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Bernard Cribbins

Bernard Cribbins

Overview
Bernard Cribbins, OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 29 December 1928) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

, 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...

 artist and musical comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

 with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2010 is still an active performer.
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Encyclopedia
Bernard Cribbins, OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 29 December 1928) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

, 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...

 artist and musical comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

 with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2010 is still an active performer.

He is particularly known to British audiences as the story-telling voice in The Wombles
The Wombles
The Wombles are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures that live in burrows, where they help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in useful and ingenious ways. Wombles were created by author Elisabeth Beresford, originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968...

, a children's programme running which ran for 40 episodes between 1973 and 1975. He also recorded several hit novelty records in the early 1960s and was a regular and prolific performer on Jackanory
Jackanory
Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, the first story being the fairy-tale Cap o' Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 24 March 1996,...

 on BBC TV between 1966 and 1991. Cribbins' most recent prominent role has been as Wilfred Mott
Wilfred Mott
Wilfred "Wilf" Mott is a recurring fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Bernard Cribbins. He is the maternal grandfather of the Tenth Doctor's companion Donna Noble, and father of character Sylvia Noble...

, companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...

 of the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...

 in Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

.

Early life


Born in Derker
Derker
Derker is an area of Oldham, a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in north-central Oldham, close to the boundary with Royton.Historically a part of Lancashire, Derker was recorded as a place of residence in 1604 with the name Dirtcar....

, Oldham
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...

, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, Cribbins served an apprenticeship at the Oldham Repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...

 Theatre, taking a break during his years of study to undertake National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...

 with the Parachute Regiment in his late teens.

Early stage and record career


Cribbins made his first West End theatre
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 appearance in 1956 at the Arts Theatre
Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It now operates as the West End's smallest commercial receiving house.-History:...

 playing the two Dromios in A Comedy of Errors and co-starred in the first West End productions of Not Now Darling, There Goes the Bride and Run for Your Wife. He also starred in the revue An' Another Thing, and recorded a single of a song from the show entitled "Folksong". In 1962 he recorded two highly popular and well-remembered comic songs, "Right Said Fred" (in which a group of workmen struggle to relocate what would seem to be a piano) and "Hole in the Ground" (in which an embittered workman murders a bowler-hatted harasser).

Films


Cribbins appeared in films from the early 1950s, mainly in comedies. His credits include Two Way Stretch (1960) and The Wrong Arm of the Law
The Wrong Arm of the Law
The Wrong Arm of the Law is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, Lionel Jeffries, John Le Mesurier and Bill Kerr...

 (1963) with Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

, Crooks in Cloisters
Crooks in Cloisters
Crooks in Cloisters is a British-made comedy released in 1964 and starring Ronald Fraser as 'Little Walter' , the boss of a gang of forgers, including Bernard Cribbins as 'Squirts' , Melvyn Hayes as 'Willy' , Grégoire Aslan as 'Lorenzo' , and Davy Kaye as 'Specs' .-Synopsis:After pulling off...

 (1964) and three Carry On films
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....

 - Carry On Jack
Carry On Jack
Carry on Jack is the eighth movie in the Carry On film series and was released in 1963. Most of the usual Carry On team are missing from this film: only Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey appear throughout. Bernard Cribbins makes the first of his three appearances in a Carry On...

 (1963), Carry On Spying
Carry On Spying
Carry On Spying is a 1964 film, the ninth movie in the Carry On film series. It marks Barbara Windsor's first appearance in the series. Series regulars Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Jim Dale are present. Bernard Cribbins makes the second of his three Carry On appearances...

 (1964) and Carry On Columbus
Carry On Columbus
Carry On Columbus is the 31st and last film in the Carry On series, following 1978's Carry On Emmannuelle. The only main series regulars present are Jim Dale , Bernard Cribbins , Leslie Phillips , Jon Pertwee and June Whitfield...

 (1992). Other appearances include the second Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

 film Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is the second of two films based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the sequel to Dr. Who and the Daleks , and starred Peter Cushing in his return to the role of the eccentric inventor and time traveller "Dr. Who". It also...

