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Simon Buckley began his career as a puppeteer at the age of nine when he first started entertaining at his schoolfriends' birthday parties. Now, thirty four years later, he is established as one of the country's most experienced and frequently employed puppeteers in theatre, film and especially television. Simon is able to bring any type of puppet to life with skilful operating and a wide range of voices, and is frequently asked to work as a consultant or puppet co-ordinator for new puppet-based programmes. For most of its life Simon was a leading light of the Spitting Image team of puppeteers, and for six years dominated Summer Saturday morning television in the guise of Nobby the Sheep. He has presented puppets on both educational and light entertainment programmes, made numerous commercials and corporate videos and contributed to several feature films. He has also appeared as a presenter unaided by anything made of rubber or fur fabric. |
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Simon has over eight years of live television experience as Nobby The Sheep on Ghost Train and Gimme 5, and as Jarvis the Monkey on Mashed (all for ITV). Recently he returned to live TV for several weeks as Nev (pictured) on the CBBC hit show, Smile. |
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Simon is recognised as an accomplished marionette performer, a rare skill that he has put to effect with marionettes that he has carved for Words and Pictures (BBC) and in productions for the internationally acclaimed Little Angel Theatre both in London and Austria. |
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Simon undertakes special commissions for performances such as this Picasso routine that he created for the Unilever Children’s Art Event at Tate Modern in 2005. |
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Recently he has led Shadow Puppet Making Workshops for groups of Children at London’s Wigmore Hall and the new Evelina Children's Hospital. |
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Simon combines being a professional puppeteer with also being an Anglican Priest, licensed to St Anne’s Church in Soho. He regularly uses puppets in churches and schools and has recently been touring assemblies with his production of The Prodigal Son. |
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Simon was commissioned by BBC Worldwide to devise a live stage show and create puppets of the highly acclaimed book and TV series Charlie & Lola by Lauren Child. Simon directed the show for its first performances in Los Angeles. |
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For many years Simon was a principal puppeteer on Spitting Image, starting off as a palace corgi and Margaret Thatcher’s right hand. He ended up bringing characters as diverse as Tony Blair, The Queen and Frank Bruno to life. |
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Simon has been a puppeteer and puppetry coordinator for many children’s programmes including BBC series Fimbles and The Roly Mo Show (pictured), and the BAFTA-winning series Roger And The Rottentrolls. |
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Simon uses examples from his extensive collection of puppets from around the world to illustrate his highly entertaining and informative lecture presentation entitled Puppetry - A Global Art Form? which he presented at the drama faculty of the University Of Central Florida in Orlando in 2005. |
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Spitting Image Spitting Image (Central Television 1986-1990) five series as puppeteer. Spitting Image (Central Television 1992-1996) six series as principal puppeteer. The Ronnie and Nancy Show (NBC 1988) USA Spitting Image Special Bumbledown (MBC 1988) USA Spitting Image Special The Spitting Image Movie Awards (NBC 1989) USA Special The Secret Policeman's Third Ball (Video 1987) Spitting Image sketches Filth! (Video 1994) Spitting Image sketch Peter and the Wolf (Spitting Image/BBC TWO 1993) puppeteer. Thatcherworld (Spitting Image/BBC 1993) puppeteer. Having It Off (Spitting Image Video 1993) puppeteer. Don't Forget Your Soapbox (Channel 4 1994) puppeteer for Spitting Image. 50 Best Ever Spitting Image Sketches (Channel 4 2006) puppetry coordinator and performer for links. Children's Entertainment Live Children's Television Young Children and Education Also Commercials and Corporate Videos |
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Labyrinth (Henson Organisation 1985) marionette operator. |
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Canon Hill Puppet Theatre (Midlands Arts Centre (1982-1985) A thousand performances of twelve different productions using various types of puppets and masks, storytelling and presenting skills. Performances in Birmingham and tours to Italy, France, Germany and Hong Kong. Polka Children's Theatre, Wimbledon (1985-1986) Nine month national tour as Pinocchio. Shaw Theartre (1991-1992) Mother Goose by Bill Oddie and Laura Beaumont. Presented Nobby The Sheep. Wimbledon Theatre (1992-1993) Goldilocks (E&B Productions). Presented Nobby The Sheep. Little Angel Theatre (1995-2004) Narrator and marionette performer in "Webs Witches and the Spider Queen" and "Rapunzel". Also puppeteer in Haydn's opera "Philemon and Baucis" with the English Concert Orchestra in Austria in 1996 & 2003. Cbeebies Live!( BBC Worldwide 2005/6) 40 date arena tour as Roly Mo with Tweenies, Postman Pat etc. Charlie and Lola (BBC Worldwide 2006) creator and director of promotional stage show. |
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Simon coached 70's TV icon Basil Brush for his phenomenally successful revival , and had a hand in Pinky and Perky's brief reappearance in 2000! Simon reckons that puppeteering requires teamwork, coordination and deodorant! Simon's characters have presented over three hundred hours of live television. Simon was the first person in the UK to study puppetry on an Education Authority Grant. Programmes that Simon has worked on as puppet consultant have won BAFTA, RTS and ETA awards. Is the Oscar in the post? Simon works with his own or pre-recorded voices and also lip-syncs perfectly (apparently!) in Dutch, German and Italian. |
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By the time he was sixteen he was giving around 100 shows a year! One of Simon's proudest moments was working the Pinky and Perky puppets with Jan and Vlasta Dalibor on ITV's The Pig Attraction (right). They were his childhood heroes! Simon's first engagement was when he was nine and was given £1 for putting on a puppet show at Sharon Smith's birthday party. |
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"Simon's enthusiasm is infectious..." "There is nothing wrong with Through The Keyhole that a guest slot for Nobby The Sheep couldn't fix..." "Nobby The Sheep, (is) a fitting challenger to Jeremy Paxman's throne..." "Talking to f**in' Nob-end the sheep means more than seeing me on Top of the Pops" "All Buckley's creations demand prime time..." "Dear Simon... me and my mates think you're well fit..." "Nobby The Sheep is too sexy for his fleece..." |
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© Simon Buckley 2006. All Rights Reserved. Webmaster
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