John Sparkes
| John Sparkes | |
|---|---|
| Born |
9 January 1954 Swansea, Wales |
John Sparkes (born 9 January 1954) is a Welsh comedian born in Swansea and is more commonly known on Welsh television as Barry Welsh, in the award-winning (Best Light Entertainment, Welsh Baftas, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004) series Barry Welsh is Coming. He also had major roles in Naked Video, Absolutely, Pub Quiz, and Jeff Global's Global Probe, and is the narrator of children's TV show Peppa Pig.[1]
Naked Video and Absolutely
Sparkes starred in the sketch show Naked Video, where he played Siadwell, the geeky bed-sit poet who wore an anorak and glasses.[2] The character also appeared when Sparkes was part of the BBC Radio 4 comedy programme Bodgers, Banks & Sparkes.
He was one of the team behind the Channel 4 sketch show Absolutely[3] and Barry Welsh is Coming (ITV Wales),
Barry Welsh
Barry Welsh is Coming was made for ITV Wales and broadcast only in Wales. As well as playing Barry Welsh, the host of a chat show, Sparkes also plays other characters within the programme, such as pub singer Gwyn and Fishguard news reporter Hugh Pugh. Although the series ended in 2004, it did return in 2007 for a series of one-off specials broadcast throughout the year.
Children's TV
He provides the voice of the Narrator and some other characters in the children's animated series Peppa Pig[2] (in which the voice of fellow Absolutely star Morwenna Banks is also featured), Shaun the Sheep and Mr. Elf and King Marigold in Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom. He also voices Professor von Proton in The Big Knights, Steven in A Town Called Panic, and Fireman Sam in the 2003-05 series.
Other work
In 2005 he performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Absolutely Presents John Sparkes and Pete Baikie with his colleague from Absolutely.[4]
For Welsh television he starred in Jeff Global's Global Probe (ITV Wales), and he resurrected the character Frank Hovis, originally devised for the Absolutely series, in Pub Quiz (BBC Wales).
Sparkes has written and presented three ongoing television series of Great Pubs of Wales for ITV Wales. He has voiced the unseen character of archivist Goronwy, in a section of Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention for BBC One and has written and presented Ghost Story in which he spent the night alone with a camcorder in haunted houses around Wales. He has also co-written and presented Doug Strong's Special Places, a factual comedy series for ITV Wales and ITV Central.
References
- ↑ Mainwaring, Rachel (Jun 25, 2011). "John Sparkes: Bringing home the bacon". Wales Online.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mainwaring, Rachel (Jun 12, 2011). "Siodwell creator John Sparkes is Welsh voice of Peppa Pig". Wales Online.
- ↑ White, Jim (20 January 1993). "Absolutely fabulous. Not: Baikie, Banks, Docherty, Hunter, Kennedy & Sparkes. Who? The comics from Absolutely tell Jim White why they're basking in obscurity". The Independent (UK).
- ↑ "Absolutely Presents John Sparkes and Pete Baikie". Chortle. 2005. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
External links
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