 (1966), Mr Albert Perks, the station porter, in The Railway Children
The Railway Children (film)
The Railway Children is a 1970 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit. The film was directed by Lionel Jeffries, and stars Dinah Sheridan, Jenny Agutter , Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins in leading roles...

 (1970) and Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

's disturbing thriller Frenzy
Frenzy
Frenzy is a 1972 British thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and is the penultimate feature film of his extensive career. The film is based upon the novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern, and was adapted for the screen by Anthony Shaffer. La Bern...

 (1972). Later films include Dangerous Davies - The Last Detective
Dangerous Davies
Detective Constable "Dangerous" Davies is the central character in a series of comic novels by Leslie Thomas and a TV series, The Last Detective made for ITV. The first novel in the series was also made into a film for television in 1981.- Profile :...

 (1981) and Blackball
Blackball (film)
Blackball is a 2003 British comedy sports film, borrowed from the Australian film, Crackerjack about Cliff Starkey , a fictional rebellious young bowls player. His dream is to play for his country, but always preferred to play by his own rules, much to the disapproval of the local bowls club...

 (2003).

Narration and voice work


He was the narrator of the British animated children's television series The Wombles
The Wombles
The Wombles are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures that live in burrows, where they help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in useful and ingenious ways. Wombles were created by author Elisabeth Beresford, originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968...

 from 1973 to 1975 and also narrated a celebrated BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 radio adaptation of The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...

. He was the celebrity storyteller in more episodes of Jackanory
Jackanory
Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, the first story being the fairy-tale Cap o' Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 24 March 1996,...

 than any other personality, with a total of 114 appearances between 1966 and 1991.

He provided the voice of the Tufty character in RoSPA
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is a British charity which aims to promote safety. It is particularly known for its vocal campaigns on issues of road safety, including Tufty the road crossing squirrel, the Cycling Proficiency Test and the Green Cross Code, as well as on issues of...

 road safety films in the 1960s. He also provided the voice of Buzby
Buzby
Buzby was a yellow talking cartoon bird, launched in 1976 as a marketing campaign by the then Post Office Telecommunications, which later became British Telecommunications . Buzby appeared in a series of television commercials with the catchphrase: "Make someone happy with a phone call"...

, a talking cartoon bird that served as the mascot for the then Post Office, He also appeared reduced to OO gauge
OO gauge
OO gauge or OO scale model railways are the most popular standard-gauge model railway tracks in the U.K. This track gauge is one of several 4mm-scale standards used, but it is the only one to be served by the major manufacturers...

 in adverts for Hornby
Hornby Railways
Hornby Railways is the leading brand of model railway in the United Kingdom. Its roots date back to 1901, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was produced in 1920. In 1938, Hornby launched its first 00 gauge train...

 model trains.

Television


Other television appearances have included The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...

 (1968), Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...

 (1975), as the spoon salesman Mr. Hutchinson (mistaken by Basil Fawlty
Basil Fawlty
Basil Fawlty is the main character of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers, played by John Cleese. The character is often thought of as an iconic British comedy character, and has been deemed unforgettable despite only a dozen half-hour episodes ever being made....

 for a hotel inspector
The Hotel Inspectors
"The Hotel Inspectors" is the fourth episode of the BBC sitcom, Fawlty Towers.-Synopsis:When Basil hears of hotel inspectors roaming Torquay incognito, he realises with horror that the guest he has been verbally abusing could easily be one of them....

), Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow...

 (1980), Shillingbury Tales
Shillingbury Tales
Shillingbury Tales was a British television sitcom comedy-drama series made by ATV for ITV and broadcast 1980-81.Comprising a single feature length pilot and six one-hour episodes, the series deals with life in an idealised fictional English village and stars Robin Nedwell, Diane Keen, Nigel...

 (1980) and its spin-off Cuffy
Cuffy (TV series)
Cuffy was a British sitcom from 1983. It spawned off from the 1980-81 ATV comedy-drama Shillingbury Tales, and both series were created by Francis Essex...

