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Tim Whitnall

English actor, playwright and screenwriter

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Timothy Charles Whitnall is an English actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is known for playing Angelo in the long-running CITV series Mike and Angelo and narrating the BBC Children's Television programme Teletubbies from 1997 to 2001. As a writer, he has won a BAFTA and an Olivier Award for his work on television movie Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story and play Morecambe. He is also a voice actor, providing voices on characters from television shows such as Fifi & the Flowertots, Roary the Racing Car, and Thomas & Friends.

01Career

Whitnall began his career in West End musical Elvis in 1977 after winning the role in an open call audition. He has starred in many West End musicals including Grease, The Rocky Horror Show, and Good Rockin' Tonight.

After making TV appearances for the musicals he was involved in, he began a career in television - presenting (and writing for) the BBC Schools series, "The Music Arcade" (with Lucie Skeaping), "Music Time", "Time and Tune", "Music Workshop", and "Let's Sing". He also began making appearances as an actor, playing Jake in ITV children's drama The All Electric Amusement Arcade and Paul in Play for Today episode Not for the Likes of Us.

Whitnall is also known for providing many voice-overs and vocals for TV commercials, animations, and jingles. From the late 1980s to the channel's demise in 2000, he was an announcer on The Children's Channel, also providing the voice to the station's early 1990s mascot Link Anchorman. He was also the voice for Woolworths mascot Keith the Alien in 1998.

In 1990, he succeeded Tyler Butterworth in the role of alien Angelo in Children's sci-fi sitcom Mike and Angelo. He portrayed the character for 10 series, until the show's end in 2000.

Whitnall's theatre play The Sociable Plover, first performed at Old Red Lion Theatre in 2005, was made into a feature film by Poisson Rouge Pictures and Solution Films (re-titled as The Hide) and received its UK première on Film4 in February 2009. Following its screen release at the ICA Cinema, London, the film was released on DVD in January 2010. For this work, Whitnall was nominated for Best First Feature Length Screenplay category in the 2010 Writer's Guild of Great Britain Awards.

Whitnall's next play Morecambe, a tribute to the late comedian Eric Morecambe, won a Fringe First Award for 'innovation and excellence in new writing' at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The show opened at London's Duchess Theatre the following December and toured the United Kingdom through 2010. The piece was nominated in two separate categories in the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards and won the 'Best Entertainment' category.

In 2012, BBC Four screened Whitnall's 90-minute drama Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story, which examined and celebrated the life of Kenny Everett. It was directed by James Strong, produced by Paul Frift and starred Oliver Lansley and Katherine Kelly. For it, Whitnall won the Breakthrough Talent Award in the 2013 BAFTA Television Craft Awards.

During 2014, Whitnall joined the cast of the CGI version of the British TV series Thomas & Friends, providing the voices of the characters Timothy, Reg, Mike, Jerome, Oliver the Excavator and the UK version of Max.

02Personal life

Whitnall lives in Richmond, London with his partner, Anna Murphy, with whom he has a production company, Feather Productions Ltd.

03Filmography

Actor

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1980Play for TodayPaulEpisode: "Not for the Likes of Us"
1982The Music ArcadePresenter
Sunny Side UpPresenter, various characters
1983The All Electric Amusement ArcadeJakeMain cast
1986C.A.T.S. EyesJackEpisode: "Freezeheat"
1989The BillRodgersEpisode: "Found Offending"
BergeracDesk ConstableEpisode: "A True Detective"
1989-2000Mike and AngeloAngeloMain cast
1993BackchatLink AnchormanVoice over
Link's Shorts
1994Link Looks Into Cartoons
1994KTVDr. Hunk, FredSegments: General Accident, Arthur Square
1997-2001TeletubbiesNarratorUK version
1998Tom and VickyTom, Dickie, Flash
2003-04MechaNickAll male characters
2005-10Fifi and the FlowertotsAunt Tulip, Stingo and HornettoUK
2006Underground ErnieHammersmith, Jubilee, Paris, and OsakaVoice over
2007The BeepsSleepy Beep
2007-10Roary the Racing CarPlugger/Lugga, Mr. Carburettor and Farmer GreenUK and US
2008Britain's Got The Pop FactorPerformer in Eye-patch
2008-09The Mr. Men ShowMr. Lazy and Mr. NervousUK version, Voice over
2010Muddle EarthNorbert BensonMain cast
2012-15Tree Fu TomZigzoo, Stink, Squirmtum, Chezz, and Rickety McGlumanMain cast, Voice over
2013Henry HugglemonsterVarious charactersVoice over
2014-21Thomas & FriendsMax (UK)Timothy, Reg, Mike, Jerome, Oliver the Excavator, and the Deputy MinisterRecurring voice roles
2021DinoCityDadMain cast, Voice over

