Mike Elliott

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Mike Elliott (born July 1946, Sunderland, North East England) is an entertainer: he has been an actor, stand-up comedian, television presenter and radio phone-in host.

He is currently married to his second wife Lisa, and has one stepdaughter. Elliott originally started out as a teacher before moving into the entertainment industry. In 2004 Mike stood for election as Mayor of North Tyneside, but was unsuccessful.

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[edit] Stand up comedy

Elliott first found national fame in 1983 on the Tyne Tees Television produced series, At Last It's Mike Elliott broadcast on Channel 4. The series was originally planned to air on ITV in 1982 but the television regulator felt the programme was too risqué for mainstream ITV and pulled the plug.

[edit] Acting

Mike Elliott has also had a number of acting roles. These include playing boxing trainer George Watson in the movie Billy Elliot and a number of roles in television drama series, including Catherine Cookson adaptations, Crocodile Shoes, Byker Grove, Spender, Harry, and a variety of roles in New Voices, a showcase of short movies screened locally on Tyne Tees Television, and recently playing a taxi driver in the 2005 film Goal.

Elliott's appearance in "Billy Elliot" may have been responsible for widespread confusion over the correct spelling of his name, resulting in his being miscredited in some listings as Mike Elliot. This "single t" variation appears in various places, including his IMDB entry.

[edit] Radio

In 1995, Mike Elliott was given a new nickname as “Mike The Mouth” when he launched the first late night talk show on 100-102 Century FM in the North East. The show was a huge success with no nonsense talking, rarely heard on UK radio.

However this style of what Mike called “radio at the pointy end” ended up with him being fired from Century a short while later. Huge protests were mounted by angry fans, and the then owners of the radio station, Border Television, reinstated Mike to his late night show a couple of weeks later.

Mike stayed with Century Radio, until 2000 when again he was fired. Bosses claimed that he was intoxicated on air, however, Elliott claims that he was "stoned out of his tree" on Benolyn while trying to fight off a heavy cold. Some weeks later, when new owners, the Capital Radio Group arrived Elliot's job was reinstated but his second return was to be short lived on the revamped Century FM.[1]

A new Mike Elliot radio show launched on North East Magic Radio in the same slot as his previous programme. However on MW it failed to gain the same amount of listeners that the Century FM series had achieved.

2005 saw Mike back on air, this time with a new format for late night radio. North South Divided pitched the Northern stations of the Local Radio Company against their Southern counterparts. Broadcast over almost 30 stations, this was the first time listeners outside of the North East had a taste of “Mike The Mouth.” North South Divided ended on the 5th July 2006.

[edit] Television presenting

Mike returned to work for Itv Tyne Tees in 1992 presenting a number of regional documentary series, including, Down Colliery Way about North East coal miners.