Chris Chittell is an English actor best known for his role as Eric Pollard in ITVs Emmerdale a part that he has played since 1986 He is now the longest serving character having played Pollard for 31 years and in 2016 Chittell married Emmerdale costar Lesley Dunlop He had previously been married to Caroline Hunt with whom he has two children with From 1968 to 1973 he had a lead role in the TV series The Freewheelers His films include To Sir With Love The Charge of the Light Brigade Zulu Dawn Golden Rendezvous A Game For Vultures The Last Valley The Beast in the Cellar The Raging Moon and The Weekend Murders He also has uncredited roles in If and The Wild Geese and appeared in a number of Swedish sex films in the 1970s as Charles Canyon These include Swedish Sex Games aka The Intruders and Let Us Play Sex in 1975 which also featured a young Stellan Skarsgård and Sex in Sweden and Practice Makes Perfect aka Girl on Her Knees in 1977