Bread, Then and Now — Six of the Eleven Are Still Here

Classic British telly, and the people who made it — where they are now. One kitchen in Dingle, a crucifix on the wall, a biscuit tin on the sideboard — and twenty-one million people watching on a Sunday night. Bread began on BBC One on 1 May 1986, written by Carla Lane (The Liver Birds, Butterflies), and ran to November 1991. It did what almost nothing else was attempting: it wrote a family on the dole in eighties Liverpool and refused to pity them. Forty years on, six of the eleven faces around that table are still with us. WHERE THEY ARE NOW Peter Howitt played Joey Boswell — leather coat, sunglasses in Liverpool, and a "greetings" the whole country copied. He walked out in 1988 at the height of it, and a decade later made Sliding Doors. Now 68 in August 2026. Graham Bickley took over as Joey in 1989 — the most exposed job in British television. Three series, thirty-five episodes, and the ratings never collapsed. Theatre and musicals since. Now in his sixties. Jonathon Morris was Adrian, the son writing poetry in the attic. Theatre-trained before Bread and straight back to it after, Shakespeare and thirty years of pantomime. Now 66. Nick Conway played Billy, the youngest, and was one of only three there for all seven series and all seventy-four episodes. A quiet life since. Now in his sixties. Victor McGuire was Jack, the one with the job and the spanner. Barely twenty-one when it started, and working constantly since, Goodnight Sweetheart included. Now 61. Melanie Hill took over as Aveline in 1989 and has had the biggest career of the lot: Coronation Street's Cathy Matthews, Waterloo Road, and thirty-five years of drama. Now 64. THOSE WE'VE LOST Gilly Coman, the first Aveline, died suddenly on 13 July 2010, aged 54. The tributes came from Liverpool, where she had stayed. Ronald Forfar played Freddie, the father who kept leaving, and spent thirty years being told off in the street on Nellie's behalf. He died 28 September 2020, aged 81. Eileen Pollock was Lilo Lil — a Belfast stage actress who made a legend out of a handful of scenes. She died in December 2020, aged 73. Kenneth Waller was Grandad, the truth-teller disguised as a nuisance. He died in 2000, aged 72. Jean Boht was Nellie, the matriarch. She was married sixty years to the composer Carl Davis; he died in August 2023 and she followed on 12 September 2023, thirty-two days later, aged 91. Tell us below — which Boswell would you have wanted on your side in an argument? We suspect she's wearing a crucifix. Subscribe for more classic British telly, properly preserved. A note on sources: ages, dates and figures here were checked against publicly available records as of August 2026, and any amounts mentioned are estimates. The narration on this channel is AI-assisted. RETRO TELLY is made as a respectful tribute to British television and to the performers and families behind it.