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
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
,
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
and
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
for children's TV for nearly 30 years, and has done many successful programmes. These include ''
Pob's Programme
''Pob's Programme'' is a children's television programme which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4. The programme is presented by a puppet named Pob (played by puppeteer Robin Stevens), who speaks with a speech impediment and ...
'', ''
Corners'', ''
Teletubbies
''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on th ...
'', ''
Rosie and Jim
''Rosie and Jim'' (sometimes written as ''Rosie & Jim'') is a British children's television programme which was produced by Ragdoll Productions and aired on ITV from 3 September 1990 to 16 May 2000. The programme was then repeated periodica ...
'', ''
Tots TV
''Tots TV'' is a British children's television programme, produced by Ragdoll Productions and Central. The series was first telecast in the UK on the ITV network (part of CITV) from 1993 to 1998.
Development
''Tots TV'' was written by two of ...
'', ''
Boohbah
''Boohbah'' is a British preschool television series created by Anne Wood and produced by Wood's company, Ragdoll Productions, in association with GMTV. It originally premiered on ITV on 14 April 2003. The series was later broadcast on Ni ...
'' and ''
Blips
BLIPS is an acronym for ''Bond Linked Issue Premium Structure'', or ''Bond Linked Investment Premium Strategy''. It is a type of tax shelter involving investors who take out bank loans that the government considers illegitimate. These loans are the ...
''.
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 with John Blundall the world-famous puppet master.
Career
Stevens worked for
Ragdoll Productions for about 20 years, at times co-writing scripts and originating content with Alan Dapre. He also worked for 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. ...
...
''. He puppeteered Pob in ''Pob's Programme'',
Jim in ''Rosie and Jim'', Tom in ''Tots TV'' (he also wrote the scripts with Tiny's puppeteer
), and The Man in the Magic House in ''Teletubbies'' (he voiced the man in all foreign dubs except for the
version where US actress Dena Davis redubbed the voice). Stevens also played Grandpappa in ''Boohbah'' and Mr. Perfect in ''Blips''.