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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Sam Huntley & Phoebe Jobling

ITV soap star looks unrecognisable after being spotted with bushy beard worlds away from 'iconic' character

A well known actor has been spotted out and about - and he looks completely different from his days on our TV screens. Jeff Stewart, who starred as PC Reg Hollis in ITV's The Bill, has been seen in London with a new look which is unrecognisable from his former on-screen character.

Jeff, now 67, was a staple of the long-running police drama and appeared as a regular for more than two decades before leaving the role in 2008. The Bill itself ran for 27 years before eventually being axed in 2010 after 26 series.

Just days ago the Scottish actor was was spotted walking arm in arm with a mystery female whilst sporting a big bushy beard and his long grey hair tied back whilst donning a long cream overcoat, brown gloves and sunglasses.

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His rugged new look is a world away from his Reg character who was known for his slicked-black hair and prim and proper look.

Jeff was carrying an orange and white tote bag from book publisher Penguin, which suggests he may have popped into a London bookstore to grab a book, reports the Daily Star.

The actor appeared in ITV soap for 872 episodes, but his first appearance was in the series pilot before he was made a permanent fixture.

He left in 2008 when his character left Sun Hill and resigned from the force following the death of P.C. Emma Keane.

Jeff Stewart starred as PC Reg Hollis for 24 years (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

He starred alongside Graham Cole's character PC Tony Stamp and Mark Wingett's DC Jim Carver.

Speaking about leaving the show in 2011, Jeff told The Sun: "I felt I had been badly let down.

"I didn’t see a counsellor, it was evident I was OK and I never worried how it would affect my career.

“I thought, ‘I have a choice, you can either stagnate or blossom."

In 2011, Jeff won a best actor award at the 2011 Manhattan Film Festival for his role in Under Jakob's Ladder, where he played German-Russian man in a Soviet prison.

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