Coming from a family of professional footballers, Ryan never had to think too much about what career path he would take. At the age of nine Ryan followed his father to the Midlands, where Stuart was playing for Aston Villa. Stuart helped Ryan get into Birmingham City's youth academy. However, despite their success, this period was a stressful one for the Naysmith's and resulted in Ryan's parents splitting up. Ryan Naysmith's rise to the top has been quite sensational. He was fed up with life, so headed to Harchester to be closer to his father Stuart, who was first team coach at Harchester United. Stuart gained permission from the management team for Ryan to train with them. He impressed and eventually earned himself a contract at Harchester, As they say, from there, the rest is history!

Ryan became close with a lady who worked at the club at HUTV, called Tara Keane. Ryan quite liked Tara and flipped when he caught his father and Tara kissing at the Christmas party. He stormed off in a car with Tara at his side, as she wanted to explain what had happened. Ryan pulled over and Tara took over the wheel as Ryan had been drinking. As they were travelling along, they knocked a man down. They got out and saw the man not moving in the road, so Ryan convinced Tara to get back in the car, and he drove away from the scene. Unfortunately for Ryan, they were spotted and a camera showed Ryan was driving. He told the police it was Tara, but she denied it initially, and accused Ryan. Ryan is told by the clubs legal team that he is best to plead guilty, over the charges brought against him following the hit and run, which of course it was Tara who actually did the deed. Ryan is furious at Tara and he goes to see her. She tells him that she believes it was Ryan's fault anyway, as he was the one who attempted to drive away from the party in the first place. Ryan is told that he is not wanted by the club and that he is to be offloaded in the next few weeks and is also told by Staurt that he is a disgrace and no son of his, which leaves him as a mess. Ryan pleads with Tara to tell the police exactly what happened, but Tara says she will instead tell the police that he tried attacking her.

Ryan is relegated to play for the reserves side. He has a nightmare game against Birmingham and after the game is finished, both Alex Lawler the reserve goalkeepers and Ryan have a go at him calling him a disgrace and a liability. Fletch tells the rest of the team that soon Ryan's court case is coming up, so he'll be out their hair. Ryan runs out the changing rooms crying. Fletch gets on the coach, but is told they cannot go as Ryan is yet to get on board. Ryan meanwhile is back in the changing rooms. In rage he smashes the mirror with his fist. He is found by Fletch and Andy Ansah, blood everywhere. Stuart brings Tara along to Ryan's hospital bed. Tara explains that she is going to the police to admit what really happened, that she was driving. Harchester's legal advisor explains that Tara will only receive a ban and a fine, while Ryan will only have to do community service at most, which is a huge relief for both him and his father.

Once Ryan is released from hospital he moves in with his best mate Clyde Connelly, who has just rented an apartment. Ryan is impressed with the apartment, but there is no furniture. Clyde tells him that he'll be getting it all soon and they decide to have a party to welcome Ryan to his new home. Later that night, Marcel turns up for another man who lives in the apartment, but is surprised when he finds the camp man in Ryan's apartment, complaining about the noise. Ryan winds up Marcel accusing him of being gay and coming to see his boyfriend, and Marcel snaps and beats up Ryan, hospitalising him with serious life threatening injuries.

Ryan has always been interested in earning himself a quick buck and this was portrayed when he was involved with the ticket tout, Steve. He got the tout some tickets with Clyde Connelly's name on and the tout kept bribing Ryan to get him more, or he'll tell the club who he got the tickets from in the first place. Things were going horribly wrong for Ryan and he ended up killing the tout to keep his secret, as the tickets he stole were the winning tickets for the raffle. He also punched his team mate, Luke Davenport, who was suffering from eye problems at the time because Luke stopped Ryan's transfer to Liverpool. Ryan needed that transfer to get away from everything which had happened at Harchester and snapped at the star striker. Stuart saw his son's head was not straight and sent him off to a clinic to get his head sorted. Ryan returned to help his team in a match away at Charlton and showed signs of his old self again. Stuart left later in the season under peculiar circumstances, but confessed to Ryan that they would not be able to see each other again, as he was on a witness protection programme and was going to start a life under a new name. This left Ryan devastated.