 (1983). Later television appearances have included Dalziel and Pascoe
Dalziel and Pascoe
Dalziel and Pascoe consist of Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel and Detective Sergeant Peter Pascoe....

 (1999), Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...

 (2003), the role of Wally Bannister in Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

 (2003) and Down to Earth
Down to Earth (TV series)
Down to Earth was an American fantasy situation comedy series that ran on Superstation TBS from 1984 to 1987. It was produced by Procter & Gamble Productions and was the superstation's first original series.-Premise:...

 (2005).

Later stage career


Later theatre credits include playing Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...

 at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

, Moonface Martin in Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London...

 with Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...

 at the Prince Edward Theatre
Prince Edward Theatre
The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster.The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet...

, Dolittle in My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...

 at the Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

 Opera House, USA, and Watty Watkins in Gershwin's Lady, Be Good at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and on tour. He has also appeared in numerous pantomimes.

Recent career


Cribbins returned to the world of Doctor Who in 2006 when a photograph of him at a wedding was used in the BBC's tie-in website for "Tooth and Claw
Tooth and Claw (Doctor Who)
"Tooth and Claw" is the second episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and was first broadcast on 22 April 2006. In 1879 Scotland, the Doctor and Rose meet Queen Victoria...

". In January 2007, he guest starred as glam rock promoter Arnold Korns in the Doctor Who radio play Horror of Glam Rock
Horror of Glam Rock
Horror of Glam Rock is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions and was broadcast on BBC 7 on 14 January 2007.-Plot:...

 for BBC Radio 7. In December he appeared as Wilfred Mott
Wilfred Mott
Wilfred "Wilf" Mott is a recurring fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Bernard Cribbins. He is the maternal grandfather of the Tenth Doctor's companion Donna Noble, and father of character Sylvia Noble...

 in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

 Christmas television special, "Voyage of the Damned
Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who)
"Voyage of the Damned" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast on 25 December 2007, it is 72 minutes long and the third Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005...

"; he then reappeared as the same character throughout the 2008 series
Doctor Who (series 4)
The fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 25 December 2007 with the Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes aired, starting with "Partners in Crime" on 5 April 2008 and ending with "Journey's End"...

, as the grandfather of companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...

 Donna Noble
Donna Noble
Donna Noble is a fictional character played by Catherine Tate in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A secretary from Chiswick, London, she is a companion of the Tenth Doctor, appearing in one scene at the end of the final episode of the 2006 series,...

 He attained 'companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...

' status himself in "The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...

", the two-part Christmas 2009 special that saw the end of David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...

 in the role of the Doctor. This role makes him unique as he is the only actor to have faced the daleks in both television and cinema versions.

Honours


Cribbins was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
2011 Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced on 7 June 2011 in New Zealand and 11 June 2011 in United Kingdom to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2011.-Privy Councillors:...

 for services to drama. A large number of people complained about this, stating he should have received the higher honour of a Knighthood
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...

. There are also a large amount of campaigns on social networking website, Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

, supporting the complaints.

Reception


Robert Ross praised him as Midshipman Albert Poop-Decker in Carry On Jack
Carry On Jack
Carry on Jack is the eighth movie in the Carry On film series and was released in 1963. Most of the usual Carry On team are missing from this film: only Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey appear throughout. Bernard Cribbins makes the first of his three appearances in a Carry On...

, describing his bemused cheerfulness and comic ineptitude as a stunning debut performance.

Television

Year Title Episodes
1960 Interpol Calling
Interpol Calling
Interpol Calling was a 1959 Rank Organisation and Jack Wrather Productions television crime drama series for ITC Entertainment. The series, which ran for one season of 39 half-hour monchrome episodes, followed the adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against...

"Slow Boat to Amsterdam"
1962 The Canterville Ghost
The Canterville Ghost
"The Canterville Ghost" is a popular short story by Oscar Wilde, widely adapted for the screen and stage. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in the magazine The Court and Society Review in February 1887. It was later included in a collection of short stories entitled...

