Kevin Whately (born 6 February 1951) is an English actor.
Whately is possibly best known for his starring role as Neville Hope in the British TV comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. He is also known for his roles in Peak Practice and Inspector Morse.
Whately is currently starring in the British TV drama Lewis.
His career includes several stage plays, among them an adaptation of 12 Angry Men, television appearances in Coronation Street and Peak Practice, and film appearances in The English Patient and Purely Belter. Though the Morse series ended with the title character's death in 2000, in July 2004 it was announced that Whately would star in a spin-off programme for ITV, Lewis. Filming started in July 2005 and the pilot episode was broadcast on ITV on 29th January 2006. A series of three episodes was commissioned, which were broadcast in early 2007. A second series is currently airing on ITV.
Along with other Auf Wiedersehen, Pet stars, he makes an appearance at the biannual benefit concert Sunday for Sammy in Newcastle.
Children, with Madelaine Newton: Catherine Whately ("Kitty"), born in 1983 and Kieran, born in 1985. Whately appeared as Kevin's on-screen daughter in the series "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" (1983) for the first two seasons.
Studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
He plays guitar and listens to Pink Floyd and Dire Straits.
Despite training as an actor in London, Kevin retained his strong Newcastle accent, which was still unusual for an actor at that time.
His brother, Frank, is a Drama lecturer at a London university.
Before becoming an actor he trained as an accountant.
He told Colin Dexter that he would like to have played cricket professionally for England if he had not become an actor, so Dexter devised the storyline for "Inspector Morse" (1987) {Deceived by Flight (#3.3)} in which Sergeant Lewis has to go undercover in a cricket team to investigate drug smuggling.
