Nick Berry is an English actor and singer best known for playing Simon “Wicksy” Wicks in EastEnders and PC Nick Rowan in Heartbeat. He also achieved a UK number-one single with “Every Loser Wins”. For readers wondering what happened to him, the answer lies in a decision he explained publicly: he stepped away from regular acting to spend more time raising his two sons. A brief EastEnders appearance in 2012 brought him back to television without becoming a continuing return to the soap.
His career connects several distinct chapters of British entertainment: a major soap role, recording success, a period police drama and later leading parts on the BBC. Understanding that sequence also explains why leaving Heartbeat and retiring from acting were separate events.
Bio
| Profile Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Nicholas Berry |
| Known as | Nick Berry |
| Date of birth | 16 April 1963 |
| Age | 63, as of 12 October 2026 |
| Birthplace | Woodford, Essex, England |
| Profession | Actor and singer |
| Acting education | Sylvia Young Theatre School |
| Best-known roles | Simon “Wicksy” Wicks in EastEnders; PC Nick Rowan in Heartbeat |
| Other television credits | Harbour Lights and In Deep |
| Wife | Rachel Robertson; married in 1994 |
| Children | Two sons |
| Number-one single | “Every Loser Wins” (1986) |
| Later soap appearance | One-off EastEnders return in January 2012 |
How old is Nick Berry?
Born Nicholas Berry on 16 April 1963 in Woodford, Essex, he is 63 years old as of 12 October 2026. His birth details appear in his Official Charts artist biography, which also records his television and music career.
He attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School, whose own alumni list includes him. That training preceded the role that made him widely recognisable: Simon Wicks in EastEnders. He joined the BBC soap in 1985, during its first year, and remained until 1990.
Becoming Wicksy in EastEnders
Simon Wicks, usually known as Wicksy, gave Berry a sustained role in the fictional London community of Walford. His original five-year run placed him in storylines involving some of the programme’s central families.
One significant storyline concerned Simon’s relationship with Cindy and the paternity of her son, Steven. Cindy allowed Ian Beale to believe he was Steven’s father, although Simon was the child’s biological father. The resulting conflict connected Wicksy’s romantic storylines to the wider Beale family drama. Simon eventually left Walford with Cindy and Steven in December 1990.
Music became another part of the character’s story. Wicksy performed “Every Loser Wins” at the piano in the programme, and Berry subsequently released it as a commercial single. The recording therefore had a direct connection to the role audiences were watching, rather than being an unrelated musical project launched after he left television.
The chart success of “Every Loser Wins”
Released in 1986, “Every Loser Wins” reached number one on the UK singles chart and stayed there for three weeks. Official Charts records its first chart appearance on 4 October, followed by its arrival at the top on 18 October.
The single spent eight weeks in the Top 40. Those figures establish the scale of its success more precisely than simply describing Berry as an actor who briefly tried singing: he had a chart-topping record while still appearing in EastEnders.
A second major hit followed in 1992 with “Heartbeat”, his version of the Buddy Holly song used as the television drama’s theme. It reached number two in the UK. His two Top 10 singles were consequently tied to his two best-known acting roles, with the later recording accompanying a new character and a different television setting.
Leading Heartbeat as PC Nick Rowan
Berry began playing PC Nick Rowan in Heartbeat in 1992. The ITV drama took place in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield during the 1960s.
Its stories combined police work with village relationships, humour and medical storylines. Music from the period was also part of the programme’s identity. Rowan was a police constable—a police officer whose duties brought him into contact with the community at the centre of the series.
The setting marked a clear change from EastEnders: contemporary London gave way to a rural community portrayed several decades in the past. Berry’s role was also different, moving from Wicksy’s family and romantic complications to a character whose professional responsibilities helped drive the drama.
His association with Rowan lasted from 1992 to 1998. The character’s departure involved a move to Canada and service with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, explored in the special Heartbeat: Changing Places. This was Rowan’s fictional story, separate from Berry’s own reasons for changing jobs.
Television work after Heartbeat
Leaving Aidensfield did not immediately end his acting career. Berry subsequently starred in Harbour Lights as Mike Nicholls, a former Royal Navy officer who becomes harbourmaster in the fictional coastal town of Bridehaven.
The series used West Bay in Dorset as its principal setting. Nicholls returned to the community where he had grown up, and the programme followed both his work around the harbour and relationships within the town. The cast included Tina Hobley as Melanie Rush and Gerard Horan as Tony Simpson.
Berry then played Liam Ketman opposite Stephen Tompkinson in In Deep. The pair portrayed undercover detectives investigating criminal targets. It ran for three series and ended in 2003. These later credits matter when tracing his departure from television: he continued taking leading roles after Heartbeat, before withdrawing from regular acting work.
Marriage, children and stepping away from acting
Berry married actress Rachel Robertson in 1994, and they have two sons. His explanation for leaving regular television work centred on wanting to be present while his children were growing up.
In comments from a 2011 interview reproduced in Smooth Radio’s account of his decision to leave acting, he described finding it difficult to spend so much time away filming when his sons were young. He also explained that, although he had once considered returning when they became teenagers, he had not greatly missed the work.
Those comments describe his position at the time of that interview. They offer a direct explanation for his career choice without requiring assumptions about his finances, private circumstances or present-day plans.
The brief return to EastEnders
On 13 January 2012, Nick Berry returned as Simon Wicks for a short scene connected to the death of his fictional mother, Pat Evans, played by Pam St Clement.
According to Sky News’s contemporary report of the surprise appearance, the scene lasted around 15 seconds and appeared after the programme’s credits. Simon approached Pat’s grave, placed flowers there and said goodbye.
The appearance had been filmed the previous evening and was described as a one-off. It gave Wicksy a farewell to his mother more than two decades after Berry’s original departure, while leaving his decision to step away from regular acting intact.
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