Richard Coombs is a British puppeteer who has worked extensively on television shows, feature films, commercials, and music videos. From 1987 to 1988, he worked on the ITV Saturday morning children's show, Get Fresh , where he operated the puppet Gilbert the Alien, alongside fellow puppeteer John Eccleston, with the character's voice performed by Phil Cornwell.
Coombs was one of the three puppeteers (again alongside Eccleston as well as Michael J. Bassett), who each alternately controlled and voiced the puppet character, Scally the Dog, who co-presented Children's ITV, from 1989–1991.
From 1990-1992 he performed the character of Ringo the Rabbit on A Kind of Magic, an ITV programme starring British magician Wayne Dobson. [1]
In January 2003, he returned as Scally on the CITV's 20th Birthday Bash programme, alongside fellow presenter, Jeanne Downs. He is a Punch and Judy performer and has worked on several Jim Henson Muppet projects. He was one of the puppeteers on the ITV satirical show, Spitting Image , and worked on the 2005 film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .
Philip R. J. Pope is a British composer and actor.
Steve Nallon is a British actor, writer, voice artist and impressionist. Nallon began his career as a stand-up performer on the northern club circuit in the 1970s. He is known for his work as a voice artist on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image and for impersonating Margaret Thatcher on television throughout her time as Prime Minister of the UK (1979–1990). In his career Steve Nallon has performed a number of roles and characters as an actor and as a voice artist in theatre, film, television and radio.
Spitting Image is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV network. The series was nominated and won numerous awards, including ten BAFTA Television Awards, and two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series features puppet caricatures of contemporary celebrities and public figures, including British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major and the British royal family. The series was the first to caricature Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
Roger Law is a British caricaturist, ceramicist and one half of Luck and Flaw, creators of the popular satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image.
Louise Gold is an English puppeteer, actress and singer. Her long career has included puppetry on television and roles in musical theatre in the West End, as well as other television, film and voice roles.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which aired between 5 January and 9 February 1981 on BBC2 in the United Kingdom. The adaptation follows the original radio series in 1978 and 1980, the first novel and double LP, in 1979, and the stage shows, in 1979 and 1980, making it the fifth iteration of the guide.
Digital puppetry is the manipulation and performance of digitally animated 2D or 3D figures and objects in a virtual environment that are rendered in real-time by computers. It is most commonly used in filmmaking and television production but has also been used in interactive theme park attractions and live theatre.
William Todd-Jones is a Welsh puppeteer, puppet designer, performer, director, movement consultant and writer for film, television and theatre in the UK and abroad.
Wolf It is a British television series produced by Scottish Television and broadcast on CITV for 4 series between 1993 and 1996. The show is a spin off from the Saturday morning television series What's Up Doc? and features Bro and Bro, two English wolves who featured regularly in the aforementioned show. The programme was filmed in and around the Maidstone television studios, where it was also set, with Bro & Bro having set up home in a film vault.
Don Austen is an English puppeteer. Austen joined the Jim Henson Creature Shop in 1986 for the movie Labyrinth. He was a puppeteer for other blockbuster movies including Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), The Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Bear (L'ours) (1988), The Witches (1990), and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999).
John Eccleston is an English puppeteer, writer and presenter known for his work as lead puppeteer of Rygel on Farscape, Groove on The Hoobs, and his many roles on British children's television alongside Don Austen. He was also behind the character Gilbert the Alien on Get Fresh. He also performed Worth the Dog in the Woolworths adverts, Mervin J Minky on MTV's Fur TV and Rattus Rattus on the CBBC Horrible Histories series and Gory Games.
You and Me is a British educational television programme as part of the BBC Schools strand from 14 January 1974 to 26 March 1992. The programmes consisted of various segments intended to educate and entertain young children and included elements for early literacy and numeracy. It is aimed at children aged between 3 and 5.
Nigel Plaskitt is an English actor, puppeteer, producer, and stage and television director.
Jess Robinson is an English comedy actress, singer, impressionist, voice artist and comedian.
Scally the Dog was a puppet mongrel dog character, who co-presented the Children's ITV afternoon service from January 1989 – March 1991 in the United Kingdom.
Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in The Sooty Show in 1955. The main character, Sooty, is a mute yellow bear with black ears and nose, who is kind-hearted but also cheeky. Sooty performs magic tricks and practical jokes, and squirts his handler and other people with his water pistol. The franchise itself also includes several other puppet characters who were created for television, as well as an animated series, two spin-off series for the direct-to-video market, and a selection of toy merchandising.
Andy Heath is a British puppeteer. He is most noted for working as the head puppeteer for the BBC Three situation comedy Mongrels, where he controls the main character, Nelson the metrosexual fox. He also puppeteered Hacker T. Dog in CBBC's Scoop, who is currently performed by Phil Fletcher. He has also worked on television show Fur TV and on the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005).
Scott Brooker is a British puppeteer, puppet maker, puppet designer.
Mak Wilson is a now retired English puppeteer, writer, CG animation director, and mocap artist. He is also known as Mac Wilson and Malcolm Wilson.
Anthony Asbury is an American actor and puppeteer. He has been working as a puppeteer for over three decades.