Robert Llewellyn
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Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956 in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England) is an English actor, presenter, and writer. He is probably best known for his roles as presenter of Scrapheap Challenge on Channel 4, and as the android Kryten in the hit BBC situation comedy Red Dwarf. His skills as a physical performer encouraged Grant and Naylor to write Robert Llewellyn additional characters for the series, most notably The Data Doctor (Back in the Red, series VIII), Human Kryten (DNA, series IV), and Able (Beyond A Joke, series VII- it should be noted that this episode was co-written by Robert Llewellyn so he probably had influence on the character Able).
Robert's first foray into the world of show business started out as a hobby. He was part of a comedy group called The Joeys, with Bernie Evans, Nigel Ordishand and Graham Allum. The group toured the UK and Europe in the early 1980s. Llewellyn wrote much of the material, and also began writing novels. The group split in 1985, having toured for years and done thousands of shows.
Robert's big break came when he was seen at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performing in his new comedy, Mammon, Robot Born Of Woman. The story is about a robot who, as he became more human, began to behave increasingly badly. This was seen by Paul Jackson, producer of Red Dwarf, and he was invited to audition for the role of Kryten.
Llewellyn has written one episode of Red Dwarf himself, co-writing the episode "Beyond A Joke" (from series VII, in 1997) with Doug Naylor
Llewellyn also presents Scrapheap Challenge and Hollywood Science, the latter of which is a joint production between the BBC and the Open University. Llewellyn also recently played the role of the perplexed 'Gryphon' in the film MirrorMask (2005). He has described himself as "very much a 'don't want to do it now' kind of person" (Dwarfing USA documentary, Red Dwarf V DVD).
Llewellyn is also the author of nine books, including Therapy, And How To Avoid It with Nigel Planer and four novels:
- The Man On Platform 5 (1998);
- Punchbag (1999);
- Sudden Wealth (2000);
- Brother Nature (2001).
Llewellyn's latest project it2i2, was released on DVD in March 2006.
