Peter Caffrey
Irish actor (1949–2008)
Peter Caffrey (18 April 1949 – 1 January 2008) was an Irish actor best known for playing Padraig O'Kelly on Series 1–4 of Ballykissangel and Christy Barry on Bracken. He was also known for playing the role of the Eurosong selection judge Charles Hedges in the Irish comedy Father Ted on the episode "A Song for Europe" and for voicing a popular Christmas radio advertisement for Barry's Tea in 1994.
Peter Caffrey was born in Dublin on the day the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 came into effect to create the Republic of Ireland. He studied at a seminary for two years before leaving to pursue an English degree at University College Dublin. He worked for a year as a primary school teacher, before becoming involved with Dublin's Project Theatre. He appeared in nearly thirty television and film roles, and also had a solid theatre career in both Dublin and London.
He married a woman named Brenda Banks in 1980.
After moving to London in 1983, he became a familiar face on UK television, with minor roles in Casualty, The Bill and Peak Practice.
After overcoming cancer of the mouth (a diagnosis he received in 1990), and despite a divorce from his wife in 1990, he achieved success in Ballykissangel.
Despite suffering a stroke in 2000, which left him paralysed on his right side, he managed to play a character with a similar affliction in Sweet Dancer in 2005 (a film which was never released).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Peter Caffrey” is irish actor (1949–2008). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Peter, Caffrey and Irish, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q729395. VIAF identifies the subject as 51241092. The Library of Congress control number is no00091624. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949, 2008, 1994 and 1948.
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This entry incorporates text from “Peter Caffrey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.