Askwith was born in Southport, Lancashire, England, the eldest child of Nelson and Hazel Askwith (née Cookson).[2] His father was an accountant but served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and his mother in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENs).[3] As a young child, he swam in a pool contaminated with insects; later that day Askwith's mother found him fully submerged underwater in the bath. Taken to hospital in an ambulance, Askwith was found to have contracted polio and had to spend nine months in an isolation ward at Southport Infirmary and had to learn how to walk again.[3] Shortly after this, the family moved from Southport to Eastcote, London where Askwith was educated at Orley Farm in nearby Harrow. Particularly sporty at school, Askwith represented the school at football, rugby and cricket and after joining the Ruislip and Northwood Swimming Club, he represented the South Counties at backstroke.[3]
Askwith began an interest in acting because his neighbour was the floor manager at Pinewood Studios where he and his neighbour's son would watch movies being filmed, including The Servant (1963) and Cleopatra (1963).[4] The next-door neighbour of a friend was Carry On actor Kenneth Connor, and so Askwith began attending a local amateur dramatics group. He also did a stint of modelling for catalogues and appeared in several commercials for baked beans and Fairy Liquid.[3]
After finishing at Orley Farm at the age of twelve, Askwith attended Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood. He found the school unduly strict and became a rebellious student to the extent that Askwith and two friends stole several rifles from the school armoury and held upPinner post office stealing hundreds of pounds' worth of stamps with the intention of returning them the following week.[3] Askwith also persuaded a crane operator, who was carrying out work at the school, to lift the headmaster's car onto the school roof.[3]
As a result of playing King Edward IV during a school production of Richard III, Askwith was approached by film director Lindsay Anderson, who had been in the audience, and encouraged to audition for a role in his upcoming film if..... Following a successful audition he played the role of Keating in the film.
Career
Following the success of if..., Askwith made his television debut as a yob in the BBC series Scene. He would also attend the Corona Theatre School in between acting jobs.[3] Askwith had roles in the historical epic film Alfred the Great (1969), the thriller Otley (1969), and, playing the title role, in the film version of Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates (1969). In 1970, Askwith had his first major role in the comedy film Cool It Carol! (1970).
Although the Confessions series came to an end with Confessions from a Holiday Camp, a fifth and a sixth film, Confessions of a Plumber's Mate and Confessions of a Private Soldier had been planned. Askwith even expressed a desire to direct Private Soldier, but neither film materialised. Plans to shoot a further made-for-video Confessions film in the 1980s also came to nothing, although by this time he was appearing in the poorly received ITV sitcom Bottle Boys (1984–1985).
He has also had roles in the soap operas EastEnders, Doctors, Hollyoaks and Coronation Street where he played a holiday tour guide named Aidan. The episodes of the soap that featured Askwith were filmed in Malta, close to the island of Gozo where he lived for many years. Askwith returned to Coronation Street on 11 December 2013 as musician Ritchie de Vries.[5]
Askwith published his autobiography, titled The Confessions of Robin Askwith in 1999. In 2000, Askwith had a role in the horror film The Asylum..[6]
Askwith made a cameo appearance in the film Run For Your Wife, released in the UK on 14 February 2013.[7] Askwith also appeared in an episode of Emmerdale in 2015.[8] His role as con-man Marcus Hornby in the TV comedy drama Benidorm was broadcast in January 2016, and his episode of Casualty aired later that year.
In 2021, he joined the cast of Channel 5's drama series The Madame Blanc Mysteries appearing alongside Sue Holderness, Sally Lindsay and Steve Edge as a series regular.[9][10] The first series received a positive reception which led to a Christmas special broadcast in 2022 succeeded by a second series to be broadcast in 2023. In December 2022, Askwith appeared in the fourth and final episode of the quartet, Strike: Troubled Blood, on BBC1. His character, Steve Douthwaite, plays one of the suspected killers in the J. K. Rowling-inspired mystery crime drama.[11]
In 2023, it was announced that he would appear in the eighth series of Inside No. 9, and his name was used in the promotion for episode 5, Hold on Tight!. However the episode was fake and never produced, instead the hoax quiz show 3 by 3 was episode 5 of the series.[12]
In 2024 Askwith appeared in the ninth series of Inside No. 9, trying to get Shearsmith and Pemberton to create a real-life version of Hold on Tight!.[13]
Stage work
Askwith's extensive work on stage, includes numerous farces such as Run For Your Wife, Casanova's Last Stand, One for the Road plus the stage Confessions sequel The Further Confessions of a Window Cleaner and Terry Johnson's Dead Funny. From 11 December 2012 – 27 January 2013, he appeared at the Mill at Sonning, Reading, Berkshire in Ray Cooney's farce Caught in the Net.
In pantomimes, Askwith has appeared with the Chuckle Brothers in Dick Whittington, with Frank Bruno and Sooty in a Wolverhampton production of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears and in various productions of Aladdin as Abanazar.
Askwith had relationships with the actresses Cheryl Hall and later Linda Hayden during the 1970s. Askwith married actress Leonie Mellinger in 1988 but they later divorced. From 1996 to 2002, he was married to Mary Smith, an aromatherapist.[14]
Askwith lives on Gozo, a Mediterranean island near Malta, having moved there in 1991, where his hobbies include swimming, underwater diving and yachting, however he regularly returns to the UK for tours, events and filming.[14]
