TELEVISION SHOWS
I was a very young puppeteer, almost fresh out of Drama School.
It was a very lucky break indeed to land this as my first TV job.
Part of the excitement for me, was filming the show so close to its Sunday night transmission.
Being 'Topical' on TV takes an army of people, and military like planning.
Even more true in the case of the LIVE Election Specials.
Back then I was thinner and had hair .
I've lost the originals of these photos, so had to cut and paste them from my old website .
SPITTING IMAGE
Like a lot of the photos I have on this website, the quality isn't all that good to start with - when you stop and think how every year the pixel quality on your own smartphone improves, it is not surprising a lot of my work pics are low resolution, or even pre-digital.
But that doesn't negate the value and joy of the jobs they represent.
The whole show was performed by a team of just eight puppeteers.
So we all mucked in and played lead roles, background characters, "spare arms" and eyes and blinks. We were a true "Ensemble".
Only a few characters stayed with an individual performer: Anthony Asbury was always Maggie.
But we did have a sketch where the entire cabinet was made up of eight Mrs Thatchers. So I made sure I got this photo taken !
I stayed with the show from Series three for many years until production left its home at Central TV studios at Birmingham.
No regrets, it felt like I had been there for the shows 'Golden' period when two
talented directors; Graham C Williams and John Henderson, were competing with each other to see who could make the show look its best and most lavish.
Exciting times , and a great education in how to work fast in a studio . Happy Days !
In addition to the nearly fifty regular episodes, I also worked on two Live Election specials, three themed USA Specials and numerous adverts.
Spits Puppets guested on The Wogan Show, Saturday mornings 'No 73', ITV's 'Hot Metal' and appeared in the Royal Box during the very first live 'Comic Relief'.
Norman Tebbit was one of my 'regular' characters.
So were Lady Diana and Gazza.
There's a great pic I hope I can track down of me in a yellow sou'wester and hood performing Gazza ..without them you just got drenched from his 'tears'!
Specially commissioned puppets of the band Genesis appeared in their music video for 'Land of Confusion' from the Invisible Touch album.
Also a giant Stegosaurus. This huge puppet was put on a low loader and we did on the move, late night, 'stealth-filming' all round the St Pauls in London.
Ronald Reagan, Nancy and Bubbles the chimp also featured.
At one point I was filmed sprinting along Limehouse Docks dressed in a Superman costume and Ronald Reagan mask.
Even to this day when I hear the lyric "Oh Superman, where are you now?"
I always say out loud : "I'm right here, but I can't run that fast anymore !"
One of the stand-out surreal moments from my time at Spitting Image was performing LIVE on "Top Of The Pops"
We were Number in the charts for the third consecutive week with "THE CHICKEN SONG".
For the first two weeks at No1, TOTP had just shown the video from our TV Show.
But as we made pole position for a third week, the BBC gave in and had all the puppets in the Studio to mime along and throw rubber chickens out to the bemused teeny-boppers in the audience.
I remember Billy Ocean glared at us from his adjacent stage. Chicken Song had kept him from a decent shot at the Number one spot - he wasn't best pleased!
MONGRELS
BBC 3
Proving that not everything with puppets is suitable for children.
Made for an adult audience, 'Mongrels' was wild, irreverent, crazy and sometimes downright filthy .
A comedy triumph from BBC3 that was axed much too soon...there were easily another two series in it.
But the series that we did film were golden, and a firm favourite of students and 'twenty-somethings'. Nice to be wacky sometimes.
DESTINY was my main character .
Yes, in a show of small, light, rodded puppets,
I got the big, heavy, live-handed one !
But she was such fun to perform .
A real gift of a role.
We shot at the iconic Twickenham Film Studios as well as nearby outdoor locations. Over a decade later, this remains quality work that I am so proud to have been a part of. Anyone want to commission a spin-off ?
GROTBAGS
Filmed at the now defunct Central television Studios in Nottingham, this was children's afternoon telly at it finest.
Camp, silly and fun with killer dialogue from Bob Hescot.
