Heartbeat and EastEnders heartthrob Nick Berry’s very different life after ditching acting

The former soap legend looks completely different to his heyday, and lives a very ordinary life for a man who was once a household name, and heartthrob of the 90s

He stepped away from our TV screens back in 1997 and since then has hardly been seen since as he lives a quiet life away from the cameras.

Brits will remember Nick Berry for his work on the small screen throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most notably as Simon Wicks in EastEnders and later as PC Nick Rowan in Heartbeat .

The East London-born actor joined EastEnders in 1985, appearing in the first year of the soap, alongside the likes of other soap icons Dirty Den Watts, Lofty and Kathy Beale.

He soon gained heartthrob status, with adoring fans who would even wait by the set to catch a glimpse of him in the flesh. Although he took no notice, as he was loved up with his now wife Rachel Robertson, whom he has been with since 1989.

Family life

Now 62, the TV star lives an entirely different lifestyle out of the limelight as a family man – a path he chose to follow at 39.

The couple tied the knot in 1994 and went on to start a family of their own, which in turn shifted Berry’s life completely away from the glitz and glamour of his acting career.

Robertson is a star in her own right, having modelled for Levi’s Jeans and appeared in huge films such as The Jungle Book in 1994, Until September and Mack The Knife.

Berry previously told The Mirror about the early days of their relationship, meeting his wife when she was just 17. He said: “It was love at first sight for me, but she thought I was just a dirty old man with a flash car.”

Clearly, she changed her mind, as the pair got married in an intimate ceremony in December 1994. They later welcomed two sons together, Louis and Finley, whom Berry dedicated his life to helping raise.

He opened up about the decision to become a ‘family man’, saying: “When I joined Heartbeat, I wasn’t married and didn’t have kids. Everything has changed since then.”

The actor opened up to the Daily Mail back in 2011 about his decision to step away from the soaps. He hinted at the idea of potentially returning to the screen in some capacity but made it clear that being a stay-at-home dad was a decision he chose for himself and he has “loved it”.

He shared: “I always said that when the boys were teenagers I could go back, but the longer you don’t do something, the harder it is to do it, and I haven’t really missed it.

“While I’d never say never, I’m genuinely happy as I am. The job was great. You’re driven everywhere, fed every five minutes and told what to do and where to go.”

He explained how he struggled being away from his family in the early days, when he was still filming. Berry said: “What I struggled with was that the boys were very young and I felt like I was away filming all the time.

“I’d been blessed with these little people, and yet I wasn’t really there. I realised I wanted to be at home.”

Business venture

It’s reported that during his time on some of TV’s biggest soaps, the actor amassed an impressive £5million fortune before walking away from it all.

  When he decided to take a break from being in front of the camera, he then decided to take a step behind it and started up a production company.

Berry set up his own TV and film company, known as Valentine Productions, at Pinewood Studios. The company was associated with producing some BBC films and series, including the likes of Harbour Lights and In Deep, both of which he starred in in the 2000s.

Although it was a short-lived venture, as according to Companies House records, he resigned from his role as director at Valentine Productions in 2019. The business was then formally dissolved on March 31, 2020.