Tim Whitnall

Timothy Charles Whitnall is an English actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is known for playing Angelo in the long-running CITV series Mike and Angelo and narrating the BBC Children's Television programme Teletubbies from 1997 to 2001. As a writer, he has won a BAFTA and an Olivier Award for his work on television movie Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story and play Morecambe. He is also a voice actor, providing voices on characters from television shows such as Fifi & the Flowertots, Roary the Racing Car, and Thomas & Friends.

Career Whitnall began his career in West End musical Elvis in 1977 after winning the role in an open call audition. He has starred in many West End musicals including Grease, The Rocky Horror Show, and Good Rockin' Tonight.

After making TV appearances for the musicals he was involved in, he began a career in television - presenting (and writing for) the BBC Schools series, "The Music Arcade" (with Lucie Skeaping), "Music Time", "Time and Tune", "Music Workshop", and "Let's Sing". He also began making appearances as an actor, playing Jake in ITV children's drama The All Electric Amusement Arcade and Paul in Play for Today episode Not for the Likes of Us.

Whitnall is also known for providing many voice-overs and vocals for TV commercials, animations, and jingles. From the late 1980s to the channel's demise in 2000, he was an announcer on The Children's Channel, also providing the voice to the station's early 1990s mascot Link Anchorman. He was also the voice for Woolworths mascot Keith the Alien in 1998.

In 1990, he succeeded Tyler Butterworth in the role of alien Angelo in Children's sci-fi sitcom Mike and Angelo. He portrayed the character for 10 series, until the show's end in 2000.

Whitnall's theatre play The Sociable Plover, first performed at Old Red Lion Theatre in 2005, was made into a feature film by Poisson Rouge Pictures and Solution Films (re-titled as The Hide) and received its UK première on Film4 in February 2009. Following its screen release at the ICA Cinema, London, the film was released on DVD in January 2010. For this work, Whitnall was nominated for Best First Feature Length Screenplay category in the 2010 Writer's Guild of Great Britain Awards.

Whitnall's next play Morecambe – a tribute to the late comedian Eric Morecambe – won a Fringe First Award for 'innovation and excellence in new writing' at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The show opened at London's Duchess Theatre the following December and toured the United Kingdom through 2010. The piece was nominated in two separate categories in the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards and won the 'Best Entertainment' category.

In 2012, BBC Four screened Whitnall's 90-minute drama Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story, which examined and celebrated the life of Kenny Everett. It was directed by James Strong, produced by Paul Frift and starred Oliver Lansley and Katherine Kelly. For it, Whitnall won the Breakthrough Talent Award in the 2013 BAFTA Television Craft Awards.

During 2014, Whitnall joined the cast of the CGI version of the British TV series Thomas & Friends, providing the voices of the characters Timothy, Reg, Mike, Jerome, Oliver the Excavator and the UK version of Max.

Personal life

Whitnall lives in Richmond, London with his partner, Anna Murphy, with whom he has a production company, Feather Productions Ltd.

Filmography Actor Television Year Title Role Notes 1980 Play for Today Paul Episode: "Not for the Likes of Us" 1982 The Music Arcade Presenter Sunny Side Up Presenter, various characters 1983 The All Electric Amusement Arcade Jake Main cast 1986 C.A.T.S. Eyes Jack Episode: "Freezeheat" 1989 The Bill Rodgers Episode: "Found Offending" Bergerac Desk Constable Episode: "A True Detective" 1989–2000 Mike and Angelo Angelo Main cast 1993 Backchat Link Anchorman Voice over Link's Shorts 1994 Link Looks Into Cartoons 1994 KTV Dr. Hunk, Fred Segments: General Accident, Arthur Square 1997–2001 Teletubbies Narrator UK version 1998 Tom and Vicky Tom, Dickie, Flash 2003–04 MechaNick All male characters 2005–10 Fifi and the Flowertots Aunt Tulip, Stingo and Hornetto UK 2006 Underground Ernie Hammersmith, Jubilee, Paris, and Osaka Voice over 2007 The Beeps Sleepy Beep 2007–10 Roary the Racing Car Plugger/Lugga, Mr. Carburettor and Farmer Green UK and US 2008 Britain's Got The Pop Factor Performer in Eye-patch 2008–09 The Mr. Men Show Mr. Lazy and Mr. Nervous UK version, Voice over 2010 Muddle Earth Norbert Benson Main cast 2012–15 Tree Fu Tom Zigzoo, Stink, Squirmtum, Chezz, and Rickety McGluman Main cast, Voice over 2013 Henry Hugglemonster Various characters Voice over 2014–21 Thomas & Friends Max (UK)Timothy, Reg, Mike, Jerome, Oliver the Excavator, and the Deputy Minister Recurring voice roles 2021 DinoCity Dad Main cast, Voice over

Stage Year Title Role Venue 1977 Elvis Young Elvis London Astoria 1979 Grease Doody 1981 Godspell Jesus Young Vic Theatre Spring Awakening Melchior Young Vic Studio, London 1983 Yakety Yak Danny UK Tour 1985 The Lambusters The Bloomsbury Theatre, London 1988 Be Bop a Lula Eddie Cochran The Playhouse, Liverpool; UK tour 1991 The Rocky Horror Show Riff-Raff Picadilly Theatre, London 1992; 1993 Good Rockin' Tonite Eddie Cochran, Cliff Richard Metropolitan, London; Liverpool Empire, Liverpool 1996-1997 Elvis (revival) Middle Elvis UK Tour 1998-1999 Four Steps to Heaven Elvis, Eddie Cochran 2005 The Sociable Plover Dave Old Red Lion, Inner London2025-2026 Dick Whittington and His Cat King Rat Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

Film Year Title Role Notes 1986 Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire Member of Billy the Kid's entourage 1996 Famous Fred Additional Vocals 1999 Animal Farm 2000 Teletubbies: Christmas in the Snow Narrator Direct-to-video 2005 Renart the Fox Renart (English dub) 2008 Like Other People Do Rich Man Short 2010 Rainbow Magic: Return to Rainspell Island Edison, King Oberon, Snow Beast and Bitten Devil's Playground News Anchor 2014 Thomas & Friends: Tale of the Brave Timothy and Reg Voice; Direct-to-video 2015 Thomas & Friends: The Adventure Begins Jerome Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure Oliver the Excavator and Mike Voice 2016 Thomas & Friends: The Great Race Timothy and Mike 2018 Thomas & Friends: Big World Big Adventures! Bill, Timothy and a Moai Head

Video games Year Title Role(s) Notes 1998 Play with the Teletubbies Narrator UK 2000 The World Is Not Enough Charles Robinson

Screenwriter Film Year Title Notes 2008 The Hide Based on his play "The Sociable Plover" 2018 Mr Sunshine Short, Based on his play "Morecambe"

Television Year Title Notes 1985–86 And There's More 2010 Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story TV movie 2013 Agatha Christie's Marple Episode: "Greenshaw's Folly" 2021 The Mallorca Files Episode: "The Blue Feather"

Stage

Discography Elvis - The Original Cast Albums (1978) 20 Years On 77-97 (with Darrel Higham & The Enforcers)(1997) Even Warren Beatty (with Matthew Strachan) (2002)

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Result 2009 "The Scotsman" Fringe First Award Innovation and outstanding new writing Morecambe 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards Best Entertainment Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award Best First Feature-Length Film Screenplay The Hide 2013 British Academy Television Craft Award Breakthrough Talent Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story 2013 Broadcasting Press Guild Award Best Single DramaShared with Paul Frift and James Strong