Season 2004/2005 was a mixed one for Ryan. He broke his leg, which he suffered in the warm up for an International match, so he missed the first chunk of the season. He soon found a friend in Chelsea Wright, the wife of goalkeeper and known psycho, Viv (Jaws) Wright. Chelsea helps Ryan through the injury and takes him to the hospital for check ups and even helps him train at the local gym. They soon become a little too close and begin an affair together. Ryan was best mates with Clyde Connelly, but showed how much he cared for Chelsea, when he gave him a smack for insulting Chelsea, much to the amazement of the rest of the team, who now know of the affair between the two. Ryan rejects Clyde's efforts at apologising, but soon feels awful, after learning of his friends death after committing suicide. He gets closer to Chelsea as the season progresses and at one point was prepared to leave Harchester for her, but she left alone at the airport, leaving Ryan heart broken again. Jaws is suspicious at who Chelsea was having an affair with and accuses the whole team, but soon realises it could have only been one man – Ryan. When confronted, Ryan cowardly tells Jaws that it was actually his dead friend Clyde.

He concentrates on getting his career back on track and tries to put the matter of Chelsea out of his mind, although he is always on alert whenever her name is mentioned. He has regular therapy sessions with Naomi Wyatt, as he couldn't bare the thought of being tackled and started backing out of challenges. At first, he was hesitant to admit that he was scared, but after the sessions with Naomi certainly helped him. Later in the season, Harchester sign Carl Caskey and Ryan falls for his teenage daughter Savannah. She also helps him through his problems, and convinces him that you have to try it (be tackled) or you'll be worried forever. Her father finds out about the pair and kicks Ryan's leg, as he knows that's the one he has had problems with, but Ryan feels nothing, only a bit of bruising and has the confidence to get back to what he loved doing - playing football. Ryan and Savannah head off to Cardiff for the FA Cup Final, but Ryan misses the game, as Jaws finds out the truth about the affair with Chelsea, after a letter from evil former manager, Don Barker. Ryan board the coach to the stadium, but drives off in Barker's pool car when Viv sees him and heads back to the hotel to meet Savannah. He receives a phone call from Viv, who expalins they need him and they'll have to put their personal differences aside for now. Ryan agrees to go back to the stadium, but is stopped by the police, who find the body of Karl Fletcher in the boot and they arrest Ryan on suspicion of murder. After the game, Don Barker drove straight into the team coach, killing most of the players. Luckily for him, Ryan was not on board, but was left devastated at the explosion.

Ryan finds himself as one of the longest serving members of the squad after the Millennium Stadium explosion. He has been through an awful lot at Harchester - losing his father; falling for his psychotic team-mate's wife; blackmail. Many of his problems are self-imposed as he insists on taking the easy way out of critical situations. This weakness is his fatal flaw, but he manages to remain a sympathetic character through his ability to be one of the lads, as comfortable engaging in boot room banter as he is wooing the ladies. Ryan is the strongest link to the Harchester of old and it is through him that much of the grief felt in the club will be played out. He is immediately nicknamed "Lucky" by Cass, due to his fateful escape from the coach inferno last season - something that grates with a man who has been dogged by injury and who has lost a coach load of his friends and colleagues. It's not going to be easy for him to come back from what he's been through - can he grow into the player he always threatened to become in time for the 2006 World Cup?

For his birthday the lads buy Studs Nightclub for Ryan, eventually this helps Ryan deal with a lot of the grief and guilt he suffered after the explosion and for the break up of Jaws and Chelsea. Ryan is soon back to his old self, and as usual he never learns and again sleeps with another team mates girlfriend; Cindi, girlfriend of Gavin Moody. When the pair are set to get married Ryan decides to tell Gavin what happened. Ryan turns to Ashleigh for support and after a drunken night together Casper, Ashleigh's boyfriend, spots Ryan leaving her hotel room decides to get revenge. The team are not doing well and Casper sets Ryan up in a match fixing scandal which all gets purposely leaked to the press. Not knowing of Casper's involvement, Ryan blames Gavin and he breaks up their wedding ceremony by walking down the aisle and punching Gavin. With Ryan's future uncertain at the club, he managed to make somewhat of amends with his team mates and helps them win the FA Cup. However this would be Ryan's last game for Harchester United as he decides it's time to move on and get's himself a high profile transfer to Villareal.

Statistics

First Appearance: Episode 6.04
Final Appearance: Episode 9.31
Guest Appearance: Episode 10.32

Season 6 Character Popularity: 2.65% (7th)
Season 7 Character Popularity: 5.17% (8th)
Season 8 Character Popularity: 3.85% (6th)
Season 9 Character Popularity: 5.68% (4th)

Filmography

Hollyoaks (1995) playing "Calvin Valentine" August 2006
Holby City (1999) playing "David Richards" in episode: "You Can Choose Your Friends..." (episode # 6.19) 3 February 2004

Last updated June 2006. For more up-to-date information, please visit IMDb.

