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Andrew Mark O'Connor (born 23 March 1963 in
Stevenage
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
) is an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
actor, comedian, magician, television presenter and
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
.
Television career
Although he enjoyed a short stint as a child actor, appearing as Tom Brill in the BBC mini-series ''The Canal Children'' in 1976, he made his mark as a children's magician, and won the
Magic Circle
A magic circle is a circle of space marked out by practitioners of some branches of ritual magic, which they generally believe will contain energy and form a sacred space, or will provide them a form of magical protection, or both. It may be marke ...
's ''Young Magician of the Year'' prize in 1981. After appearing in a number of variety shows on television, he was invited to join the cast of
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
's ''
Copy Cats'', a showcase featuring impressionists such as
Bobby Davro
Robert Christopher Nankeville, known professionally as Bobby Davro (born 13 September 1958), is an English actor and comedian.
He made his television debut in 1981 followed by breakthrough in ''Live from Her Majesty's'' (1983); this was follow ...
and
Gary Wilmot
Harold Owen "Gary" Wilmot, MBE (born 8 May 1954) is a British singer, actor, comedian, presenter, writer and director who rose to fame as a contestant on ''New Faces''. As a television presenter, he is best known as the host of '' You and Me'', ...
, in 1985. A second series, without Wilmot, followed in 1986. O'Connor received a writing credit for each series. His own children's show, ''Andrew O'Connor's Joke Machine'' soon followed, in which he told jokes and performed magic tricks and invited children to do the same.
In 1986, he began appearing in
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
's popular Saturday morning children's series, ''
No. 73
''No 73'', later retitled ''7T3'', is a British 1980s children's TV show produced by Television South (TVS) for the ITV network. It was broadcast live on Saturday mornings and ran from 1982 to 1988. The show had an ensemble cast amongst others ...
''. But shortly afterwards, he switched to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
to launch another Saturday morning children's series, ''
On the Waterfront
''On the Waterfront'' is a 1954 American crime drama film, directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, and Eva Marie Saint in her film debut. ...
'', alongside fellow ex-''No. 73'' host
Kate Copstick
Kate Copstick (born 25 February 1956 in Glasgow) is a Scottish actress, television presenter, writer, critic, director and producer. She studied for a law degree at the University of Glasgow.
Career
As a comedy actor, Copstick appeared on c ...
. In 1991, O'Connor became the second actor to play The Head in CITV's arts and crafts show ''
Art Attack
''Art Attack'' is a British children's television programme revolving around art, currently hosted by Lloyd Warbey on Disney Junior, and originally airing on CITV hosted by Neil Buchanan from 1990 to 2007.
The original programme aired on CIT ...
'' presented by
Neil Buchanan
Neil Buchanan (born 11 October 1956) is an English artist, photographer, and musician, best known for his work on British children's television. During his tenure as a children's television presenter, he hosted the CITV programme ''Art Attack'' ...
.
In 1988, O'Connor also appeared regularly in short comedy sketches co-written by himself for the Observation round in
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
game show ''
The Krypton Factor
''The Krypton Factor'' is a British game show produced by Granada Television for broadcast on ITV. The show originally ran from 7 September 1977 to 20 November 1995, and was hosted by Gordon Burns and usually broadcast on the ITV network on ...
''. In the same year, he took over from
Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE (12 April 1948 – 30 January 2008) was an English television presenter, radio presenter, writer and producer. During the 1980s he was a regular face on British television, and in two years appeared i ...
as the presenter of the daytime game show, ''
Chain Letters
A chain letter is a message that attempts to convince the recipient to make a number of copies and pass them on to a certain number of recipients. The "chain" is an exponentially growing pyramid (a tree graph) that cannot be sustained indefinite ...
''. He returned to acting to play the role of the computer in early 1990s children's sci-fi show ''
Kappatoo
''Kappatoo'' is a CITV comedy drama, based on the book by Ben Steed and starring Simon Nash in the dual roles of the eponymous time-traveller from the future and his lookalike, 1990s schoolboy soccer player Simon Cashmere. Andrew O'Connor playe ...
'' but it was his career as a quiz-show host that took off, and he subsequently presented the UK version of ''
Talk About'', moved to Saturday night prime time in 1991 with ''One to Win'', and returned to daytime television with ''
The Alphabet Game
The Alphabet Game is a comedy panel game show that aired on BBC1 from 5 August 1996 to 27 March 1997 and is hosted by Andrew O'Connor. The programme was created by O'Connor, Rebecca Thornhill, Mark Maxwell-Smith and produced by Objective Produc ...
''.
He has produced comedy and magic-related TV shows, including ''
Peep Show
A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot.
Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the ci ...
'', and most of
Derren Brown
Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, painter, and author. He began performing in 1992, making his television debut with ''Derren Brown: Mind Control'' in 2000, and has since produced several more shows fo ...
's programmes.
In 1993 O'Connor presented
The Big Breakfast
''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4. Originally presented by Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, the show was latterly presented by Mo Gilligan and AJ Odudu.
The pro ...
for a week while
Chris Evans was on holiday, but did not enjoy the experience of live television.
He presented an ITV & Family Channel game show called ''
Family Catchphrase
''Family Catchphrase'' was a family game show broadcast on Challenge (TV channel), The Family Channel. Presented by Andrew O'Connor (actor), Andrew O'Connor, it was a spin-off of the popular UK Prime-time television, prime-time game show ''Catchp ...
'', which was a spin-off from ''
Catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
''; there were 100 episodes from 1994. One episode featured a young
Simon Amstell
Simon Marc Amstell (born 29 November 1979) is a British comedian, writer and director. He wrote and directed the films '' Carnage'' (2017) and ''Benjamin'' (2018). His work on television has included presenting ''Popworld'' and ''Never Mind the ...
and another featured a guest appearance from the show's creator, Stephen Radosh. Also in 1994, O'Connor played the lead in the touring musical ''
Me and My Girl''.
He established
Objective Productions
Objective Media Group (OMG), previously known as Objective Productions, is a media company that produces shows in comedy, comedy drama, entertainment, factual entertainment and Magic. It has produced shows including '' The Cube'', ''Breaking Ma ...
with Michael Vine, where O'Connor holds the position of Chair. The company website claims the company was founded in 1991 but a 2005 interview with O'Connor in ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' lists 1996 as the year the company was formed.
According to
Companies House
Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are i ...
, Objective was incorporated on 9 April 1992.
O'Connor is an advocate of public service broadcasting, and in particular
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
, to whom he attributes a large part of his success as a producer.
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_Film_career
He_directed_the_film_''Magicians_(2007_film)">Magicians
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Magician_or_The_Magician_may_refer_to:
_Performers
*_A_practitioner_of_magic_(supernatural)
*_A_practitioner_of_magic_(illusion)
*_Magician_(fantasy),_a_character_in_a_fictional_fantasy_context
_Entertainment
_Books
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Film career
He directed the film ''Magicians (2007 film)">Magicians
Magician or The Magician may refer to:
Performers
* A practitioner of magic (supernatural)
* A practitioner of magic (illusion)
* Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context
Entertainment
Books
* ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...
'' starring David Mitchell (comedian)">David Mitchell and Robert Webb released on 18 May 2007. He also directed May the Best Man Win in 2013.