Freddie Boardley appeared in two episodes of Coronation Street in February 1980 as genial Glaswegian lorry driver Ian McAllister. It was but a brief appearance (and an unusually sympathetic character) in a long career that goes back to the mid-1970s with parts, quite often villanous, in Brookside, Play for Today, Charles Endell, Esq, High Road, Strangers, Taggart, The Tales of Para Handy, three roles in Rab C. Nesbitt, Brookside, Monarch of the Glen and Rockface. An early stage role and a big break for Freddie was in the play The Slab Boys at the Traverse Theatre Club in April 1978.