Ian Reddington (born 25 September 1957) is an English actor with many stage and television credits since the early 1980s. He became widely known for television roles such as the Chief Clown in the Doctor Who serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Richard Cole in EastEnders and Vernon Tomlin in Coronation Street. Early life Ian Reddington was born in Walkley in Sheffield. He was educated at Frecheville Comprehensive. He had no formal drama training at school but became a leading figure in the Meatwhistle youth theatre project run by youth workers in the city. This gave him his first appearance as the Herald in Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade at the Sheffield Crucible in 1973 directed by Glen Walford. He also played percussion and sang backing vocals in proto-punk band Musical Vomit alongside Glenn Gregory, who later went on to become lead singer with Heaven 17. Reddington then went on to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (1976–1979), at the time one of their youngest ever entrants. While there, he won The William Poel Prize and The Arthur Talbot Smith Award. Career Television Reddington's earliest television appearances were in Sharon and Elsie (1984), Doug Lucie's Hard Feelings in Play for Today (1984), Three Up, Two Down (1986) and Casualty (1987). In 1989, he was voted Best Villain of the 25th anniversary season by Doctor Who Magazine readers for his portrayal of the Chief Clown in the serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, which starred Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. In 2015, author Cameron K. McEwan described it as "a superb performance and, still to this day, one of Who's finest villains". Reddington reprised this role for the Big Finish audio drama The Psychic Circus in 2020. Between 1992 and 1994, he had a recurring role as Richard Cole (aka Tricky Dicky) in EastEnders. He later became one of only two actors to portray a major role in the UK's two biggest soap operas (the other being Michelle Collins) after his portrayal of Vernon Tomlin, the hapless drummer, in Coronation Street from 2005 until 2008. His many other television appearances have included episodes of The Bill, Boon, Holby City, Benidorm, Doctors, Peak Practice, Playing the Field, Robin Hood, Inspector Morse and Cadfael, The Sculptress, The Queen's Nose, Jane Hall and Yellow Thread Street and memorably as Tommy the council worker in Shameless, Being April and