Anthony Stephen Adams (born 11 December 1940) is a Welsh actor of English and Norwegian descent, known for his performances in two British television soap operas.^[1]

Early life

Adams was born on 11 December 1940 in Anglesey, Wales, to Winifred Brown, a sportswoman and aviator. In 1930, she had been the first woman to win the King's Cup Air Race around England.^[2][3]

Adams trained as an actor at the Italia Conti Stage School.^[4] As a child he appeared on the London stage, notably alongside the young Kenneth Williams in a production of Peter Pan at the Scala Theatre.^[4] Other stage appearances included a starring role opposite Cheryl Kennedy in a West End revival of The Boy Friend, and he also appeared on the original cast album released with this production.^[5] He also appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and in pantomime with David Essex.^[6]

Career

Adams made his name as Dr Neville Bywaters in the 1970s soap General Hospital. He also appeared in the Doctor Who serial The Green Death (1973) as Elgin. However, he became ill with peritonitis during filming, and some of his lines were given to another character.^{[citation needed]}

In November 1978 he moved on to a role in Crossroads, as accountant Adam Chance, who soon became a major character.^[7] It is for this role that he is best known. In September 1987, Adams decided to leave the programme. The announcement was made that the series would end in April 1988, and Adams stayed to the end. He was one of the cast members who returned in the 2001 revival of the series, though his character was later killed off in a fire.^[8] He also appeared in a one-off DVD made in 2014.^[9]

In late 2004, Adams appeared in the stage version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium theatre where he played Grandpa Potts.

In 2023, Adams appeared in a cameo role in the ITVX miniseries Nolly, which dramatised the life of his former Crossroads colleague Noele Gordon, and in which Adams himself was portrayed by Augustus Prew.^[10][11]

Personal life

In 2013, aged 72, Adams began suffering from osteoarthritis, which he speculated might have resulted from eating an excess of seafood, especially prawns.^[12]

Filmography

Film

Television