Stage

YearTitleRoleVenue
1977ElvisYoung ElvisLondon Astoria
1979GreaseDoody
1981GodspellJesusYoung Vic Theatre
Spring AwakeningMelchiorYoung Vic Studio, London
1983Yakety YakDannyUK Tour
1985The LambustersThe Bloomsbury Theatre, London
1988Be Bop a LulaEddie CochranThe Playhouse, Liverpool; UK tour
1991The Rocky Horror ShowRiff-RaffPicadilly Theatre, London
1992; 1993Good Rockin' ToniteEddie Cochran, Cliff RichardMetropolitan, London; Liverpool Empire, Liverpool
1996-1997Elvis (revival)Middle ElvisUK Tour
1998-1999Four Steps to HeavenElvis, Eddie Cochran
2005The Sociable PloverDaveOld Red Lion, Inner London
2025-2026Dick Whittington and His CatKing RatTheatre Severn, Shrewsbury

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1986Billy the Kid and the Green Baize VampireMember of Billy the Kid's entourage
1996Famous FredAdditional Vocals
1999Animal Farm
2000Teletubbies: Christmas in the SnowNarratorDirect-to-video
2005Renart the FoxRenart (English dub)
2008Like Other People DoRich ManShort
2010Rainbow Magic: Return to Rainspell IslandEdison, King Oberon, Snow Beast and Bitten
Devil's PlaygroundNews Anchor
2014Thomas & Friends: Tale of the BraveTimothy and RegVoice; Direct-to-video
2015Thomas & Friends: The Adventure BeginsJerome
Sodor's Legend of the Lost TreasureOliver the Excavator and MikeVoice
2016Thomas & Friends: The Great RaceTimothy and Mike
2018Thomas & Friends: Big World Big Adventures!Bill, Timothy and a Moai Head

Video games

YearTitleRole(s)Notes
1998Play with the TeletubbiesNarratorUK
2000The World Is Not EnoughCharles Robinson

Screenwriter

Film

YearTitleNotes
2008The HideBased on his play "The Sociable Plover"
2018Mr SunshineShort, Based on his play "Morecambe"

Television

YearTitleNotes
1985-86And There's More
2010Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett StoryTV movie
2013Agatha Christie's MarpleEpisode: "Greenshaw's Folly"
2021The Mallorca FilesEpisode: "The Blue Feather"

Stage

YearTitleVenue
1999Harry's WebTheatre Royal, Windsor
2005, 2010The Sociable PloverOld Red Lion, Inner London; UK Tour
2006The FabulistOld Red Lion, Inner London
2008, 2014MorecambeAssembly Rooms, Edinburgh; UK Tour
2018Once Seen on Blue PeterChiswick Playhouse, London; Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh
2022, 2023LenaThe Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock; Assembly George Square (Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre), Edinburgh
2023Notes from a Small IslandThe Watermill Theatre, Newbury

Discography

04Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryResult
2009"The Scotsman" Fringe First AwardInnovation and outstanding new writingMorecambeWon
2010Laurence Olivier AwardsBest EntertainmentWon
Writers' Guild of Great Britain AwardBest First Feature-Length Film ScreenplayThe HideNominated
2013British Academy Television Craft AwardBreakthrough TalentBest Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett StoryWon
2013Broadcasting Press Guild AwardBest Single Drama
Shared with Paul Frift and James Strong
Nominated
Watch videos about Tim WhitnallExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Tim Whitnall, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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