Interviews

Exclusive Interview: Ricky Whittle - August 2004
Exclusive: Ask Ricky Whittle - September 2005
Exclusive: Ricky Whittle Final Interview - June 2006

Short Interview

WHAT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING IN DREAM TEAM? Great family of cast, crew, make-up and costume. We're all a close group. Acting the lifestyle is the best though – the fast cars, beautiful women and the footy.

WERE YOU A FAN OF DREAM TEAM BEFORE YOU JOINED? Yes, it's a great show, I used to watch it when I was at Uni. I wanted to be Fletch and my mates had the girl's posters on their walls. Now Fletch is one of my best mates and last year I moved in with one of the girls. Cool! Strange world!

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER? He's unpredictable, in a good way, it means he can get up to anything!

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER? He always has some trouble hanging over him so he tends to be a bit tense and moody. I'd like him to be more jokey or better with the ladies to cheer him up!

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER AT ALL? I would hope I'm not like him. We look similar but that's where it ends. I'm very outgoing, hyperactive and a bit of a joker and prankster. Then again, Ryan has had a hard upbringing whereas I was given a lot of love growing up. I think I'd get on with him as long as nothing was distracting him, he's one of the guys and prefers a joke, but has a few too many issues!

DO YOU LIKE THE CLOTHES THAT YOUR CHARACTER WEARS? I wear a few bits and bobs out, I like his torn jeans and a few funky tops but sometimes I think, "Oh dear, Ryan what were you thinking?"

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY THINK OF YOUR ROLE? They're very proud but find it strange watching me on TV. One of my Mums' friends had palpitations whilst watching an episode where I was beaten up and just panicked. My mate phoned up and said "you almost killed my Dad, warn us next time", he thought it was real bless him!

HOW DO PEOPLE REACT TO YOU IN THE STREET? It's great! Kids get really into it. I had to run away from a load of kids in Southend as I was visiting my girlfriends' parents so they didn't see where they lived! It's surreal, but fun. I tend to get a lot of mums and wives approaching me, one guy said after his wife met me at a charity game that he had to buy my aftershave so he smelt like me for her! It's all been light-hearted.

WHAT SCENE HAVE YOU MOST ENJOYED OR HATED FILMING SO FAR? I've been very lucky and have had a few nice cars on the show so scenes where I've been racing around and stealing Fletcher's Porsche have been great!

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR CHARACTER'S HOUSE / CAR? Ryan lived with his Dad before moving in with Clyde , but their apartment is very nice with lots of gadgets, toys and home-comforts. He's driven a few nice cars too, and his Dad bought him a new Mini Sport for Christmas. I would have preferred a bigger sports car or motorbike but hey… I'd love the money side of being a Premiership footballer, but the football 24/7 would be hard!

HAVE YOU EVER MET ANY REAL FOOTBALLERS? A lot of footballers approach us when we're out and it turns out a lot of them watch it - some have even mentioned that they would like to put in a cheeky appearance! It's reported in the papers that the Beckhams love the show, strange feeling that they may know who I am - would be a great feeling if they did!

WHAT FOOTBALL TEAM DO YOU SUPPORT AND WHY? Manchester United. It's where my Mum's from. When I was 5 my Mum said support Man U. My Dad said West Brom , but at the time Man U had a nicer kit so I chose them. The rest is history!

WERE YOU GOOD AT FOOTBALL AT SCHOOL? Yeah, most of the boys in Dream Team have played at least semi-pro, a lot are ex-professional players – Marcel, Ansah, Mack, Armit, Tyson, Millsy, Fletch, Walsh - they are great players to watch. I played for Hong Kong schoolboys beating even England on our travels. I also played semi-pro after injuries prevented me going too far, which has come in handy now.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT THE TRAINING? The weather extremes. Right now its 37C (101F) and we've been running around for four hours a day. I've probably lost a few stone filming those action scenes! At the other end of the scale it gets stupidly cold in winter and 4 hours running around in the rain and snow isn't that much fun either.

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREE TIME? Sleep! Filming is intense at the moment so I just try to relax when I'm off. I shop, do a few things for charity and go away with my girlfriend for weekends, anything to just slow things down and enjoy that free time.

WHERE DO YOU COME FROM – HOME TOWN? All over really. I was born in Aldershot , but brought up in Manchester . My Dad was in the RAF so we moved every few years. I've still got a lot of friends in Southampton too, from time spent at University there - my first home from home - but now my parents live in Berkshire . Complicated I know!

External Web Links

Ricky Whittle Official Website