The truly incomparable Carol Lee Scott, who after years of being a sidekick to an Emu, finally got her own series and a chance to shine! .
With puppet sidekicks of her own to boss about ...or at least try to.
Somehow Doris Dodo, Normal Nettle and Colin the Bat always seemed to triumph in their own ways.
This was my finest hour with regards to building puppets for television. I was left to my own devices to come up with the designs and build techniques. These days things would get over planned by big committees.
Carol had been a guest on Children's ITV several times while I was performing "Scally". We got on like house on fire.
She already had plans to find a new lease of life for her alter ego Grotbags.
She basically bullied Central TV's commissioning editor, Lewis Rudd, to let me build puppets and do a Pilot episode with her. The rest as they say is history.
As was so often the case back then, my puppeteering partner in crime was the immensely talented Francis Wright
Colin Clewes did a phenonimal job of Directing, between us we managed to devise trickery to fool the viewers into thinking we had more puppeteers for all the characters.
But in truth, for the first few series it was just Francis and myself.
Thankfully after a couple of series, we became a happy trio when Phil Eason joined us and took over performing Norman Nettle, while doing a stellar impression of voice I had created for Norman. Bravo Phil !
On the subject of voices : Francis' decision to play "Lumpy" as Noel Coward, was inspired !
He sat comfortably at the side of the set doing his lines, while I was huddled up inside the Cauldron lip syncing to him in real time .
I was also voicing my character, Grumble, and performing him with my other hand... We didn't make things easy.
We were told the show was a 'cult classic' among students and unemployed youths watching daytime telly. Bobs outrageous (but always clean) camp dialogue for Lumpy and Grumble was the reason we were not only watched by children !
In a scene like this, Francis would have to perform Lumpys voice in between his lines as Colin the Bat.
So both of us were 'rubbing our bellies and patting our heads' .
On those days we really earned our money !
And it was a blessing when Phil Eason joined us from Series three onwards.
Jump ahead to Halloween 2024:
And some wag has posted this on the internet.
I have to say I think it's a hoot.
And knowing Carol, she would have been tickled pink and laughed her socks off at it.
Spreading joy and laughter through irreverent comedy was what she was all about.
A magicians worst nightmare : a Rabbit in the hat that actually talks back !
Lovely to work with Wayne Dobson and Linda Lussardi.
A Saturday night family 'Light Entertainment' show.
A KIND OF MAGIC
Producer Nigel Lithgoe commissioned Spitting Image to make a puppet, and asked them to reccomend a puppeteer.
The show got RINGO RABBIT and me !
Filmed in front of a large studio audience at Nottingham's Lenton Lane Studios.
That was where I also filmed Grotbags.
This meant a lot of the same camera and sound crew, who all laughed at Ringos oddball banter during tech rehearsals. Always nice to play to a home-crowd.
MORTIMER & ARABELLE
For sheer completeness of experience, this one will forever hold a special place in my heart
The puppets were perfect, the look of the scenery and props were perfect.
The set was raised to the correct height for a change ( that makes a huge difference to the quality of performance).
Scripts based on the popular children's books. But the masterstroke was that the entire production design was based on Quentin Blakes book illustrations.
Everything had his signature washed out look and wibbly-wobbly lines : not a straight edge in sight. Glorious work by the art department.
Francis Wright got a different pilot puppet show made at the BBC, in the Visual Effects Departments studio.
It was a glorious period romp called "Fuggs Rambles".
I performed the title role in it.
Sadly it did not get commissioned.
But it did open some eyes at the BBC ... And the result was them rethinking dramatising the Mortimer and Arabelle books.
They had tested a pilot already, but with a human cast, and only the raven as a puppet. It was not good.
After "Fuggs" they saw the merit in making the show entirely with puppets.
When I get more time to look through old negatives, I will find some more photos of this wonderful production, It really warrants more photos.
We will never see production values like this again on a children's series.
It was special. And we knew it at the time too.
