by Sandro Monetti

TV hardman Burnside got tough for real the night he learned his sister Christine was being beaten up by her wild boyfriend.

Burly actor Chris Ellison stormed round to her flat to confront him.

And he ended up slamming the South American thug - who was leading a secret life as an armed robber - straight through a door.

"This guy had been hitting Christine so I went to have a word with him," says Chris, 53, who plays no-nonsense Det Chief Insp Frank Burnside in The Bill spin-off.

"He told me to get out of his flat, which it wasn’t, and poked me in the chest. I hit him and he went through the door which came off its hinges. I told him to get out and warned him of the consequences if I ever saw him again. He didn’t come back and my sister was glad to see the back of him."

Sirens

"He left the country shortly afterwards and went to Spain, where he held up a bank with a machine gun."

Chris, who stars in the last Burnside in the current series on Thursday, reveals it’s not the first time he’s leapt to the defence of a female.

He says: "A few years ago my wife Anita and I took our son Louis to see a fireworks display near Brighton. Next to us was a Scotsman abusing his girlfriend. He knocked her to the ground. I told him to leave her alone, he turned round to me and I hit him right on the chin and he went down. "What I didn’t know was that he had about 14 friends with him who turned on me. But lots of other people had seen what had gone on and came to my defence.

"Before we knew it, all hell broke loose. I baled out and as we walked down the hill we could hear the sound of sirens. I don’t like getting into rucks, but I don’t believe you can stand around when someone is being attacked."

But Chris, who lives in Brighton with Anita and their two children, Louis and Francesca, says at home he’s a big softie. "I’m absolutely hopeless!" he laughs. "I lose my temper and go off on one, then five minutes later I say sorry to them. Anita says I shouldn’t do that. In the end I’m the one who gets upset because I can’t stand losing my temper with my kids. I hate family rows."

Safe

Chris, who shot to fame on The Bill, is pleased to have a series of his own at last.

"There wasn’t really anywhere left for Frank to go at Sun Hill," he says.

"I think people like him because he’s such a git. He’s mellowed a bit as he’s got older. Everyone feels safe with him."

Everyone, that is, except gun-toting cowards who beat up women.

© 2000

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