Hacker The Dog (born 27 October), more commonly known as Hacker T. Dog, is a
Border Terrier
The Border Terrier is a British breed of small, rough-coated terrier. It originates from the area of the Anglo-Scottish border, and shares ancestry with the Dandie Dinmont Terrier and the Bedlington Terrier from the same area. The dogs were ...
dog
puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...
who appears on the
CBBC
CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
television channel in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. He is described as being born and living in
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
. He is the half-brother of
Dodge T. Dog and is the son of Mrs. T. Dog, with a father never mentioned or seen. He is voiced by puppeteer
Phil Fletcher
Phil Fletcher (born 1975/1976) is a British puppeteer. He established his puppet manufacturing and performance company, Gluvets, at the age of 11. After briefly working in manufacturing he found summer work performing in holiday camps and becam ...
.
Development
Hacker was introduced as a character in the
CBBC
CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
television programme ''
Scoop
Scoop, Scoops or The scoop may refer to:
Objects
* Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging
* Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things
* Scoop stretcher, a device used for casualty ...
'', performed by
Andy Heath. Hacker used to be an unintelligible dog. The character became popular, and began to appear as a weekday presenter at the CBBC office in May 2009, with the puppetry and voice now being performed by Phil Fletcher. His "half-brother"
Dodge T. Dog joined the following year. In July, he began presenting on weekdays with Scottish comedian
Iain Stirling. He presented with Stirling until his departure in 2013, when they began presenting with
Chris Johnson.
In 2011, Hacker was given a solo presenting role on a separate chat show titled ''
Hacker Time
''Hacker Time'' is a British children's sketch comedy talk show, broadcast by CBBC, starring Hacker T. Dog, a character from Scoop. In each episode, Hacker interviews a celebrity, and plays games and the show also includes recurring segments, su ...
''.
The character took a hiatus from
CBBC
CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
in April 2014. 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.
A 2016 clip in which Hacker
deadpan
Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blun ...
s to host
Lauren Layfield
Lauren Layfield (born on 1 December 1987) is an English television and radio presenter and journalist who works mainly for CBBC and Capital FM.
Career
Layfield joined CBBC continuity in September 2015, at the end of the one-off TV special '' ...
"We're just normal men... We're just innocent men.", prompting Layfield to
break character and laugh while Hacker continues to deadpan has resurfaced in 2022 and went
viral.
While some assumed the clip had context before the exchange, Fletcher later explained that there was none, and he just ad-libbed the line to make Layfield laugh.
Hacker is very fond of television presenter
Sue Barker
Sue or SUE may refer to:
Music
* Sue Records, an American record label
* ''Sue'' (album), an album by Frazier Chorus
* "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", a song by David Bowie
Places
* Sue Islet (Queensland), one of the Torres Straits island ...
and mentions her often. In 2009 Hacker was the mascot for the
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship.
Hacker is known for saying ‘cockers’ - a
Northern term for ‘mate’.
In other media
Hacker,
Barry Davies
Barry George Davies MBE (born 24 October 1937) is an English retired sports commentator and television presenter. He covered a wide range of sports in a long career, primarily for the BBC.
Although best known for his football commentary, Dav ...
and
Amberley Lobo
Amberley "Ambo" Lobo (born 30 October 1990) is an Australian television presenter best known for her role as a host on Australian children's television program ''Studio 3'', which was on ABC 3.
Early life
Lobo was born in Perth, Western Aus ...
provided
CBBC
CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
commentary on the
Russia v Belgium match at the
2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...
.
Hacker appeared on an episode of ''Celebrity Mastermind'' in December 2016, his specialist subject being the
Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...
. He came in second place, losing to television chef
Paul Rankin
Paul Rankin (born 1 October 1959 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a celebrity chef from Ballywalter, County Down, Northern Ireland. Rankin's parents moved back to Ballywalter, where he grew up, some time after he was born. This was stated when he was t ...
.
[https://metro.co.uk/2016/12/19/hacker-t-dog-almost-won-mastermind-and-everyones-fallen-in-love-with-him-6333612/ Metro. Retrieved 17th October 2020.]
A Hacker T. Dog plush puppet was released in 2015 and made by Kidz Kreations, and sold in
Argos
Argos most often refers to:
* Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece
** Ancient Argos, the ancient city
* Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Argos or ARGOS may also refer to:
Businesses
...
and
The Entertainer.
Social media
Hacker gained an official
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account in 2014, which as of March 2021 has over 42,000 followers. An
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
account was eventually created in April 2019, followed by an official
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel. These social media channels are run by both Phil Fletcher and the BBC social media team.
Television
The character has appeared in the following roles:
See also
*''
Scoop
Scoop, Scoops or The scoop may refer to:
Objects
* Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging
* Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things
* Scoop stretcher, a device used for casualty ...
''
*''
Hacker Time
''Hacker Time'' is a British children's sketch comedy talk show, broadcast by CBBC, starring Hacker T. Dog, a character from Scoop. In each episode, Hacker interviews a celebrity, and plays games and the show also includes recurring segments, su ...
''
*
Andy Heath (puppeteer)
Andy Heath is a British puppeteer. He is most noted for working as the head puppeteer for the BBC Three situation comedy ''Mongrels'', where he controls the main character, Nelson the metrosexual fox. He also puppeteered Hacker T. Dog in CBBC's ...
*
Phil Fletcher
Phil Fletcher (born 1975/1976) is a British puppeteer. He established his puppet manufacturing and performance company, Gluvets, at the age of 11. After briefly working in manufacturing he found summer work performing in holiday camps and becam ...
*
Warrick Brownlow-Pike
Warrick Brownlow-Pike (born 28 January 1985) is a British puppeteer. He is best known for performing the character "Gonger" on ''Sesame Street'' and its spinoff series '' The Furchester Hotel'' and Dodge the Dog on the CBeebies Channel.
CBBC ...
*
Sue Barker
Sue or SUE may refer to:
Music
* Sue Records, an American record label
* ''Sue'' (album), an album by Frazier Chorus
* "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", a song by David Bowie
Places
* Sue Islet (Queensland), one of the Torres Straits island ...
*
List of CBBC presenters
This is a list of notable CBBC and CBeebies presenters from when in-vision presentation was launched in September 1985.
Presenters CBBC
* Phillip Schofield
* Andy Crane
* Gordon the Gopher
* Tracy Brabin
* Anthea Turner
* Siobhan Maher
* Col ...
References
{{Reflist
Fictional dogs
British comedy puppets