Former star of The Bill and Celebrity Big Brother star, Christopher Ellison, took time out from playing the dastardly Captain Hook in Lighthouse’s Christmas show Peter Pan to visit staff and patients at Lewis-Manning Hospice in Poole.
This isn’t the first time the actor, best remembered for playing Detective Chief Inspector Frank Burnside for 16 years on ITV’s The Bill, supported the charity. In 2001, Chris was part of a team of actors from The Bill that took on a team from popular soap Emmerdale in a charity cricket match at Dean Park Cricket Ground in Bournemouth.
Elizabeth Purcell, CEO at Lewis-Manning Hospice, explained: “I am so delighted to welcome Chris Ellison to the hospice. My husband worked with Chris for years on The Bill, and Chris came to the first Lewis-Manning Hospice celebrity cricket match – The Bill vs Emmerdale – in 2001. I know how busy he is playing Captain Hook at Lighthouse, so we’re all very grateful that he can spare some time from this amazingly successful show to be with the patients especially at this festive time of year.”
Chris spent the morning touring the hospice and meeting with patients and staff. A keen artist himself, he was particularly interested in the patient’s artwork and is donating one of his own paintings to Lewis-Manning.
Peter Pan, featuring Christopher Ellison as Captain Hook, opened earlier this month at Lighthouse to superb reviews and it’s been a bumper year for the venue with record seats sold. It is the first year Lighthouse has fully properly created the show from scratch – including set design and costumes – as well as producing, and it runs until 3 January 2016.