1966 The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...

"The Girl from Auntie"
1966–1995 Jackanory
Jackanory
Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, the first story being the fairy-tale Cap o' Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 24 March 1996,...

1968 The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...

"Look - (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers ..."
1971, 1976 Get the Drift
1973 The Wombles
The Wombles (TV series)
The Wombles is a stop motion animated British television series made in 1973–1975. Further animated episodes were made in 1996–1997.After the first Wombles book, published in 1968, was featured on the BBC children's television programme Jackanory....

 (voices)
1973 The Great Big Groovy Horse
1975 The Further Adventures Of Noddy The Great Car Race (Narrator)
1975 Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...

"The Hotel Inspectors
The Hotel Inspectors
"The Hotel Inspectors" is the fourth episode of the BBC sitcom, Fawlty Towers.-Synopsis:When Basil hears of hotel inspectors roaming Torquay incognito, he realises with horror that the guest he has been verbally abusing could easily be one of them....

"
1976 Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings
Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings
Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings is a British children's animated television programme, featuring the adventures of a young child named Simon, who has a magic chalkboard...

 (Narrator)
1976–78 Star Turn
1976 Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...

"Brian the Brain"
1977 The Country Wife
The Country Wife
The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time. The title itself contains a lewd pun...

"BBC Play of the month episode 97"
1979 Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow...

1981 Shillingbury Tales
Shillingbury Tales
Shillingbury Tales was a British television sitcom comedy-drama series made by ATV for ITV and broadcast 1980-81.Comprising a single feature length pilot and six one-hour episodes, the series deals with life in an idealised fictional English village and stars Robin Nedwell, Diane Keen, Nigel...

1982 The Good Old Days
The Good Old Days
The Good Old Days is a popular BBC television light entertainment programme which ran from 1953 to 1983.It was performed at the Leeds City Varieties and recreated an authentic atmosphere of the Victorian–Edwardian music hall with songs and sketches of the era performed by present-day...

1983 Cuffy
Cuffy (TV series)
Cuffy was a British sitcom from 1983. It spawned off from the 1980-81 ATV comedy-drama Shillingbury Tales, and both series were created by Francis Essex...

1983 Moschops
Moschops
Moschops is an extinct genus of therapsid that lived in the Late Permian, around 255 million years ago. Therapsids were proto-mammals , which were the dominant land animals. Five metres long, Moschops was the largest land animal of its time, a herbivore preyed on by other therapsids...

1986 Langley Bottom
1987 When We Are Married
1987 High and Dry
1993 A Passion For Angling
1999 Dalziel and Pascoe
Dalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series)
Dalziel and Pascoe is a popular British television crime drama based on the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill, which was first broadcast in March 1996. It is set in Yorkshire, and is about two detectives...

"Time to Go"
2000 The Canterbury Tales "The Journey Back"
2003 Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...

"In Which Gavin Hinchcliffe Loses the Gulf Stream"
2003 Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

Wally Bannister (Character played)
2005 Down to Earth
Down to Earth (UK TV series)
Down to Earth was a BBC One television series first broadcast in 2000 about a couple who start a new life on a Devon farm. The early episodes of the series were based on a series of books written by Faith Addis about their real-life move from London to Devon.The music in the series was composed by...

"Hot Air"

"Tall Tales"
2007–10 Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

"Voyage of the Damned
Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who)
"Voyage of the Damned" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast on 25 December 2007, it is 72 minutes long and the third Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005...

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"Partners in Crime
Partners in Crime (Doctor Who)
"Partners in Crime" is the first episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 April 2008. The episode reintroduced comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who previously appeared in "The Runaway Bride"...

"

"The Sontaran Stratagem
The Sontaran Stratagem
"The Sontaran Stratagem" is the fourth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 26 April 2008...

"

"The Poison Sky
The Poison Sky
"The Poison Sky" is the fifth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 3 May 2008. The episode features both former companion Martha Jones and the alien Sontarans...

