

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