In 2005, David began announcing duties for the UKTV network (on UKTV Food, UKTV Gold and UKTV People), whilst training to be an actor at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
…Gray, Donald
Donald was an accomplished actor. He was a relief BBC TV in-vision network announcer (1952 – 1953, 1955). He later announced at ATV in London at the weekends. Gray also provided the voice of Colonel White in the cult 1960s children’s television classic, Captain Scarlet.
…Shoesmith, Peter
Peter was an actor (1958 – 1966) and then a newsreader at TWW (Bristol) and Tyne Tees TV in Newcastle. He was a BBC TV network announcer (1969).
…Leeson, John
He was born John Ducker in Leicester. He is an actor who is best known as the much-loved voice of computer dog K9, trusty sidekick to Doctor Who (1977 – 1981, 1983, 2006 and 2008).
…Le Moighan, Michael
Michael is a former Granada Television continuity announcer. He continued with his acting career after leaving the announcer’s chair.
Robbie, Christopher
Christopher was an announcer for Associated Rediffusion, Southern, Anglia and Thames TV. He had a friendly air and a great screen presence. He presented Southern’s final programme, It’s Goodbye from Us with great panache, and was one of only two continuity announcers featured, the other one being veteran colleague Brian Nissen. After Southern lost its contract, Christopher popped up from time-to-time as an announcer on TVS, before going into theatre.
He later went on tour with a one-man play about Charles Darwin. He trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. In the theatre he has achieved notable success in the plays of Shakespeare, Ibsen, Lope de Vega, Calderon, Euripedes and Miller. For four years he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, during which time he played the title role in King Lear. On television his portrayal of the Cyberleader in the Doctor Who adventure The Revenge of the Cyberman won him a cult following. Christopher has also worked as a director and designer and his play The Sirens of Eroc, was written under the nom-de-plume of James Alan. As an artist he has held successful exhibitions of his photographs.
Elwes, Polly
Born Mary Freya Elwes and known as Polly. She attended the Central School of Speech and Drama, now part of the University of London.
…Prebble, Simon
In 1960, Simon attended Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London and began his acting career in one of Britain’s first television soap operas, Home Tonight with David Hemmings. For the next eleven years he worked extensively on radio and television and in provincial repertory theatre, including a year with Ian McKellen’s Hamlet.
After working as a continuity announcer and newsreader at Southern TV (1970), Prebble joined the newsroom at Capital Radio, the second commercial radio station in Britain, where he hosted London’s Day. He then embarked on a career as a presenter and voiceover, including thirteen years as the promo voice of Thames Television, as well as regular promo work for HTV and Anglia TV. He was also an announcer for Anglia TV. From 1984 he was the announcer for the British version of the phenomenally successful game show The Price Is Right with Leslie Crowther.
In 1990, Prebble moved to New York where he continued doing voiceover work. As well as recording numerous radio and television commercials, he also character-voiced cartoon series, such as Courage the Cowardly Dog; he hosted and presented several television documentary series, notably Target Mafia; and narrated the IMAX film Endurance about the Shackleton expedition. In 1996, he was a lead actor for a year (as villain Martin Chedwyn) on the American daily soap opera As the World Turns.
In the US, he also began narrating audio books. His work has gained him more than eighteen Earphone awards, nine nominations for the Audies (the audiobook Oscars), and in 2005, he was named Narrator of the Year by Publishers Weekly.
Apart from his acting career, in 1967 Prebble designed and produced the ‘executive toy’ called Newton’s Cradle.
In 2003, at Chiswick House London, he married Swedish graphic artist, Marie-Janine Hellstrom. In 2007, along with his wife, he became a US citizen.
Grey, Monica
Monica was an actress. She was a relief BBC TV in-vision network announcer (1952).
Ashby, Clem
Clem was an actor who joined Scottish TV as an announcer in the mid-1970s. During his time at the station he built up quite a cult following. He died in the mid-1980s.
O’Halloran, Michael
Michael was born in Edinburgh in 1911. He was a film actor, who later moved into television announcing with Associated Rediffusion (1955 – 1956), when it started broadcasting to the London area.
…Pearson, Terry
Terry was a full-time on-air announcer with Central (later Carlton) Television in Birmingham (1988 – 2000). He went freelance as an actor/presenter, working on various theatre, television and corporate projects. Terry also ran a website (until 2014) – Quadbod Media Memorabilia – specialising in original UK quad film posters.