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"Turn Left
Turn Left (Doctor Who)
"Turn Left" is the eleventh episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by showrunner Russell T Davies and broadcast on BBC One on 21 June 2008....

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"The Stolen Earth
The Stolen Earth
"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T Davies and is the first of a two-part crossover story; the concluding episode is...

"

"Journey's End
Journey's End (Doctor Who)
"Journey's End" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane...

"

"The End of Time"
2009 Never Mind The Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...

2010 Catching the Impossible 
2010 Would I Lie To You? (TV series)
Would I Lie To You? (TV series)
Would I Lie to You? is a comedy panel game made by Zeppotron for BBC One. It was first broadcast on 16 June 2007.-Format:The show was presented by Angus Deayton in 2007 and 2008, and by Rob Brydon from 2009 onwards...

2011 A Comedy Roast "Barbara Windsor: A Comedy Roast"

Films

Year Film
1957 Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst
Yangtse Incident (1957 film)
Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst is a 1957 British war film that tells the story of the British frigate HMS Amethyst caught up in the Chinese Civil War....

 
1959 Tommy the Toreador
Tommy the Toreador
Tommy the Toreador is a 1959 British musical comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Tommy Steele, Janet Munro, Sid James, Bernard Cribbins, Noell Purcell and Kenneth Williams...

1960 Two-Way Stretch
Two-Way Stretch
Two-Way Stretch, sometimes titled Nothing Barred, is a 1960 British comedy film, about a group of prisoners who plan to break out of jail, commit a robbery, and then break back into jail again, thus giving them the perfect alibi – that they were behind bars when the robbery occurred...

The World of Suzie Wong
The World of Suzie Wong
The World of Suzie Wong is a 1957 novel written by Richard Mason. The main characters are Robert Lomax, a young British artist living in Hong Kong, and Suzie Wong, the title character, a Chinese woman who works as a prostitute...

1961 The Girl on the Boat
The Girl on the Boat (film)
The Girl on the Boat is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Henry Kaplan and starring Norman Wisdom, Millicent Martin and Richard Briers. It is based on The Girl on the Boat by P.G...

Nothing Barred
Nothing Barred
Nothing Barred is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Darcy Conyers and starring Brian Rix, Leo Franklyn and Naunton Wayne.-Main cast:* Brian Rix - Wilfred Sapling* Leo Franklyn - Barger* Naunton Wayne - Lord Whitebait* Charles Heslop - Spankworth...

1962 The Fast Lady
The Fast Lady
The Fast Lady is a 1962 British comedy film, directed by Ken Annakin. The screenplay was written by Henry Blyth and Jack Davies, based on a story by Keble Howard.It marked the film debut of Julie Christie.-Plot:...

1963 The Wrong Arm of the Law
The Wrong Arm of the Law
The Wrong Arm of the Law is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, Lionel Jeffries, John Le Mesurier and Bill Kerr...

The Mouse on the Moon
The Mouse on the Moon
The Mouse on the Moon is a 1963 British comedy film, an adaptation of the novel The Mouse on the Moon by Irish author Leonard Wibberley. It was directed by Richard Lester and served as the sequel to The Mouse That Roared. In it, the people of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, a microstate, attempt space...

Carry On Jack
Carry On Jack
Carry on Jack is the eighth movie in the Carry On film series and was released in 1963. Most of the usual Carry On team are missing from this film: only Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey appear throughout. Bernard Cribbins makes the first of his three appearances in a Carry On...

1964 A Home of Your Own
A Home of Your Own
A Home of Your Own is a 1964 British comedy film which is a brick-by-brick account of the building a young couple’s dream house. From the day when the site is first selected, to the day – several years and children later – when the couple finally move in, the story is a noisy but wordless comedy of...

Carry On Spying
Carry On Spying
Carry On Spying is a 1964 film, the ninth movie in the Carry On film series. It marks Barbara Windsor's first appearance in the series. Series regulars Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Jim Dale are present. Bernard Cribbins makes the second of his three Carry On appearances...

