A soap legend looked completely unrecognisable 30 years on from his iconic TV role with his groomed bushy beard and dark sunglasses.
The handsome chap, 61, was seen walking down an Essex street wearing a purple shirt with a striped maroon scarf under a green coat.
He completed his look with turned up jeans and trainers as he kept warm by keeping his hands in his pockets.
This star is perhaps best known for two major TV roles. He played Simon Wicks in EastEnders from 1985 to 1990
He went onto play PC Nick Rowan in Heartbeat from 1992 to 1998. Have you guessed who it is yet? That’s right, it’s British actor, Nick Berry.
The actor turned his back on his career at its peak to focus on being a stay-at-home father to his two children.
Soap legend looked unrecognisable 30 years on from his last iconic TV role with his groomed bushy beard as he strolled down the streets of Essex on Tuesday
Nick had a stellar acting career on British television but stepped away from the screen aged 39 to raise his two sons.
During his five-year stint in Albert Square, he quickly became one of the soap’s most popular characters.
One of his most prominent storylines came when he became embroiled in a steamy affair with Cindy Beale, sparking an explosive feud with her husband Ian.
The pair’s constant tension eventually led Simon to leave Walford with Cindy and their son, and years later it was revealed he’d settled down in New Zealand.
Nick left the soap in 1990 and decamped to the Yorkshire Dales for a six year stint as Heartbeat’s Sergeant Nick Rowan, before taking on the role of harbour master Mike Nicholls in Harbour Lights.
He reached heartthrob status with hordes of screaming fans besieging the BBC studios where the soap was filmed.
There was even a brief pop career too: in 1986 Berry released a single, Every Loser Wins, which became the second biggest-selling record in the UK that year.
Save for filming police drama In Deep as police detective Liam Ketman alongside Stephen Tompkinson, which ran from 2001-2003, Berry disappeared from view.
He played PC Nick Rowan in Heartbeat from 1992 to 1998 – that’s right, it’s British actor, Nick Berry, (pictured left)
The actor was also well known for his role as heartthrob Simon Wicks on EastEnders, appearing in the soap’s first ever episode in 1985
Nick married his wife Rachel Robertson in 1994 – and turned his back on his career to focus on being a stay-at-home father to his two sons, who are now in their twenties
Music star! There was even a brief pop career too: in 1986 Berry released a single, Every Loser Wins, which became the second biggest-selling record in the UK that year
His last acting role came back in 2012, when he briefly reprised his EastEnders character to attend the funeral of his on-screen mother Pat Butcher
He married his wife, actress Rachel Robertson in 1994, and they relocated to Essex, where turned his back on acting to become a stay-at-home father to his two sons Louis, now 27, and Finley, 24.
He had previously dated his EastEnders co-star Gillian Taylforth, who played Kathy Beale, but the pair eventually split in 1988.
At one point, Nick was rumoured to have been offered a £2million golden-handcuffs deal by EastEnders executives when he resigned in the late Eighties.
He was said to have amassed an estimated £5million from his time in the spotlight – enough to fund a rambling house in Epping, Essex, and a beach house in Hove.
Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2011 about his decision to step away from the spotlight, he said: ‘I chose to be a stay-at-home dad and have loved it…
The handsome chap, 61, was seen walking down an Essex street wearing a purple shirt with a striped maroon scarf under a green coat
He completed his look with turned up jeans and trainers as he kept warm by keeping his hands in his pockets
Nick previously said: ‘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’
‘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. 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.’
Despite his spectacular screen success, east London-born Berry said he wasn’t a natural actor.
He said: ‘I was never that comfortable in the spotlight. Some of the egos you can do without. A lot of actors take themselves so seriously but, by and large, you’re getting paid to show off.’
