Tony Currie

As Close to Home’s stern Don Hearte, Tony Currie became one of local television’s best known faces in the mid-1970s. The Scottish-born ex policeman got his start in historical dramas, including an award-winning portrayal of prime minister Richard Seddon. After signing on for Close to Home, Currie stayed with the soap for all of its eight years and 818 episodes, turning his hand to writing scripts along the way.

It was eight years out of my life that I wouldn’t have missed for all the tea in China — a tremendous experience in a field I have been in and out of all my life. Tony Currie looks back at his time on Close to Home in The Evening Post, 8 January 1985