Hacker T. Dog

Hacker T. Dog, otherwise known as Hacker (born 27 October, age 6) is one of the presenters of British children's television service CBBC.^[1] He is a puppet dog from Wigan.^[2] and is the son of Mrs. T. Dog (there is presumably a Mr. T. Dog somewhere, but he has never been seen nor mentioned) and the half-brother of Dodge T. Dog. Alongside fellow presenter Cel Spellman and Australian TV presenter Amberley Lobo, he commentated on the Russia v Belgium match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup for the BBC.

Development

Hacker was introduced as a puppet presenter of the CBBC television programme Scoop, voiced by Andy Heath. The character became popular, and was appointed as a weekday-presenter of the CBBC office with his "half-brother" Dodge T. Dog, starting in May 2009, with the character now being voiced by Phil Fletcher. In July, they began presenting on weekdays.^[3] They began presenting with Scottish comedian Iain Stirling until Stirling's departure in 2013, when they began presenting with Chris Johnson.^[4]

In 2011, Hacker was given a solo presenting role on a separate chat show titled Hacker Time.^[5]

The character took a hiatus from CBBC in April 2014, which rumours speculating that he had left to film the fourth series of Hacker Time. During his absence, numerous guest presenters filled in for him during his usual weekday afternoon slot. Hacker returned temporarily on 24 May 2014, before making a permanent return on 18 June 2014.

Hacker is very fond of TV presenter Sue Barker and mentions her often in the CBBC HQ.^[6][7] In 2009 Hacker was the mascot for the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship.^{[8][9][10][11]}

In other media

Hacker, Barry Davies and Amberley Lobo provided CBBC commentary on the Russia v Belgium match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Appearances

• Scoop (2009–2011)
• CBBC (2009—)
• Hacker Time (2011—)
• Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up (2013, 2016)
• Wimbledon 2day (2014)
• The Dog Ate My Homework (2015–2016)
• Wimbledon (2015)
• Hacker's Birthday Bash: 30 Years of Children's BBC (2015)
• All Over the Place (2015—)
• Horrible Histories: Gory Games (2016)^[12]
• Hacker's Olympic Rundown (2016)
• Celebrity Mastermind (2016)
• Hacker's Crackers (2016)
• Zig and Zag's Zogcasts (2016)
• Live & Dangerous (2017)
• BBC Election Wrap (2017)

References