Shane Patrick Paul Roche (born 11 March 1964), known as Shane Richie, is a British actor, funnyman, TV presenter, and songster. Following original success as a stage and screen pantomime, he came best known for his depiction of the character Alfie Moon in the BBC One cleaner pieces EastEnders (appearing 2002 – 2005, 2010 – 2016, 2018 – 2019, 2022 – present) and also in its spin-off RTÉ Drama Redwater in 2017. In 2020, he appeared on the twentieth series of I am a celebrity. Get Me Out of Then and finished in fourth place.
Early life
Richie was born at St Mary Abbots Hospital in Kensington, which is in London to Irish parents. He had attended Willesden High School and was a member of a youth theatre as a child and began his career in nonage as a bluecoat imitator. He progressed to the live stand-up circuit – entering a nomination for the stylish new stage-up at the initial British Comedy Awards. In 1989, Richie made nocturnal appearances for Sky TV’s converse show series Jameson Tonight, which was hosted by Derek Jameson and Richie and recorded at the Windmill Theatre, London. In 1990, Richie made his first terrestrial TV appearance as one of the comics on the BBC One sketch show Up to commodity! with Suzy Aitchison, David Schneider, Frances Dodge, Mike Hayley, and Lewis MacLeod; still, the show was removed after one series.
Career
Richie has had success in adaptations, appearing in similar adaptations as Boogie Nights and the 1993 London reanimation product of Grease. He released two compendiums, The Album in 1997 and Once Around the Sun in 2000 to limited marketable response and had a number 2 megahit in the UK Mates Chart in 2003, with his Children in Need cover interpretation of Wham’s” I am Your Man”. In 2017, Richie inked with East West Records and released his debut country music reader, A Country Soul on 10 November 2017, which featured Songco-written by his son, Rixton member Jake Roche.
