Hacker T. Dog

Hacker T. Dog
Hacker on CBBC.
Born	Hacker the Dog (2005-10-27) 27 October 2005 Wigan
Nationality	English
Occupation	Presenter
Years active	2009—Present
Employer	BBC / CBBC, CBeebies (guest appearance)
Television	Hacker Time (2011—13) (Hiatus) Scoop (2010—)
Family	Dodge T Dog (Half-brother) Mrs. T Dog (Mother)
Website
Website

Hacker T. Dog otherwise known as Hacker the Dog (born 27 October 2005) is one of the presenters of British children's television service CBBC.^[1] He is a puppet dog from Wigan.^[2] and is the half brother of Dodge T. Dog. They started on weekends in May 2009, and did weekdays from July 2009.^[3] Both puppets are modelled on the Border Terrier breed of dogs. Hacker is normally portrayed as being in the CBBC Office with his best friend Iain Stirling and other presenters such as Chris Johnson. He also has his own show called Hacker Time and also stars in Scoop alongside Shaun Williamson with Iain Stirling as Digby Digworth and newspaper boy respectively. More recently, Hacker appeared as the titular character in Tracy Barker Returns, a special series broadcast before Tracy Beaker shows. It starred Hacker as Tracy Barker, a checkout girl. It parodies Tracy Beaker series.^[4] Hacker has made a few guest appearances on CBeebies mainly during the Christmas period.

Personal life

Hacker is very fond of TV presenter Sue Barker and mentions her often in the CBBC Office.^[5][6] In 2009 Hacker was the mascot for the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Phil Fletcher

Phil Fletcher is a British puppeteer and puppet maker. Fletcher is Hacker’s puppeteer. He has puppeteered him since 2009, when Hacker first began presenting. Before then he was operated by Andy Heath. Before Hacker appeared on CBBC, Fletcher made puppets for CBBC presentations and shows, including Ed and Oucho's Excellent Inventions and Transmission Impossible with Ed and Oucho. Hacker the Dog, Dodger, Dunceton the Brain and Oucho the Cactus are all puppets designed and built by Neil Sterenberg. Phil Fletcher's performance as Hacker was highly acclaimed and he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Children’s Presenter with Iain Stirling.^[11] Fletcher is also the founder of comedy puppet show company, The Gluvets, where he is assisted by Carl Chadd. The puppet shows tour around the UK at parties, festivals and other events. His puppets are much under the influence of Jim Henson’s Muppets. He once performed Gluvets tribute to Jim Henson, featuring Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. The rights of the characters had been taken up by Disney, who threatened to sue them if they didn’t cut out Miss Piggy and Kermit.^[12] Disney said that they were submitting scripts for Muppet shows to Disney. Promoter Paul Bridson said this was not the case. After two shows in Irvine and Stirling Disney lawyers discovered that they asked the estate of Jim Henson, the late Muppet creator, last September for permission but were told the rights had been sold to Disney and were misled. The case was closed but Fletcher still cut out Kermit and Miss Piggy, he said “'It's just a frog and a pig but we can't afford to take on Disney.” Fletcher continues to appear on various CBBC shows as Hacker and other puppet characters.

Discography

References