C'mon BBC ...this one really deserves a re-showing sometime.
I've worked with Gremlins, Flat Eric, the Honeymonster, Babe and E.T.
Certainly no shortage of icons.
But in the puppet world, they don't come much bigger than this little fluffy bear !
And to perform him on TV in his 50th Year, was such an honour.
SOOTYs 50th year on TV
THE SOOTY SHOW
For Sootys 50th year on TV it was decided to let some seasoned Film & TV puppeteers loose on the series. I don't know the rationale behind that decision, and apologies to the 'usual' gang who had performed him for years.
But -as I said to Lord Delphont- it was a pleasure and an honour.
We rehearsed at the Sooty Company Warehouse in Farnham, where all the old puppets, television props and Touring Stage Shows are stored.
That was a fascinating experience on its own. We also had a brand new set of puppets, and duplicates created for the series. Honour upon honour!
Once again working with Francis Wright on this one.
Francis played Sweep to my Sooty.
That meant for once no lines to learn for me as Sooty is a silent bear.
But Francis had to master using the Sweep squeaker !
This is us being very naughty between takes : recreating "The Sound of Music".
MR. BLOOMS NURSURY
A Ceebeebies classic shot up in Manchester.
MR BLOOM'S NURSURY was all about introducing children to the joys of Gardening, while introducing their Mums to the joy of Ben Faulks it seems!
Putting all my classical training at Bristol Old Vic to good use, I gave the World my very best RAYMOND : a lovable cuddly butternut squash.
Puppets made by Neil Sterenburg.
This was such a tight knit and happy production.
Different young children came in to the studio for each episode - that always keeps you on your toes.
Sadly there was clash of dates with the second series, and I had to make the tough choice of doing my Heights of Abraham Punch season, or returning to the veggie patch.
Mr. Punch won out over Mr. Bloom, and my good pal Phil Eason took over the role of Raymond. Yet again, he did a wonderful impression of the character and voice I had created. Bravo Phill.
PLAY WITH ME SESAME
Domby & Kit
A new concept rolled out Worldwide from the Sesame Street studios in America. Only 85% of the shows content was filmed in the States, with each Country or Region making the final 15% with their own unique Muppet characters .
Here in the UK Andy Heath and Myself played 'Domby & Kit', with the able assistance of Sue Beatie on Dombys other live arm.
Kevin Clash who performed Elmo, came over and auditioned a whole heap of puppeteers before settling on us three.
It was joyous and happy shoot
Lots of laughs and corpsing on set when the puppets were baking a curiously named 'Cherry-ocolate' cake.
When puppets are large with 'Live-Hands' you need a second puppeteer.
Sue is the best in the biz to be partnered with.
She is so good !
ABC BEAR
A big thank you to the all the Austrian cast and crew who made three English guys feel so welcome.
Vienna is a wonderful City to live and work in. Even nicer when you are working alongside such talented and friendly folk.
Puppeteering 'Box' - the handyman in Bears gang.
ABC BEAR had already been running for several seasons when the Vienna based production team decided to bring over three Brits to spice up the puppeteering team. Matt Lyons climbed inside the animatronic Bear costume and Josh and I got our hands inside puppets.
I was even given the dubious honour of being made Puppeteer Coordinator for the two series I was there.
Although the puppets were designed by cartoon artists in Vienna,
they were actually built here in the UK.
Andy and Iestyn at 'Talk to the Hand' took some pretty un-puppet-friendly designs and managed to make them 'bear'-able. Go check their website.
BEACHCOMBER BAY
It was the crew and puppeteers that made this so much fun.
Lip syncing to a German sound track (not my first time at that particular Rodeo!) Quite au fait with performing German and Italian. Lots of Italian in the past in fact.
Having left a few shows after the first or second series, and seen other people take over my characters, this time it was my turn to inherit an established part.
For this second series, I became SALTY DOG and Francis Wright took over playing Sam Seagull
FRANCIS gave Sam the same clipped R.A.F speak as Neil had done in the previous series. And likewise, I did my best impression of Joe Grecos West Country (almost 'Pirate') for Salty.
