Francis Wright is a British actor, puppeteer, and writer.

Biography

Wright was educated at St Paul's School, and studied drama at the Arts Educational Schools, where he graduated with honours. From 1976–1980, he specialised in puppetry

Puppetry

Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects...

 working with the Playboard Puppets (of Button Moon and The Spooks of Bottle Bay

The Spooks of Bottle Bay

The Spooks of Bottle Bay was a children's drama series shown on CiTV between the years of 1993 and 1995 on CITV. The stories behind the show were created by Ian Allen, and the puppets and sets were designed by John Thirtle...

 fame), touring schools and theatres, playing a wide variety of characters.

Film & Television Credits

Wright worked on a number of films and television programmes, beginning with ITC Entertainment's The Munch Bunch. He then became one of the two leading characters in a long-running series for BBC Schools

BBC Schools

BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based on BBC One during the daytime, before programming was...

 called You and Me

You and Me (TV series)

You and Me is a BBC television programme for pre-school children broadcast in the 1970s to 1990s. The programmes consisted of various segments intended to educate and entertain young children and included elements for early literacy and numeracy....

. His character’s name was Dibs — (the yellow one). He played that role for eleven years, until the series ended in 1992.

During that time, Francis worked on his first feature film, Dragonslayer

Dragonslayer

Dragonslayer is a 1981 fantasy movie set in a fictional medieval kingdom, following a young wizard who experiences danger and opposition as he attempts to defeat a dragon....

, (starring Peter MacNicol

Peter MacNicol

Peter MacNicol is an American actor. He may be best known in films for his roles of Janosz Poha in Ghostbusters II, Stingo in Sophie's Choice, Thomas Renfield in Dracula: Dead and Loving It and David Langley in Bean...

 and Ralph Richardson

Ralph Richardson

Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....

) in which his character, a vicious baby dragon, was decapitated by the hero.

His other credits include: the satirical puppet show Spitting Image

Spitting Image

Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....

; the Psammead in Five Children and It

Five Children and It

Five Children and It is a children's novel by English author Edith Nesbit, first published in 1902; it was expanded from a series of stories published in the Strand Magazine in 1900 under the general title The Psammead, or the Gifts. It is the first of a trilogy...

and The Return of the Psammead; the Phoenix

Phoenix (mythology)

The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....

 in The Phoenix & The Carpet; Labyrinth

Labyrinth (film)

Labyrinth is a 1986 British/American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, produced by George Lucas, and designed by Brian Froud. Henson collaborated on the screenwriting with children's author Dennis Lee, Terry Jones from Monty Python, and Elaine May .The film stars David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin...

; and the March Hare

March Hare

Haigha, the March Hare is a character most famous for appearing in the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The main character, Alice, hypothesises,...

 in the Hallmark Entertainment version of Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland (1999 film)

Alice in Wonderland is a television film first broadcast in 1999 on NBC and then shown on British television on Channel 4. It is based upon Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass....

.

He was featured as The Head in ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

'S Art Attack

Art Attack

Art Attack is a British children's television series revolving around art. The original series was one of ITV's longest running programmes, running from 1990 to 2007, and was presented throughout by Neil Buchanan. The brand new series launched on Disney Junior on June 6 2011 and is presented by...

and Art Attack International, played a bat in Grotbags

Grotbags

Grotbags is the name of a fictional witch who was a popular fixture on British children's television during the 1980s and early 1990s. A character sculpted very much in the mould of the traditional pantomime villain, Grotbags has always been played by actress and singer Carol Lee Scott in a...

, and also co-wrote (with director Peter Eyre

Peter Eyre

Peter Eyre is an American actor.Eyre was born in New York City, New York, the son of Dorothy Pelline and Edward Joseph Eyre, a banker. He was sent to a public school in England at the age of twelve, and has been based in the country ever since. Although offered a place at the Royal Academy of...

) and performed in three series of the children's comedy Bug Alert

Bug Alert

Bug Alert is a British Children's television series, first shown on GMTV in 1996. It featured the antics of a range of bug-like characters who lived in the kitchen of an unnamed house...

for Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 and ITV. He inherited the role of Sweep

Sweep

-Cleaning :* Chimney sweep* Street sweeper* Swept quartz, a cleaning of quartz crystal from alkali metal ions-Sports: * Sweep * Sweep , winning a five game series 3 games to none, or winning a seven game series 4 games to none; typically fans bring brooms to ballparks or ball courts in the final...

 in series 50 and 51 of the classic ITV children’s show Sooty

Sooty

Sooty is a British glove puppet bear and TV character popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. The children's television show which bears his name has continued in various forms since the 1950s and, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the...

.

Other series include Mortimer and Arabel (the first drama series performed entirely with puppets, created by author Joan Aiken

Joan Aiken

Joan Delano Aiken MBE was an English novelist. She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, American poet Conrad Aiken , her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge and her brother John Aiken Joan Delano Aiken MBE (4 September 1924 – 4 January 2004) was an English novelist....

), Jay's World, Gophers!

Gophers!

Gophers! was a Channel 4 children's programme about a family of American gophers who move into a new neighbourhood, called Sycamore Heights, living next door to a family of uptight but well-intentioned rabbits, The Burrows....

, The Spooks of Bottle Bay

The Spooks of Bottle Bay

The Spooks of Bottle Bay was a children's drama series shown on CiTV between the years of 1993 and 1995 on CITV. The stories behind the show were created by Ian Allen, and the puppets and sets were designed by John Thirtle...

and many others.

Other works

Wright also teaches personal presentation and communication skills. He took part in the reality shows American Princess and Australian Princess

Australian Princess

Australian Princess is an Australian reality television show that first premiered on Network Ten on 5 October 2005. It is produced by Granada Productions, who are responsible for other programs such as Dancing with the Stars, Australia's Next Top Model and Merrick and Rosso Unplanned.The show is...

, featuring as an elocution teacher, and also featured on The Generation Game

The Generation Game

The Generation Game was a British gameshow produced by the BBC in which four teams of two competed to win prizes...

and taught Paul O'Grady

Paul O'Grady

Paul James Michael O'Grady MBE is an English comedian, television presenter, actor, writer and radio DJ. He is best known for presenting the daytime chat television series, The Paul O'Grady Show and, more recently, Paul O'Grady Live, as well as his drag queen comedic alter ego, Lily Savage, as...

 to "speak proper". Recent projects include voice-over

Voice-over

Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...

 work for advertising, and narrating two 10-part series: B & B The Best (for BBC TV) and Kitchen Showdown with Rosemary Shrager (for ITV). In September, 2010, he played Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...

 in the 75th anniversary production of Murder in the Cathedral

Murder in the Cathedral

Murder in the Cathedral is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot that portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, first performed in 1935...

by T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

.