Neil Morrissey has secured his status of one of Britain's best known celebrities over the years, thanks to iconic TV roles and a colourful personal life.
The Men Behaving Badly actor, 60, will grace our TV screens once again this evening, as he appears in a new series of DNA Journey and retraces his Irish roots on the ITV show.
Neil - whose Line of Duty co-star and pal Adrian Dunbar joins him on the journey - was taken into care at the age of 10 and spent most of his teenage years in and around Stoke-on-Trent.
This evening's installment of DNA Journey will see viewers watch as Neil heads to Castlecomer in southern Ireland, where he discovers he is 1% Scottish and 99% Irish, and examines the battles between his ancestors the Loughlins, with another infamous local family.
Career highs (and lows)
From his role as Tony in Men Behaving Badly to a stint as an actual baddy as Nigel Morton in cop drama Line of Duty, Neil has appeared in some of Britain's biggest TV series of all time over the years.
Other notable acting gigs include Deputy Head Eddie Lawson in the BBC One school-based drama series Waterloo Road, a guest appearance in Neighbours as a priest, a cameo in Death in Paradise and the actor has also played Greg McConnell in ITV's The Good Karma Hospital since 2017.
But to many - particularly children of a certain age - Neil will be best remembered for his stint as a fictional builder with a can-do attitude.
Neil was the original voice of popular children's TV character Bob The Builder, with him even scoring a UK number one record with the theme song Can We Fix It? - but Neil got the chop and bid farewell to Bob's friend Farmer Pickles and a crane named Lofty in 2013.
"I have been axed. I have no idea why. They have gone for some cheap person. There should be a public outcry about it," Neil revealed to Piers Morgan.
He added: "I had two number one singles and won an Ivor Novello Award. I did well out of it and it was regular great work.
"It was the most fun you could have with a microphone."
Amanda Holden fling and Hollywood co-star romance
Neil's love life has hit the headlines multiple times since he first rose to fame in the 90s, with his most notable romantic endeavours being a fling with Amanda Holden and a brief relationship with Daniel Craig's now-wife, Rachel Weisz.
Neil's romance with Amanda took place in 2000, when the Britain's Got Talent judge was still married to TV presenter Les Dennis.
After meeting on the set of the BBC show Happy Birthday Shakespeare Neil and Amanda were pictured in the Somerset countryside which led to intense public scrutiny, due to the fact the Heart Breakfast presenter had been married to Les since 1995.
Their affair only lasted for six weeks and Amanda and Les did try to give things another go but eventually divorced in 2003.
Speaking in 2013 about how Neil was the one labelled a love rat, Amanda admitted: "Neil rightly or wrongly got loads of stick. I feel like it was my fault - I was the one who was married."
"I want to change the general perception of him, as he was very caring and very loving and very worried about me because I lost so much weight. He used to cook for me and look after me and babysit the dogs," she added to Good Housekeeping.
In the same year, Neil revealed that he had never apologised to Les over the affair but did regret how it was dealt with.
Chatting to Piers Morgan he said: "I feel sorry for how the situation was dealt with and I feel sorry for how emotional Les seemed to become.
"It was very difficult for him and for that I'm very sorry."
Neil has had a thing for his co-stars over the years - marrying Amanda Noar in 1987 after meeting her when she guested in an episode of Boon. The former couple share a 33-year-old son together.
The actor then met actress Elizabeth Carling, whom he had first met in 1989, and the former couple were even engaged to be married but never made it down the aisle.
They remained on good terms following their split, with Elizabeth even guest starring alongside Neil on Men Behaving Badly at one point.
Asides from his infamous fling with Amanda, Neil's most high-profile relationship occurred in the late 90s when he struck up a romance with Hollywood actress Rachel Weisz.
The two stars met after starring together in My Summer with Des in 1998, where Rachel played Neil's love interest, and it was reported at the time that they lived together at his flat in Crouch End, north London for a brief period.
These days Neil is loved-up with lawyer Emma Killick and the pair share a home together.
Huge net worth after losing life savings
Thanks to consistently working in the acting industry for several decades, Neil has seen his bank balance receive quite the boost over the years
As of 2023 the British actor has an estimated net worth of around £5M - with a chunk of that figure possibly coming from his ventures away from the world of showbiz.
The former Bob the Builder voice-over now owns a chain of pubs in Staffordshire, including The Plume of Feathers in Barlaston, and later The Old Bramshall Inn in Bramshall. The latter opened its doors as a Neil Morrissey pub on 28 June 2018, an event which Neil graced his presence with.
The Syndicate actor has come a long way from the late 00s when his investments saw him lose his life savings and almost have to file for bankruptcy.
In August 2009 Neil vowed to pay £2.5million worth of debts after a property scheme he invested in collapsed.
He told the News of the World he would not file for bankruptcy and intended to pay his creditors in full.
Neil revealed to the now-defunct newspaper: "People advise you to take the easy route - it'll only last a year and you'll be back up and running.
"But I just thought there are too many good people who've lost their money on these deals, and I wanted to repay them as much as I possibly could.
"I feel morally obliged. Afterwards I'll feel better about myself. Now I'm working very, very hard.
"Every second out there to earn another penny. I don't sit around and get depressed about things. It's not my character."
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