Hopefully the kids watching won't have realised the cast had changed.
Raised sets, yes, but organised years before - by the shortest puppeteer in the World.
Nothing about the set up here was quite as it should be. But still huge fun nevertheless.
No humans in this show, but a large puppet cast were cheek by jowl with a costume character Bear.
A visually enchanting mix.
All shot in a tiny ex-Military Studio in the leafy home counties.
Great fun to do, even though we had to puppeteer on wheeled trolley chairs because there was a human in the show. Jenny was lovely though so it was OK.
Jenny marching up and down and singing ...we all did a fair bit of singing.
It's what characters do in kids shows - a lot .
Sheila Clarke had decided to stay with the show, so Bertha the Cat remained unchanged.
To make us feel less like imposters, a pair of Rat characters had been added to this series. So Francis and I got our teeth into 'MARLON & SPIKE "
The rats even had their own new set : the bilges of the good ship Beachcomber.
And joy of joys, Jenny never ventured 'below deck', so that meant we could have a proper 'raised-set' and move the puppets about properly.
YOU & ME
BBC Schools
Long before Cebeebies existed, BBC Schools was the Boss of children's programming.
And in particular 'educational' entertainment.
This show was a Juggeernaught ! It had been running for over a decade before I joined it.
COSMO and DIBBS were absolute legends at the time.
ITV's "Rainbow" was all fun and fluff - but this BBC long-runner had a social conscience, and didn't shy away from tackling tough issues and difficult subjects.
COSMO was played by Francis Kay
And DIBBS was played by Francis Wright.
But it had been on air for such a long time, it was decided to give it a refresh by adding two new characters to compliment Cosmo and Dibbs.
Simon Buckley excelled as the older 'Grandpa' like character of BAXTER
The one I played was there to be deliberately much younger than Cosmo or Dibbs.
So for the final two series of this legendary show I was little SPIKE.
Any two of the four puppets could be paired up in each episode.
Add to the mix three human presenters, one per episode also, and the permutations were endless.
So we all got time to perform in different combos, which kept things fresh and fun.
When Spike and Baxter first joined, that series was shot in Television Centre, (the 'Doughnut') and was extremely 'old school' in the way the BBC operated.
No running over, the lights went off to the very second at the end of the day.
Very regimented and straight laced . Professional, but no frills.
For me, it was a glimpse into a style of TV Production that for better or worse, was coming to the end of the road. Times were changing ....
Sometimes you can get very attached to a role.
I grew very fond of little Spike.
Being an eldest brother myself, it was a nice change to be the youngest in a group.
The four puppets having such a variety of ages made for a good dynamic in the show.
For the final series, the show moved out from under the BBC's sole control and was produced independently by the lovely Sheilah Frazer - SFTV-
Filmed at an independent Studio with a much more relaxed crew, and work ethic.
It was chalk and cheese, a totally different experience.
HOTCH POTCH very much took over the space that 'You and Me' had filled for so many years.
No humans in this one though, just three very different ( to each other) puppet characters.
HOTCH POTCH
HOUSE
I would gladly have done many more series had it continued.
But those two series were also the end of the line for YOU AND ME.
You have to enjoy things while they last.
RAGGS SHELLY WOOLIE
No humans, meant we could work standing up with a raised set .
Always the best way to get good puppet movement.
A raised set is not always possible : you need a very tall Studio.
This was a joy to work on.
Woolie wanted to put on a Clown Show, so everyone dressed up and sang a song !
(You do a lot of that sort of thing in kids telly.)
And laughing...we laughed a lot on this one.
Wonderful to work alongside the talented REBECCA NEGAN who played Woolie.
Rebecca was best known at this time as being "Rosie" from ITVs 'Rosie and Jim".
This was yet another series working with the incomparable Francis Wright.
Francis even gets his own little logo
You can hunt for them ... a sort of "Where's Wally ?"
I so often get asked; "Don't you miss Acting ?'
