BBC Casualty’s Sam Colloby star Jonathan Kerrigan unrecognisable 29 years later

Jonathan Kerrigan is best known for his role as Casualty’s Sam Colloby, but he also regularly appeared in Heartbeat, alongside his wife, and has gone on to star in a number of other shows

Some actors, like EastEnders’ Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale), Coronation Street’s William Roache (Ken Barlow), and Neighbours’ Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson), become permanent fixtures on our screens. Others, like Jonathan Kerrigan of Casualty fame, make a significant impact despite their shorter stints.

Fifty two year old Jonathan, who portrayed the bleach-blond nurse Sam Colloby in the late 90s, first graced our screens in Casualty in 1996 after making his screen debut in the Chemical Brothers’ 1995 single Life Is Sweet. His character Sam quickly became one of the most beloved figures on the show.

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As an openly gay character, Sam was involved in numerous personal and work-related dramas tied to his sexuality, including discovering that a female car crash victim was secretly dating his boyfriend, reports OK!.

But with Sam around, life was never dull; he helped uncover a colleague’s rape, fell from a hospital balcony, and saved a young girl’s life by performing an emergency tracheotomy. Jonathan portrayed Sam for four seasons of Casualty before his character decided to pursue a career outside of nursing in 1999.

Other stars of Casualty, such as the legendary Derek Thompson (Charlie Fairhead), have had much longer runs on the show, with Derek only recently retiring after a remarkable 37 years.

In reality, Jonathan took on the role of PC Steve Traynor in ITV’s Merseybeat, appearing in 30 episodes. He then transitioned to Heartbeat, a series set in 1960s Yorkshire, where he portrayed Sergeant Rob Walker and even composed the show’s theme tune.

His character was always at the heart of the drama, having an affair with Helen Trent, whom he later wed. Rob was understandably devastated when Helen tragically died in an explosion.

In 2007, Jonathan chose to leave the show (later replaced by Joe McFadden), and went on to appear in various TV programmes including the American crime drama NCIS and BBC drama series In The Club, as well as films such as Diana – alongside Naomi Watts, who portrayed the late Princess of Wales – and The Somnambulists.

Jonathan tied the knot with actress Shelley Conn – known for her role as Lady Mary Sharma in Netflix’s Bridgerton – in 2011, and they have a son together.

Since then, life has been bustling for him, with other roles including starring in The Five, a ten-part drama for Sky 1, written by American crime writer Harlan Coben, and Death In Paradise, acting alongside his real-life wife. Sporting a ginger-brown goatee and brown hair, he looks completely different from his days as Sam Colloby, a transformation not unlike that of former Heartbeat co-star Nick Berry.

One of his most recent TV dramas is Irvine Welsh’s Crime, where he starred as Mark McKendrick alongside Dougray Scott and Angela Griffin. And he has also popped up in Outlander, the historical TV drama series, as Rev Peleg Woodsworth