While children across the nation will recognise Michael Angelis’ voice thanks to his roles in the Thomas & Friends franchise, the actor was a major star in the 1970s and 1980s.
The actor played recurring character Lucien Boswell in The Liver Birds, but it was his role as Chrissie Todd in Alan Bleasdale’s six-part drama, Boys from the Blackstuff, that shot him to fame. The show, which followed the lives of a group of tarmac layers working in Middlesbrough, was initially just intended as a one-off play, titled The Black Stuff, but its success led to it becoming a BBC mini-series.
The popular show is still regularly repeated on the network, and alongside Michael, it starred Bernard Hill, Alan Igbon, Peter Kerrigan and Tom Georgeson.
Michael, who sadly died from a heart attack on 30 May 2020, wasn’t the only star in his family, with his older brother, Paul, also being an actor. The star was also married three times during his life, with his second marriage being to Coronation Street legend Helen Worth.
Scroll down for all you need to know about Michael’s famous relatives…
Brother Paul Angelis
Michael’s older brother is the late actor, Paul Angelis. The star didn’t initially intend to become an actor, having worked as a merchant banker for six years before training at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
Paul, who died at the age of 66 in 2009, made his debut in 1967’s The Mini-Affair, but he rocketed to fame the following year when he provided the voice of the narrator and Ringo Starr in the animated film, Yellow Submarine, which is still cited as one of the greatest animated films of all time.
The star followed this success with roles in Otley, The Alf Garnett Saga, Sweeney!, Runners and the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, where he played Karageorge, one of Milos Columbo’s smugglers.
Paul also became a famous face on UK screens with roles in Porridge, Liver Birds, The Sweeney, Bergerac and The Grimleys. However, his biggest role would be as PC Bruce Bannerman in Z-Cars, with the actor appearing in 128 episodes of the series, which lasted from 1962 until 1978.
Famous ex-wife
Michael was married three times during his life, and while it’s unknown who his first wife was, in 1991 he walked down the aisle with fellow thespian Helen Worth, after the pair had dated for nearly 20 years.
While Helen had early roles in the likes of Z-Cars, Doctor Who and Within These Walls, she really made a name for herself in 1974 when she started playing the iconic Gail Platt on soap opera Coronation Street. The actress played the role for 50 years, finally retiring in 2024, and she appeared in an incredible 4,472 episodes.
© Getty ImagesThe character was married seven times during her time on the soap, and many of her storylines dealt with her relationships and feuds, including with her own son, David, played by Jack P. Shepherd.
Although Michael and Helen married in 1991, the couple split in 2001, years after Michael confessed an affair. Speaking to the Mirror in 2001 after their split, Helen shared: “Nothing can ever prepare you for the day your husband sits you down and tells you he is having an affair.
© PA Images via Getty Images“My marriage was everything to me. It was the foundation on which everything else was built. I had been with Michael for nearly half of my life. I never imagined that we wouldn’t grow old together.
“When he told me, everything just went black. Things started to make sense. Maybe I realised right away that something like that had been bound to happen. Things hadn’t been right for some time, but – naively maybe – I didn’t think it was serious.”
© Alamy Stock PhotoDespite this, Helen and Michael remained friends until he died in 2020. She didn’t hold any grudges against her ex and explained in the same interview: “He was called a love rat and a cheat, but he wasn’t. That’s not how it was, things are never that easy. He just met someone who made him happier than I could. It wasn’t a crime. It was just desperately sad.”
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