| Marcus Clarke | |
|---|---|
Marcus Clarke talking with his Puppets |
|
| Born | 1967 (age 44–45) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Known for | Puppeteer, Voice Acting |
| Website | |
| www.handsuppuppets.com | |
Marcus Clarke is a puppeteer and voice actor from Nottinghamshire. He is best known as the puppeteer and voice actor behind the BAFTA-winning ITV Kids series Bookaboo and the principle puppeteer of Audrey II in the 1986 version of Little Shop of Horrors. Clarke has worked as a puppeteer in over 60 television series and has created a similar number of puppets. Clarke was also a puppeteer and voice actor in two Muppet feature films and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.
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Marcus Clarke was born in Forest Gate, East London. He spent several years in Canada, Care and in Orphanages NCH before being settled in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire where he left West Bridgford School, his local Comprehensive School with no qualifications. After a series of jobs behind the scenes in theatres, he became Stage Manager in a West End production of Little Shop Of Horrors, where he looked after Audrey II - the giant plant. He became interested in the Art of Puppetry. Clarke went on to audition for Jim Henson's TV Puppeteering Workshop, where he befriended Brian Henson.[1]
Inspired in part by Henson, he and his partner, Helena Smee, formed a puppet creation company, "Hands Up Puppets", in 1986. To date, they have created more than 60 puppets and worked as puppeteers on a similar number of UK television series.[1]
Bookaboo, 2009 BAFTA-award winning Kids TV Series has Clarke Puppeteering a "rock puppy" who is unable to play the drums before one of his friends has read him a story.[2] Designed to back the 2008 National Year of Reading campaign,[3] Bookaboo's friends are celebrities such as Meat Loaf and David Seaman.[4] Since 2009, Clarke has been working on new projects, teaching puppetry classes and working with charities. He created a short film with young people at Clayfields House, a secure children's home in Stapleford Clarke is also on the Board of Funny Wonders Inc. CIC Co-Organisers of the Buxton Puppet Festival.[4]
Clarke has been nominated for and won a number of awards, including two BAFTAs for Pre-school Live Action. The first was in 2004 for PJ's Storytime[5] and the second in 2009 for Bookaboo.[6] Bookaboo went on to win Best Children's Programme at the Broadcast Awards.[7] and its Catogory at the Prix Jeuness International. Clarke was also Milky Cat in The Christmas Milkshake Show nominated in the same category in 2009.[8] The young people in Clarke's Puppet Film Clayfields House won two writing awards from the Koestler Trust [4] and he has been listed as one of the "Prominent people in Nottinghamshire" in 2010 at the Nottinghamshire Archives.[9]
| Year | Role | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Audrey II principal puppeteer | Little Shop Of Horrors |
| 1988 | Various puppeteering | Who Framed Roger Rabbit? |
| 1992 | Additional Muppet performer (voice), Various puppeteering | The Muppet Christmas Carol |
| 1996 | Additional Muppet performer (voice), Various puppeteering | Muppet Treasure Island |
| Year | Character | Show | Location/Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Devil | The Storyteller | The Jim Henson Company |
| 1987 | Ultragorgan, little Gorgan | Monster Maker | The Jim Henson Company |
| 1988 | Dog | Playbox | Ragdoll Productions |
| 1989 | Hotdog | Hotdog/Treasure Box | Thames Television |
| 1990 | Dapple, Millie, Stubble | Dappledown Farm | Clear Idea Television |
| 1991 | Crabtree | Tricky Business | BBC Television |
| 1995 | Void the Android, Hopper, Dreeb | Children's Channel On-Air Presentation | Starstream Productions |
| 1996 | Sid | WoW | ITV |
| 1997 | Venus | Venus on the Hard Drive | Fox Broadcasting Company |
| 1997 | Johnny Chimes | Here's Johnny Chimes | NBC |
| 1998 | Buzz | Dottie and Buzz | Prospect Pictures |
| 1999 | Patch | Tickle Patch and Friends Series 1 | Channel 5 (UK) |
| 1999 | Bird | Tenth Kingdom | Carnival Films |
| 1999 | Bag | Big Bag | Sesame Workshop |
| 2000 | Doogy Dog | Smarteenies | CBeebies |
| 2000 | Bird | 10th Kingdom | |
| 2003 | Cosy | The Softies | Channel 5 (UK) |
| 2003 | PJ | PJ's Bedtime | Playhouse Disney |
| 2003 | Dusty | A House That's Just Like Yours | Channel 5 (UK) |
| 2004 | PJ | PJ's Storytime[5] | Playhouse Disney |
| 2005 | Mr.Flapper | Sandy and Mr. Flapper | Two Hand Productions |
| 2005 | Patch | Christmas Milkshake | Channel 5 (UK) |
| 2005 | Ant Vent | Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway | Granada Television |
| 2006–2007 | Patch | Tickle Patch and Friends 1 & 2 | Two Hand Productions |
| 2007–2008 | Milky | The Milkshake Show | Channel 5 (UK) |
| 2008, 2010 | Bookaboo | Bookaboo (series 1 and 2)[6] | ITV |
| 2009 | Producer Director and Performer | Clayfields House Film | |
| 2009 | Body Guard, Minder, Bouncer, Heavy | This Morning | ITV |
| 2009 | Salty Ticketmaster | Monkey | Channel 5 (UK) |
| 2010 | Puppetry Consultant | BBC Learning Zone | GameLab London |