Clearly these people have never seen a show like Hotch Potch House being filmed.
All three of us are Drama School trained, and it shows in what we were able to achieve on screen. Working with Puppets IS Acting!
I had quite a lot of telly work under my belt by this time, but this was my first encounter with puppeteering on something being aired absolutely LIVE.
Scott would cut out a nose from one, eyebrows from another, ears from one and a mouth from another.
Then like a police photofit, he would glue them together to make a new 'unknown' background actors for the show.
Live telly is a weird creature - much like Gilbert.
You get your cue, pop the puppet in the air and hold position waiting for the cameras to come rushing in and 'find' you : and you are off.
It felt frenetic and exciting, and a little bit out of control . And I just loved doing it.
GET
FRESH
GILBERT the ALIEN was an intergalactic Stowaway on The Millenium Dustbin. The Dustbin 'touched down' in a different town in the UK each Saturday morning, with Gaz Topp and Charlotte Handle as hosts.
Scott told me that if you look closely, Gilbert actually had Mick Jaggers lips .
Technically Spitting Image workshops built Gilbert.
But he was mostly the work of Scott Brooker, their 'cut-foam' specialist.
Scott would take all the imperfect foam latex skins of famous puppets.
The rejected ones with air bubbles or tears from the moulding process - and use them to make all the background characters for Spitting Image.
Technically Spitting Image workshops built Gilbert.
But he was mostly the work of Scott Brooker, their 'cut-foam' specialist.
Scott would take all the imperfect foam latex skins of famous puppets.
The rejected ones with air bubbles or tears from the moulding process - and use them to make all the background characters for Spitting Image.
The puppet had been commissioned as vehicle for the zany comedy of Phil Cornwell.
I think if the production could have taught him to puppeteer they would have done.
Lucky for me, puppeteering on screen is a lot harder than we make it look, and they realised the best way was use Phils voice and to hire a performer to operate Gilbert to what Phil was saying.
Most of the time what Gilbert was saying was a load of very clever gibberish and total non sequeters.
As an Alien his grasp of language and delivery was totally erratic and mad.
And Phils puckish sense of humour meant he never repeated what he'd done in rehearsals. You just had to buckle up, bring your A-Game, and lip sync intuitively to what thought might be going on !
A bit like Les Dawson playing the Piano badly : You actually need to be really good to make it look effortless. It was a really fun gig.
A clash on the second series meant I had to make a choice, Spitting Image won. And John Ecclestone took over doing Gilberts freestyle lip sync.
Performing characters in tandem with the highly talented Francis Wright again.
This time we were the evil Sludges . I was Cedric and Francis was Sybil .
Playboard are probably best known for Button Moon , a show for very young children.
Spooks was a fun departure for an older 'family' audience.
The SPOOKS of BOTTLE BAY
Ian Allen and John Thirtle are the talents behind Playboard Puppets.
Ian writes the shows , John builds the puppets : they both performed.
Yet another show where having originated a character, I couldn't do the next series because of clashing dates - Spitting Image again no doubt.
John Thirtle took over performing Cedric, and Simon Buckley became Sybil.
But for the first series Francis and I had a ball vying with each other to be the meanest, most villainous Sludge. Playing the Baddie is always huge Fun.
Roland Rat had already enjoyed a period of presenting on TV. But at this time The BBC's puppet presenters were Gordon the Gopher and Ed the Duck.
Children's ITV decided to raise the bar by having a puppet that could talk, and present Live-Links between the afternoons programmes.
SCALLY. Children's ITV
I made the Scally puppet, and at first we had an arrangement where two of us would share his on screen duties. John Ecclestone and myself bought him to screen doing a voice we could both do convincingly so that children wouldn't realise Scally was being performed by different people on different weeks.
Well that was the plan
Most days Scally was onscreen with a human cohort : Mark, Jerry, Clive or Jeanne.
But he was quite capable of holding his own onscreen and presenting the afternoon Links by himself. Which he did occaissionally to give the others days off.
