Robin Gordon Stevens (born 30 January 1960) is an English

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

, actor, director, and writer for children's TV for over 35 years, and has done many successful programmes. These include '' Pob's Programme'', Whizz, '' Lay-on-Five'', '' Corners'', '' Teletubbies'', '' Rosie and Jim'', '' Tots TV'', '' Boohbah'', and '' Blips''. He also appeared as a Goblin in the movie Labyrinth'' with David Bowie''.

Early life

Stevens was born in the UK in

Chorleywood Chorleywood is both a village and a civil parish in the Three Rivers District, Hertfordshire, on the border with Buckinghamshire, approximately northwest of Charing Cross. The village is adjacent to the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Na ...

. He trained at the Cannon Hill Puppet Theater for four years (1978-1982) with John Blundall, the world-famous puppet master.

Career

Stevens worked for

Ragdoll Productions Ragdoll Productions is a British television production company founded in 1984 by Anne Wood, who had previously worked for Yorkshire Television and TV-am. It is located in Stratford-upon-Avon, and has produced a number of children's programm ...

for 24 years (1982-2006), writing the series Pob's Playtime, Rosie and Jim and co-writing '' Tots TV''. Later on he also at times co-wrote scripts and originated content with Alan Dapre. He also worked for the BBC, puppeteering ''Jo Corner'' on '' Corners''. Bug and Voice in '' Whizz'' and Fribble in '' Lay-on-Five''. He puppeteered Pob in ''Pob's Programme'',Ian Potter, ''The Rise and Rise of the Independents: A Television History'', Guerilla Books, 2008 Jim in ''Rosie and Jim'', Tom in ''Tots TV'' (he also wrote the scripts with Tiny's puppeteer

Andrew Davenport Andrew Davenport (born 10 June 1965) is an English writer, puppeteer, producer, composer and actor, specialising in creating television, music and books for young children. He is known as co-creator and writer of ''Teletubbies'' and creator, wri ...

), and The Man in the Magic House in ''Teletubbies'' (he voiced the man in all foreign dubs except for the

PBS Kids PBS Kids is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Some public television children's programs are not produced by PBS member stations or transmitted by PBS. Instead, ...

version where US actress Dena Davis redubbed the voice). Stevens also played Grandpappa in ''Boohbah'' and Mr. Perfect in ''Blips''. Stevens won a BAFTA for his episode of Tots TV 'The long, long, long baguette'.

References

External links

* * English puppeteers English male television actors Living people 1960 births Male actors from Hertfordshire People from Chorleywood English television writers British male television writers {{England-tv-bio-stub