| Marcus Bentley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 October 1967 Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | East 15 Acting School |
| Occupation | Voice-over artist, media personality, broadcaster, actor |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Employer | Channel 4 (2000–11) Channel 5 (2011–present) |
| Television | Big Brother |
| Spouse | Julie (1997–present) |
Marcus Bentley (born 4 October 1967) is a British actor, broadcaster and voice-over artist. Born in Gateshead, he was brought up in Stockton on Tees and attended East 15 Acting School in Essex.
Bentley is most famous for narrating the UK version of reality show Big Brother since its inception. He also did other continuity announcements for Channel 4 until he left in July 2011 to continue narrating the revived Big Brother on Channel 5. Bentley's voiceover work has led to his heavy Teeside accent becoming one of the most recognised voices in the UK.
Bentley has also appeared on stage and in TV shows; The Bill and London's Burning. Although he rarely makes public appearances, his public profile has been raised since Big Brother's revival on Channel 5 .
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He was selected as the narrator of the UK version of Big Brother, which remains his best-known work. He has narrated all eleven series to date, as well as the spin-offs Celebrity Big Brother, Teen Big Brother: The Experiment and Big Brother Celebrity Hijack. The producers of Big Brother gave him the job of narrator because they liked the way he said "Chickens".[1] His most notable catchphrase is "Day [x] in the Big Brother house...".
Despite having a low profile he has made some exceptions. On day 59 of Big Brother 2003 he was interviewed in the camera run by Dermot O'Leary on BBLB and during Big Brother 2002 he was interviewed in the studio. On 13 August 2006, to accept his award as Big Brother's Little Brother's employee of the week, the final one of the series, he chose not to appear in person but was interviewed unseen from within the BBLB studio with a voice over Dermot, the host. He made another exception on 28 January 2008, when he made the link to Dermot's best bits while being seated in the Hijacker Booth. His face remained unseen, as all lights were down in the Booth. As part of the running joke surrounding him, Bentley has occasionally been featured on BBLB reading a humorous script for the show, albeit filmed from a back view so as not to reveal what he looks like on the show itself. Bentley's voice also appeared in the fictional Big Brother based horror television series Dead Set.
On 23 May 2010, Bentley made an on camera appearance in the final ever Big Brother teaser trailer. Bentley starred in it as a priest saying goodbye to Big Brother, as various old housemates such as Nikki Grahame, Nasty Nick and Brian Dowling danced and laid Big Brother to rest.[2]
On 28 July 2010 (Day 49) during Big Brother Series 11 and as part of the Ignore the Obvious task, he appeared in the house narrating scenes live with a microphone while bowling it around the house. The housemates were under instruction to not react to various unusual events, including Bentley's appearance in the house. His lines included “Some of the housemates are in the living room, passing round the Jaffa Cakes” and “Rachel is in the bathroom. Alone”.
He was the voice of Titan the Robot in BB11.
After the last episode of Ultimate Big Brother, a short video was uploaded to the official site. It showed Marcus walking out the house with a suitcase, looking up, and going "Day one, of the rest of my life..."[3] During the final Big Brother's Big Mouth a short film was made showing Marcus comically holding a family hostage after Big Brother had ended, so that he could continue to narrate people's lives.
Aside from Big Brother, Bentley could be heard on Channel 4 as a continuity announcer until he resigned after ten years, when he reprised his Big Brother narrator role on the revived Channel 5 series.
Another of Bentley's roles is the unseen question master on Sky One quiz show, Dirty Money.
In December 2011, Bentley began doing continuity links on Channel 5, complementing his role as narrator of Big Brother on the same channel.