It was a nice arrangement.
Gradually my other work took me away from Scally more than Johns did, so he was doing the live links far more frequently than I was.
And sure enough, the more he did, the more the voice drifted away into an area I could not follow.
So I chose to step away and leave John to it . It was nice to co-create a new character.
But sometimes events mean you you have to step away from a relationship that with hindsight, was worth a bit of work to make right.
The lovely Jeanne Downs, always a joy to work with.
Nice to meet her again at the Reunion of CITV turning 20.
BLACK MIRROR
The WALDO Moment
Fun to work on something with sinister undertones for a change.
WALDO was an onscreen puppet of the worst kind : A Political Puppet !
Dark political satire about what happens if voters turn from mainstream parties to vote for a cult celebrity.
This 'celeb' is an animated avatar. A very naughty blue creature called 'WALDO'.
Something of an irony.
I have more pictures of Daniel pretending to work my controls, than I do of me at work.
"No Cameras or Phones on set !"... has a lot to answer for.
Waldo only existed as pixels, meaning there was no puppet, we were animating an onscreen living, breathing, talking avatar .
We performed real time, with Waldo reacting to the other actors, always via screens.
This meant that actor Daniel Rigby had to pretend to operate our control system onscreen. Well, it was our system plus a lot of extra fake cables and gizmos to make it look more complex...
Daniel was encouraged to improvise a lot of his lines, and even with the scripted stuff, he never delivered a line with the same inflection or timing twice.
That would have defeated a lesser team, but we had the best.
Rob Tygner on the head and body movements, Phil Eason on arms and hands and me on Lip-Sync. And I had lip synced Gilbert the Alien in the past : so nothing throws me now.
And we were Cutting Edge.
But now, just over a decade later, you can grimace and talk at your iPhone and record a lip-syncing emoji instantly.
Back then it took three very skilled puppeteers.
But boy we were good !
DOCTOR
XARGLE
Another Children's show based on a popular series of books
I played the titular DOCTOR XARGLE and was also the Puppet Coordinator.
And on this one that was a huge task.
There were a lot of the 'Queegles' as it was meant to be a class-full with their Head Teacher.
We had a lot of puppets, but not a lot of puppeteers.
Or to be more specific : we had a lot of puppeteers but only for a limited number of days due to budget constraints.
So we had a 'core' team throughout (As) Then a slightly larger group for about half the shoot (Bs) Then for a few premium wide shots and the songs we had a few precious days with a full compliment of performers (Cs)
As puppet coordinator I had to go through the scripts with the director and work out which scenes could be done with only (As) which needed (Bs) and how to ration out, and get the most from our limited (Cs) days.
Killer Suduko is easier !
All filmed in a converted factory complex on the outskirts of London.
It was perfect : high ceilings that let us build raised sets. Nice scenery too.
This along with a great cast of puppeteers and a skilled Director and an ex-forces 1st AD made this one a pleasure to work on.
WHAT'S YOUR NEWS ?
Puppeteers ROB TYGNER and WILLIAM -TODD-JONES had dreamed for years of harnessing our regularly used Hand Control Systems to animate a full TV Series.
After endless gruelling development, test footage and Pilots -
"WHAT'S YOUR NEWS?" was the fruit of their labours. Thanks Guys!
This series actually won the Audio Visual Division 2009 Japan Prize in the Pre school category.
No wonder, It was hugely ground breaking, the onscreen characters were not key frame animated like Disney or Pixar movies etc. They were actually live-time pupeteered using the hand controls usually used on amimatronic puppets.
In a nutshell, that basically means, we produced hours and hours of content in only a few months.
Work that would have taken several years to animate by any other existing conventional methods.
We had met before, but this was my first time of working with the lovely LYNN ROBERTSON BRUCE, who was the pink bird Flickaboo.
As well as inhabiting their own digital newsroom studio environment , all the characters were able to roam in the outside world alongside children.
Our bugs could interview kids in real time and elicit real reactions.
The effect was very charming.
