John Eccleston
Encyclopedia
John Eccleston is a puppeteer
, writer and presenter known for his work as lead puppeteer of Rygel in Farscape
, Groove in The Hoobs
and his many roles on British
children's television
alongside Don Austen
. He was also behind the ITV character Gilbert the Alien, who was voiced by Phil Cornwell
, He also performed Worth the Dog in the Woolworths adverts (again opposite Don Austen as Wooly The Sheep), Mervin J Minky on MTV's FURtv and Rattus Rattus on the CBBC Horrible Histories series.
His 'in vision' television career started as one of the original presenters of the UK version of the Mickey Mouse Club, Disney Club
, the success of which led to him presenting Run the Risk
, The Big Dish, children's magazine show Brill, and Get The Picture for Nickelodeon. It took seven years for him to realise he didn't like being pointed at in the street and he has remained off screen ever since. He worked alongside Don Austen on the Saturday morning children's show What's Up Doc?
He and Don provided the voices and operated the puppet wolves Bro & Bro. Their writing skill on this show garnered a spin-off ITV show called Wolf It! What's Up Doc?
. John was approached to provide new characters for the BBC flagship series LIVE & KICKING once again teaming up with Don Austen and Darryl Worbey to create THE LEPRECHAUNS - Mr Sage and Mr Onion. The characters appeared across six years - outliving three sets of presenters. John, Don and Darryl teamed up yet again to create Scratch and Sniff (with John playing Sniff) on Ministry of Mayhem (later reworked as Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown) and the Hyenas recorded 15 episodes of the gameshow Scratch 'n' Sniff's Den Of Doom for Granada Kids. John appeared in the award winning short film The Box, directed by Michael J. Bassett and also starring Paul Hendy, Richard Orford and Laurence Akers.
He also is the puppetor for Rattus on the CBBC
program, Horrible Histories
.
Puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, such as a puppet, in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or...
, writer and presenter known for his work as lead puppeteer of Rygel in Farscape
Farscape
Farscape is an Australian-American science fiction television series filmed in Australia and produced originally for the Nine Network. The series was conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment...
, Groove in The Hoobs
The Hoobs
The Hoobs is a BAFTA-winning children's television programme created and produced by The Jim Henson Company. It stars five creatures called Hoobs from the fictional Hoobland, and their interactions with Earth and the human race...
and his many roles on British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
children's television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
alongside Don Austen
Don Austen
British puppeteer Don 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 , The Little Shop of Horrors , Who Framed Roger Rabbit , The Bear , The Witches , and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom...
. He was also behind the ITV character Gilbert the Alien, who was voiced by Phil Cornwell
Phil Cornwell
Phil Cornwell is an English comedian, actor, impressionist and writer. He is probably best known as being part of the Dead Ringers television and radio series...
, He also performed Worth the Dog in the Woolworths adverts (again opposite Don Austen as Wooly The Sheep), Mervin J Minky on MTV's FURtv and Rattus Rattus on the CBBC Horrible Histories series.
His 'in vision' television career started as one of the original presenters of the UK version of the Mickey Mouse Club, Disney Club
Disney Club
Disney Club is the name of many television shows associated to Disney productions aired mostly in Europe and Brazil during the 1990s and early 2000s.- Americas :* Brazil : aired from April 28, 1997 to December 28, 2002 on SBT...
, the success of which led to him presenting Run the Risk
Run the Risk
Run the Risk was a BBC1 children's show, which aired from the latter half of 1992 until the beginning of 1998. It was aired on Saturday mornings during Going Live, and later Live & Kicking, and was later repeated as its own individual show. It was presented by Peter Simon for the entire run...
, The Big Dish, children's magazine show Brill, and Get The Picture for Nickelodeon. It took seven years for him to realise he didn't like being pointed at in the street and he has remained off screen ever since. He worked alongside Don Austen on the Saturday morning children's show What's Up Doc?
What's Up Doc? (TV series)
What's Up Doc? was a Saturday Morning children's variety series produced Scottish Television and aired on ITV from 1992 to 1995 and hosted by Andy Crane, Yvette Fielding and Pat Sharp...
He and Don provided the voices and operated the puppet wolves Bro & Bro. Their writing skill on this show garnered a spin-off ITV show called Wolf It! What's Up Doc?
What's Up Doc? (TV series)
What's Up Doc? was a Saturday Morning children's variety series produced Scottish Television and aired on ITV from 1992 to 1995 and hosted by Andy Crane, Yvette Fielding and Pat Sharp...
. John was approached to provide new characters for the BBC flagship series LIVE & KICKING once again teaming up with Don Austen and Darryl Worbey to create THE LEPRECHAUNS - Mr Sage and Mr Onion. The characters appeared across six years - outliving three sets of presenters. John, Don and Darryl teamed up yet again to create Scratch and Sniff (with John playing Sniff) on Ministry of Mayhem (later reworked as Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown) and the Hyenas recorded 15 episodes of the gameshow Scratch 'n' Sniff's Den Of Doom for Granada Kids. John appeared in the award winning short film The Box, directed by Michael J. Bassett and also starring Paul Hendy, Richard Orford and Laurence Akers.
He also is the puppetor for Rattus on the CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
program, Horrible Histories
Horrible Histories
Horrible Histories is a series of illustrated history books published in the United Kingdom by Scholastic. They are designed to engage children in history by concentrating on the unusual, gory, or unpleasant. The series has proved exceptionally successful in commercial terms...
.