Today, when you search for his name, the autocomplete box does an odd thing. It implies “Clive Mantle illness” before nearly anything else, which reveals more about how the public’s mind functions than it does about the actor. The face is remembered by people. The towering 6ft 5in frame, the warm voice, the moustache he sometimes grew for a role.
Additionally, when a well-known face disappears from screens for an extended period of time, the presumption almost always leans toward illness. Seldom is it. It isn’t in Mantle’s instance. No serious medical condition is known to the public. No charity appearance linked to a diagnosis, no quiet interview suggesting treatment, no announcement from his agent.
Instead, there is one of the most bizarre and unsettling incidents that have ever befallen a working British actor; more than anything else, it appears that this incident is what caused the confusion. Mantle was awakened in his ground-floor room at the Travelodge on Foster Street in Newcastle early on a Sunday morning in 2013. At the time, he was 55 years old and performing at the Theatre Royal with *The Ladykillers*.
| Bio Data | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Clive Andrew Mantle |
| Date of Birth | 3 June 1957 |
| Nationality | English |
| Profession | Actor (stage, television, film) |
| Education | Kimbolton School (1970–1975); Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, RADA (1978–1980) |
| Best Known For | Mike Barratt in Casualty and Holby City; Little John in Robin of Sherwood; Greatjon Umber in Game of Thrones |
| Notable Stage Work | Of Mice and Men (Olivier nomination, 1984), Rocky Horror Show, Jus’ Like That! (as Tommy Cooper) |
| Residence | Box, Wiltshire, England |
| Reported Health Concern | Permanent ear disfigurement following a 2013 assault at a Newcastle Travelodge; no public confirmation of any chronic illness |
He had requested a quiet room in a courteous manner. He received the exact opposite. The court testimony that surfaced the next year reads almost exactly like a stage play, but without the comfort of a curtain.
After trying to sleep through the racket for hours, Mantle, dressed in pajamas and a T-shirt, opened his door. Philip McGilvray and Alan French were the two men he discovered in the hallway; he later described them as “music hall drunks.” You can visualize the scene. Two inebriated younger men were staring up at the tall, worn-out actor in nightclothes with what he described as amazement. He believed he had neutralized it. He returned to his bed. He hadn’t.
A few minutes later, the cacophony returned, this time with derisive remarks about “the old man in pyjamas”. Mantle went barefoot down the hallway to reception after failing to locate a phone in his room. The two men stood in his way.
To push through, he raised his hands. According to his own testimony in court, the altercation that ensued changed from a tussle to something much more repulsive: a barrage of blows, a takedown, and his face pressed against the carpet. Subsequently, he reported experiencing a “massive response” due to a pain in his left ear.
When I read the transcripts again, it’s the specifics of what he recalled at that precise moment that have stuck with me. He claimed that the case of Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who shot an intruder in 1999, flashed through his mind, and he made an effort to respond appropriately. With a man biting their ear off, who would think that? Clive Mantle does, apparently. It has an almost antiquated quality. A skilled stage actor, bleeding, sleep deprived, and still attempting to do the right thing.
When Alice Klenk, a nurse who was staying at the hotel with her partner, heard the disturbance, she left her room. She took both men by the nape of their necks. It’s easy to understand why Mantle later referred to her as his guardian angel in court; he claimed that the damage would have been far worse without her.
He stumbled to his feet, looked down, and saw his ear on the carpet. He took it up. to preserve the ear, Klenk located a plastic cup in the bathroom, filled it with water, and dropped it inside.
Sadly, that was the error, even though no one witnessing it would have realized it. Surgeons at the Royal Victoria Infirmary informed him that it was not possible to reattach the ear. Tissue is compromised once it is submerged in water. You do what seems right in the chaos of a Travelodge bathroom at three in the morning. With blood all over the place and a nurse trying to calm a giant of a man.
Even though saline solution or a sealed bag on ice is what’s required. It’s difficult not to feel sorry for them both Klenk saved him from worse danger by acting instinctively. Therefore, the “illness” that the internet keeps pointing to isn’t actually a sickness.
Mantle himself lifted his long grey hair to show it to a Newcastle jury, a permanent disfigurement caused by a crime. There is a subtle irony in the fact that the actor who played a consultant for years ended up requiring emergency surgery himself. He has since discussed in interviews how *Casualty* dominated his life while he was on it the sick, the injured, the victims of auto accidents.
In 2016, he made a comeback to *Casualty* for the show’s 30th anniversary. He was still working and still identifiable as Mike Barratt. Anyone concerned about his health should feel reassured just by that. Beyond the medical details, the smaller story beneath the headline is what sticks out. A touring man requests a quiet room. An instinctive nurse.
a cup made of plastic. The way a simple request like “please keep it down” can turn into something that permanently alters someone’s face in a matter of minutes. Mantle continues to act.
He still resides in the same village in Box, Wiltshire, where he returned over ten years ago to recuperate. No illness needs to be reported. Just a tale that people only vaguely recall and look up using the incorrect terms.
i) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-26239922
ii) https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/11020177.former-casualty-star-near-to-tears-as-he-tells-court-how-part-of-his-ear-was-bitten-off/
iii) https://www.saulwordsworth.com/on-being-bollocked-by-clive-mantle-serial-complainer/
iv) https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1880801/BBC-Casualty-Clive-Mantle-show-dominated-life