Matt Dentons 'Micromagic' performance system was used -again- to control all the facials on the digital puppets.
We were a small ensemble group of puppeteers.
Some were in the motion capture suits creating the physical movements of the characters.
Others were on the Hand Controls performing the lip-sync and facial movements.
Some voices were done by the puppeteers in the Suits, and some by those on the Controls.
It was truly a group effort to bring the characters alive.
At the time this was cutting edge technology.
Our ability to give an animated character, instantaneous live lip synced performances was ground breaking.
For this brief period 'Puppeteers' had the upper hand in terms of time and turnaround, and sheer volume of footage achievable in a day.
Now, thanks to technical advances and A.I. we are no longer needed - not at all !
Hero to Zero
This TV project has a lot of similarities with a NIKE project for the 2014 World Cup -
they were both spearheaded by Rob Tygner for a start.
But it's worth looking at them in tandem as they share performance practices.
Jim Henson's
THE STORYTELLER
The SOLDIER and DEATH
Shot at the old LEE STUDIOS in Wembley this was a sumptuous, star studded bit of fantasy escapism for the whole family.
Shot on film, it was more like making a movie than a TV series.
John Hurt as the Storyteller told a different folk or fairy tale every episode.
There were Henson Creature Shop characters in every episode.
Often just one or two creatures.
The tale I was in had the biggest concentration of puppets of any of the episodes. Loads and loads of DEVILS.
The biggest joy of this job was that it was one of the episodes Jim actually directed himself.
Probably because of the sheer number of puppets on screen.
There were four fully cabled foreground 'hero' devils, plus a whole host of background devils : simpler puppets with no mechanisms.
Ever patient, ever cheerful, Jim skilfully steered us all through a wonderful shoot.
It took four puppeteers to perform a 'hero' Devil if it was fully in shot.
I was lucky : I was the key puppeteer on the lead devil.
That meant I worked not only the facials and lipsync, but also provided the voice while filming.
All the creatures were dubbed in post production.
But they used an actor who replicated my vocals so closely that it's uncanny.
I know I was young.
I just don't remember ever being so skinny.
And I'm so glad I broke the 'No Photos" rule.
Otherwise there's never any proof of having done the job.
Or of being young and thin,(and dare I say it quite handsome !)
BOB PECK played the 'Soldier' in the title. Some actors are not comfortable working with puppets - Bob was excellent. He treated them just like he would any other actor.
While I was a sixth form student at Stratford upon Avon, I devoured as many productions at the RSC as possible - usually standing at the back for £2.
I never could have dreamed as I marvelled at Bob Peck's 'Iago' in 'Othello', that only a few years later I would be playing scenes and doing dialogue with him.
Lovely man . A sadly missed talent.
ROUND THE BEND
Nigel (Hartley Hare) Plaskit and I worked together not only on this show, but also many seasons of Spitting Image.
Years later we would work on Sofficini Findus all round the World.
A wacky magazine show for children.
Puppets from the Spitting Image Workshop : although as was so often the case, that really meant built by the very talented Scott Brooker.
We were all Spitting Image puppeteers on this show.
Left to Right : Simon Buckley, Anthony Asbury, yours truly, Kevin Bradshaw and Nigel Plaskit. It was great to have a show to film in between Spitts.
It was also another chance to work with director John Henderson.
The man who always made filming puppets so effortlessly easy and fun.
THE WINJIN' POM
It looked fantastic on screen ... The puppets and sets were amazing.
Just what you'd expect from Spitting Image.
But the storyline and the writing were a hot-mess.
Almost impossible to follow the plot.
All style and no substance. A real shame. It could have been so good.
Are you playing puppeteers "Where's Wally?" Here is a sneaky small one.
That is because Francis and I were not appearing as a 'double-act' in this one .
We were both part of a proper 'Ensemble cast'
My puppet was SYDNEY.
She was a Cassowary ...she was very insistent about that : She was not an Ostrich thank you very much!
Australian birds can be touchy about such things...