Crooks in Cloisters
Crooks in Cloisters
Crooks in Cloisters is a British-made comedy released in 1964 and starring Ronald Fraser as 'Little Walter' , the boss of a gang of forgers, including Bernard Cribbins as 'Squirts' , Melvyn Hayes as 'Willy' , Grégoire Aslan as 'Lorenzo' , and Davy Kaye as 'Specs' .-Synopsis:After pulling off...

The Counterfeit Constable
The Counterfeit Constable
The Counterfeit Constable is a 1964 French comedy film directed by Robert Dhéry andPierre Tchernia and starring Ronald Fraser, Diana Dors and Arthur Mullard. Its French title is Allez France!. A French rugby supporter in England for a match at Twickenham is knocked out and loses two teeth...

 (French title: Allez France!)
1965 You Must Be Joking
She
She (1965 film)
She is a 1965 film made by Hammer Film Productions, based on the novel by H. Rider Haggard. It was directed by Robert Day and stars Ursula Andress, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.-Plot synopsis:...

1966 Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is the second of two films based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the sequel to Dr. Who and the Daleks , and starred Peter Cushing in his return to the role of the eccentric inventor and time traveller "Dr. Who". It also...

1967 Casino Royale
Casino Royale (1967 film)
Casino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...

1968 Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River is a British made comedy film produced by Walter Shenson starring Jerry Lewis and was released on July 12, 1968 by Columbia Pictures. It was based on Max Wilk's novel of the same name with the original Connecticut locale moved to Swinging London and...

1970 The Railway Children
The Railway Children (film)
The Railway Children is a 1970 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit. The film was directed by Lionel Jeffries, and stars Dinah Sheridan, Jenny Agutter , Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins in leading roles...

1972 Frenzy
Frenzy
Frenzy is a 1972 British thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and is the penultimate feature film of his extensive career. The film is based upon the novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern, and was adapted for the screen by Anthony Shaffer. La Bern...

1978 The Water Babies
The Water Babies (film)
The Water Babies is a 1978 animated feature film based on the book The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley.-Plot:When a 12-year-old chimney sweep is wrongfully blamed for being a thief, he makes a run for it, he jumps into a violent river. There he encounters a wondrous civilization of anthropomorphic...

1981 Dangerous Davies - The Last Detective
Dangerous Davies
Detective Constable "Dangerous" Davies is the central character in a series of comic novels by Leslie Thomas and a TV series, The Last Detective made for ITV. The first novel in the series was also made into a film for television in 1981.- Profile :...

1992 Carry On Columbus
Carry On Columbus
Carry On Columbus is the 31st and last film in the Carry On series, following 1978's Carry On Emmannuelle. The only main series regulars present are Jim Dale , Bernard Cribbins , Leslie Phillips , Jon Pertwee and June Whitfield...

2003 Blackball
Blackball (film)
Blackball is a 2003 British comedy sports film, borrowed from the Australian film, Crackerjack about Cliff Starkey , a fictional rebellious young bowls player. His dream is to play for his country, but always preferred to play by his own rules, much to the disapproval of the local bowls club...


UK chart singles

Year Title UK
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 peak position
Notes
1962 "Hole In The Ground" #9 Sir Noel Coward's choice as the record he would keep, as guest on BBC Radio's 'Desert Island Discs' from his selection
1962 "Right Said Fred" #10 Inspired the name of the band "Right Said Fred
Right Said Fred
Right Said Fred is an English pop band, formed in 1989 by brothers Richard Fairbrass and Fred Fairbrass, later joined by their friend Rob Manzoli. The group is named after a song of the same name which was a hit for Bernard Cribbins in 1962...

"
1962 "Gossip Calypso" #25 Written by Trevor Peacock
Trevor Peacock
Trevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...


Albums

Year Album Notes
1962 A Combination Of Cribbins
1983 The Snowman (Narrator)
2005 The Very Best of Bernard Cribbins

External links