"I trained at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and for the past 43 years have been a professional actor working in theatre, television and films as well as being a recognised voice-over-artiste, majoring in documentary narration," says Tom Cotcher, who played Alan Woods in The Bill from 1992 to 1996. "A few years ago I was invited to paint a picture to be auctioned for charity...ergo I purchased a box of acrylic paints, a couple of brushes and a small canvas, then for the first time since my schooldays I began to paint again and was hooked...within the year I had opened my own gallery called ArtEscape in Brighton's Kemptown Village."