Dean Andrews

Dean Andrews is an English actor He is known for his role as DS Ray Carling in the BBC drama series Life on Mars He continued the role in the sequel series Ashes to Ashes until 2010 As of April 2019 he appeared as Will Taylor on ITV soap opera Emmerdale Andrews left the show on 26 December 2024 when his character Will died of a heart attack Born in 1963 in Rotherham Andrews went to Sitwell Junior School on Grange Road and Oakwood Comprehensive School on Moorgate Road He went to school with Top Gear presenter James May Dean Andrews started off as a mainstay of cruise ships as a talented entertainer and singer He was discovered by film director Ken Loach who was looking for people from Yorkshire to appear in the 2001 film The Navigators He then went on to play Barry Shiel in the Channel 4 drama Buried which won the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series in 2004 That year he also had a small role as Neil in the Channel 4 series No Angels In 2005 Andrews appeared in one episode of the ITV drama Wire in the Blood The following year he appeared in another BBC drama Life On Mars as DS Ray Carling He then had roles in two BBC dramas True Dare Kiss and The Street in 2007 Andrews again played DC Carling in Ashes to Ashes a 2008 spinoff series of Life on Mars During the same year he recorded voiceovers for Currys television advertisements He had a guest role in 2010 on the BBC One series Waterloo Road In 2011 Andrews appeared in the BBC drama The Body Farm as Peter Collins the BBC Two television film United about the Manchester United Busby Babes team and the 1958 Munich air disaster ITVs supernatural drama series Marchlands playing one of the lead roles and the fivepart BBC One series The Case in which he played the lead role as a man accused of murdering his terminally ill girlfriend In November 2012 Andrews appeared in all four series of the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax as Robert Robbie Greenwood The following year he portrayed Pete Lewis in the BBC show Being Eileen Andrews played local hotel and barman Tom Asher in a 2015 episode of the popular series Midsomer Murders on ITV In 2019 the actor joined the cast of ITV soap opera Emmerdale He left the soap on 26 December 2024 when his character Will died of a heart attack He has stated that he was not told about the characters demise He narrated the Channel 5 documentary series Our Great Yorkshire Life in 2022 He also narrates the UK TV show Casualty 247 which centres on Barnsley Hospital