Date of Birth: 28th March 1949
Place of Birth: Derby, Derbyshire, UK
Birthname: Kevin Reardon Lloyd
Date of Death: 4th May 1998
Place of Date: Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Cause of Death: Alcohol Poisoning
Kevin Lloyd was a squat balding character actor most famous for his role as Tosh Lines in the ITV drama series The Bill.
Born in Derbyshire Lloyd was the son of a police sergeant in a police family with his uncle and grandfather also being policemen. Unfortunately whilst responding to an emergency call, his father was killed in an accident at the age of 46.
Childhood
Throughout his childhood Lloyd coped with Perthes disease, a condition which affected his right leg. Despite this he was still enthusiastic about sports, and was a lifelong Derby County fan. After leaving grammar school he trained to become a solicitor but was drawn in the middle of his education towards the stage.
He started attending East 15 drama school in London in 1970 where he made his debut on stage in The Importance of Being Earnest at his graduation. Shortly afterwards he appeared in the West End in What The Butler Saw which led onto appearances with The Royal Shakespeare Company. Two weeks before they were supposed to start rehearsing The Cherry Orchard in Los Angeles together, Laurence Olivier died. This was to be one of the biggest disappointments in Lloyds career.
A catalogue of television appearances followed, the first being in a childrens television show called Bob and Ben the Removal Men. Most of the programmes he starred in were well know classics of British television including The Sweeney, Coronation Street, Bergerac, Casualty and The Bill.
The Bill
Despite being in a variety of programmes, he mainly starred as policemen. His role as Alfred "Tosh" Lines in The Bill brought him the most attention. He stared playing this role in 1988. He drew on aspects of his childhood to help in in the role, in particular his fathers personality and mannerisms. In the beginning his characters was a Constable, but throughout ten years Lloyd was with the series, his character was promoted to DC. Overweight with a sruffy moustache, he was a likeable character. A policeman who was content to be a bobby on the beat.
Lloyd stuck with his Derby roots whilst working on The Bill commuting a round trip of 270 miles from his Duffield home to Notting Hill for filming at an estimated annual cost of £17,000.
Sacked
In April 1998 the producers of The Bill had had their fill of Lloyds behaviour. After an number of ultimatums for turning up on set drunk, Lloyd was sacked. He had previously been treated for alcoholism at a clinic in Rolleston-on-Dove in Staffordshire, to no avail.
A clinic spokesperson said of this matter,
"Despite all efforts Mr Lloyd failed to respond to clinical inputs and was in the process of being discharged."
Drinking Binge
Less than a month later, Lloyd collapsed in a Staffordshire pub after drinking there on a Saturday afternoon following a six day drinking binge. He fell into unconsciousness and staff were unable to resusitate him. He was aged 49.
Acting colleague from The Bill, Billy Murray said of Lloyd,
"Everybody loved Kevin. We were all sad when he was dismissed, but it was inevitable. It had been on the cards for over a year. His close friends had all tried to talk some sense into him, but he was in denial."
The commute to London to work and the alcoholism took its toll on Lloyd marriage as well as his health. He separarted from his wife three years before his death amidst a flurry of publicity. The divorced, but Lloyd was still a devoted father to his seven biological children, and his one adoptive daughter who was a Romanian orphan. They had another child who died whilst a baby.
Television and Film Credits
Sources
http://www.imdb.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/87266.stm
http://www.aufpet.com/lest.htm
http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/lloyd_kevin.html