John Nicholas Ball (11 April 1946 – 4 June 2024) was an English actor. He was best known for playing the title role of private detective James Hazell in the television series Hazell between 1978-1979. Ball portrayed the vicious gang lord Terry Bates in EastEnders between 2007 and 2009. He played Garry Ryan in series five of Footballers' Wives and both series of its spin-off programme Footballers' Wives: Extra Time. He had played a number of supporting roles in various television series including Z-Cars, Mr. Rose, The Gold Robbers, Softly Softly: Task Force, The Crezz, The Young Ones, Bergerac, Spooky, Tales of the Unexpected, Boon, Colin's Sandwich, Red Dwarf, The Governor, The Bill, Pie in the Sky, Heartbeat, Jonathan Creek, Cold Feet, New Tricks, The Commander, Casualty, Hustle, Holby City and Doctors. The voice of Nicholas Ball can be heard as well on various audio books offered via the internet; he has narrated books from such authors as Christopher Hitchens and James Maybrick. In 2019 he appeared in an advert for Premier Inn, playing the part of Lenny Henry's manager.