Sydney was voiced by one of the talents behind the awesome revue group Fascinating Aida, the very lovely and talented ADELE ANDERSON.
While filming Neverending Story in Vancouver, Phil Eason and I met the guy who was the voice of the "He-Man" cartoons. He was just in our Hotel Bar one night.
He couldn't believe the coincidence when we told him what out jobs were.
Apparently his Production Company had really wanted to buy and re-voice this show for America.
However, he said the unfollowable plot just made it a total 'No-No'.
They even thought about trying to re-write the story as well as re-dubbing it.
But just gave up.
A good lesson there - Story first ...and second ...and third !!
THE GHOST of
FAFFNA
HALL
Filmed up in the vibrant Northern powerhouse that is Newcastle Upon Tyne, this was Hensons Music Education themed extravaganza.
Jim Henson himself co-directed the pilot episode alongside Muppet Show (and Spitting Image) director Peter Harris.
Once the series was up and running, local Tyne Tees director Tony Kysh took over the helm.
The show was basically a vehicle for the singing talents of Louise Gold who had the titular role Fughetta Faffna.
SOME OF MY "GUEST"
CHARACTERS
I was full-time cast member, although you'd never guess looking on Wikipedia - don't get me started...
But I had the poison chalice of playing all the guest characters.
That means you don't get a named lead role, but you do get a new puppet - and a new voice- to do every episode.
Some one who understood perfectly what a mixed blessing all that presented was the incomparable RICHARD HUNT. He played Faffna Halls 'Grand Impressario'
Richard told me that what I was doing on the series, was basically what he did on the Muppet Show - getting to play around with all the fun characters on the periphery.
I think he was being modest, he was Scooter, Janice and Waldorf after all.
But he was right.
Those guest characters were where the challenges and the real fun was.
PANIC STATION
Science based, informative but always silly and fun.
And a nice mix of 'real' puppet characters (not side-kicks) alongside human actors.
A totally inept government Minster for science - and things- who's office sat above a hidden secret science lab in a disused and abandoned Tube Station.
The other two puppeteers on the show were Kevin Bradshaw who I worked with on Spitting Image. And Francis Wright (who's job I'd inherited on Spitts when he left)
Francis Wright played the work shy and crafty Ferret from the start of the show.
After the second season another character was added. Lady Euphemia Blister - domineering mother of my character.
Francis performed her also, with great gusto and aplomb.
Puppets were not made by Spitting Image, but were of a similar size and construction.
THE TALE of the BUNNY PICNIC
It was a lucky day when Spitts chose me to go on Saturday mornings 'No 73' in Maidstone to demonstrate how Spitting Image puppets worked.
The Puppet was Frank Bruno, I puppeteered, and a very young Harry Enfielfd was doing Franks voice impression.
One of No73s producers was planning a puppet based science show, and without knowing it, that Frank Bruno appearance was my audition, and in the fullness of time I became the pompous buffoon PIERS BLISTER.
This one really should be on our TV screens every Easter.
It's a well told tale, lovely characters, looks amazing and has some nice original songs. Come on BBC - Lets see it again !
A joyful, bouncing Easter romp for the whole family.
As well as performing the lanky Dog, Jim Henson directed this wonderful hour long special himself. For puppets there is literally no safer pair of hands.
It was shot at the Elstree TV studios (opposite the Film Studios), where Eastenders is shot now.
But also where the original 1970s Muppet Show weas made.
So we filmed this on hallowed 'Muppet' ground.
I'm in the back there somewhere.
Easy to spot are Nigel Plaskitt and fellow Punch and Judy man Geoff Felix.
Some characters endure simply because they have a certain extra 'something'.
BEAN was the only puppet from this Easter special to go on to have a life beyond the show.
The extra something Bean had, was being performed by STEVE WHITMIRE.
Steve gave Bean such lovable warmth. It was joy to see him work firsthand.
The NETFLIX Series
THE DARK CRYSTAL
THAT IS THE END OF THE TELEVISION SHOWS
