Francis Wright (born 1958) is an English voice actor, puppeteer, and television presenter. He also teaches public speaking and communication skills.

Early life

Wright was born in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Historically the northern part of the Civil Parish#An ...

, the son of Dr Bedřich Bělohlávek and Joan Wright, and was registered under both names. His father was a Czech bookseller working in London, while his mother was a journalist then working for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

as a publicity officer, and both were authors. Wright was educated at

Colet Court St Paul's Juniors (formerly Colet Court) is a private preparatory school for boys aged 7 to 13 in Barnes, London. It forms the preparatory department of St Paul's School, to which most Juniors pupils progress at the age of 13. The School was ...

and

St Paul's School, London St Paul's School is a Selective school, selective Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent day school (with limited boarding school, boarding) for boys aged 13–18, founded in 1509 by John Colet and located on a 43-acre site by Rive ...

, then studied drama, graduating with honours. He later noted “I decided to specialise in puppetry, which seemed to be a good way of never being typecast and/or doomed to a life mainly out of work.”

Career

Wright's work on screen began with ITV Entertainment's '' The Munch Bunch''. After that, he was a leading character in '' You and Me'', a

BBC Schools BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges or BBC Education, was the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From its launch until June 1983 ...

series, in which he played Dibs from 1983 until 1992.Creatives: Puppeteer Francis Wright
at braidman.com, accessed 21 July 2020 His first feature film was ''

Dragonslayer A dragonslayer is a person or being that slays dragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been popular in traditional stories from around the world: they are a type of story classified as type 300 in the Aarne–Thompson classifica ...

'' (1981), and in the mid-1980s he worked as a puppeteer on ''

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...

''. He played Ludo's Eyebrows in ''

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth () is an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the h ...

'' (1986) and created and voiced the

Psammead ''Five Children and It'' is a fantasy children's novel by English author E. Nesbit. It was originally published in 1902 in the ''Strand Magazine'' under the general title ''The Psammead, or the Gifts'', with a segment appearing each month fr ...

for BBC Television in ''

Five Children and It ''Five Children and It'' is a fantasy children's novel by English people, English author E. Nesbit. It was originally published in 1902 in the ''Strand Magazine'' under the general title ''The Psammead, or the Gifts'', with a segment appearing ...

'' (1991), returning to the role in ''

The Return of the Psammead ''The Return of the Psammead'' is a 1993 TV series directed by Marilyn Fox and starring Toby Ufindell-Phillips, Laura Clarke, Leonard Kirby and Vicci Avery.The TV series was based on the novel ''Five Children and It'' by E. Nesbit The Return of ...

'' (1993) and ''

The Phoenix and the Carpet ''The Phoenix and the Carpet'' is a fantasy novel for children, written by E. Nesbit and first published in 1904. It is the second in a trilogy of novels that begins with '' Five Children and It'' (1902), and follows the adventures of the sa ...

'' (1997), for which he also created the puppet of the Phoenix, a character which was voiced by

David Suchet Sir David Courtney Suchet ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor. He is known for his work on stage and in television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial '' Oppenheimer'' (1980) and received the RTS and BPG awards for his pe ...

.Mark J. Docherty, Alistair D. McGown, ''The Hill and Beyond: Children's Television Drama - An Encyclopedia'' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2003), p. 102 In the 1990s he also worked on ''

Wizadora ''Wizadora'' is a children's television programme created by Don Arioli and Carolyne Cullum. It was originally broadcast on SWR in 1991 and it was used as an English-language learning tool for non-English speakers. In 1993, the series was pic ...

'', '' Mortimer and Arabel'', '' Hotch Potch House'', ''

Jay's World Jay's may refer to * Jays Foods, snack food manufacturer * Jay's Ltd., mourning warehouse * Mrs. Jay's Mrs. Jay's was a popular bar and restaurant located in Asbury Park, New Jersey. It was founded by John and Ida Jacobs and was located on Oce ...

'', ''

Gophers! ''Gophers!'' is a Channel 4 children's programme about a family of American gophers who move into a new neighbourhood, called Sycamore Heights, living next door to a family of uptight but well-intentioned rabbits, The Burrows. There were many ...

'', and '' The Spooks of Bottle Bay'', playing Sam the Seagull in '' Beachcomber Bay'' and created the

March Hare The March Hare (called Haigha in '' Through the Looking-Glass'') is a character most famous for appearing in the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. The main character, Alice, hypothesizes, : " ...

for the star-studded ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' (1999). Wright played the Head in ITV's ''

Art Attack ''Art Attack'' is a British children's television programme revolving around art, originally hosted by Neil Buchanan on CITV from 1990 to 2007, and subsequently hosted by Lloyd Warbey on Disney Junior from 2012 to 2015. The original program ...

'' (1990–2007), was Colin the bat and Lumpy in ''

Grotbags ''Grotbags'' was a children's television programme which ran for three series between 1991 and 1993 about a fictional witch named Grotbags, a spin-off of multiple earlier Rod Hull and Emu shows. Very much in the mould of the traditional panto ...

'' (1991–1993), was both a writer and a performer for ''

Bug Alert ''Bug Alert'' is a British children's television series, first shown on GMTV in September 1996. It featured the antics of a range of bug-like characters who lived in the kitchen of an unnamed house. These creatures apparently only came out whe ...

'' (1996–2000) and played Sweep in two series of the ITV children's show ''

Sooty Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in '' The Sooty ...

''. He has also narrated two television series, ''B & B the Best'' for the BBC and ''Kitchen Showdown with Rosemary Shrager'' for ITV, and does voice-over work for commercials. Outside show business, Wright teaches public speaking and communication skills. He was an elocution teacher for '' American Princess'' (2005) and ''

Australian Princess ''Australian Princess'' is an Australian reality television show that first premiered on Network Ten on 5 October 2005. It is produced by Granada Australia, who are responsible for other programs such as ''Dancing with the Stars'', '' Australia ...

'' (2006) and was hired to teach

Paul O'Grady Paul James O'Grady (14 June 1955 – 28 March 2023) was an English comedian, broadcaster, drag queen, actor, and writer. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his drag persona Lily Savage, through which he gained ...

to “speak proper” on

The Generation Game ''The Generation Game'' is a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two people from the same family, but different generations, compete to win prizes. The game There are eight competitors, hence the catchphrase "Let's me ...

Notes

External links

Francis Wright
at

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Francis Wright
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

The Psammead Sings
at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

The Return of the Psammead
at YouTube
Francis Wright
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Francis P A 1958 births English male film actors English people of Czech descent English puppeteers English male television actors People educated at St Paul's School, London Actors from the London Borough of Camden Living people Male actors from London