Before turning to acting he was a trainee priest, a scrap metal worker, a weighbridge operator and a carpenter.
[1] He is most famous for playing a regular character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
He played the dim-witted odd-job man Trevor Short from 1989–1990.
His character was one of many to be axed from the show in early 1990 following the introduction of the new executive-producer, Michael Ferguson.
Since leaving EastEnders McDermott has appeared in the children's situation comedy Dizzy Heights (BBC, 1991), which was set in a "wacky hotel".