Phil Gallagher (born 3 March 1977) is a British children's television presenter who is best known for playing the title character in the

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

children's television show ''

Mister Maker ''Mister Maker'' is a British children's television series produced by RDF Media (series 1)/ The Foundation (series 2–3) for CBeebies. The series aired from 17 September 2007 until 12 April 2009. The series was presented by Phil Gallagher in ...

Early life

Gallagher attended

Rainham Mark Grammar School Rainham Mark Grammar School (previously Known as Gillingham Technical High School) is the only co-educational selective grammar school in the Medway, Kent, England area. It has academy status, along with Twydall Primary School and Riverside Pri ...

in Rainham,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, and

Canterbury Christ Church University Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) is a Public university, public research university located in Canterbury, Kent, England. Founded as a Church of England college for teacher training in 1962, it was granted university status in 2005. ...

Career

Gallagher started his career as presenter and sports reporter on

BBC Radio Kent BBC Radio Kent is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Kent. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Great Hall in Royal Tunbridge Wells. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audie ...

. He was a performer and puppeteer on

Playhouse Disney Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Tele ...

and also provided characters and voices for Studio Disney. From 2003 until 2005, Gallagher presented '' Diggin' It'' on

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

. During 2006, he was a regular character on ''

Mighty Truck of Stuff ''Mighty Truck of Stuff'' (MTOS) is a British children's television programme, where a truck was filled with toys and one phone-in viewer won its contents. After the show, the truck was driven to the home of the winner. It was shown on Saturda ...

'' as 'Pablo', and was also the voice-over for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''

Unanimous Unanimity is agreement by all people in a given situation. Groups may consider unanimous decisions as a sign of social, political or procedural agreement, solidarity, and unity. Unanimity may be assumed explicitly after a unanimous vote or impl ...

''. Gallagher has appeared as the title character in ''

'' since 2007. He also appeared in 2 episodes of '' Bear Behaving Badly'' as the Robot Rat Catcher and the Mummy. Since 2009, he has also played the role of 'Mr Liker Biker' in ''

Grandpa in My Pocket ''Grandpa in My Pocket'' is a British children's comedy-drama television series created by Mellie Buse and Jan Page and commissioned by Michael Carrington (television executive), Michael Carrington for CBeebies, the BBC's dedicated pre-school a ...

''. Gallagher often performs in

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

s. In 2006, he appeared as Wishee Washee in ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

'' at the Theatre Royal in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

. In 2007, he appeared as Silly Billy (Jack's brother) in ''

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale with ancient origins. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition :File:Round about our Coal Fire, or, Christmas Entertainments, 4th edn, 1734.pdf, On C ...

'', again at the Theatre Royal in Winchester. In 2008, he appeared as

Buttons A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, o ...

in ''

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

'' at the

Opera House An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

. In 2009 he played alongside

George Takei George Takei ( ; born April20, 1937), born , is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS ''Enterprise'' in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Takei was born to Japanese-American parents, with w ...

in the title role of Aladdin at the Central Theatre in Chatham,

, and in 2011 as Muddles in ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'' in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

with

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, she has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 ...

who played the Evil Queen. In 2013, he returned to ''

'', playing Billy Trot in a production at the

Marlowe Theatre The Marlowe Theatre is a 1,200-seat theatre in Canterbury named after playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was born and attended school in the city. It was named a The Stage Awards, Stage Awards, 2022 UK Theatre of the Year. The Marlowe Trust ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

alongside

Samantha Womack Samantha Zoe Womack (''née'' Janus; born 2 November 1972) is an English actress, singer, model and director who has worked in film, television and stage. Womack initially planned a career in singing and she represented the United Kingdom in ...

. In 2009, Gallagher was nominated for the BAFTA Children's Awards as Best Presenter for his role in ''Mister Maker''. In 2021, a rumour arose on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

indicating that 'Mister Maker' ( the character he played in the children's television show of the same name) had died. The initial confusion came from fans mixing up Phil Gallagher with another presenter called

Mark Speight Mark Warwick Fordham Speight (6 August 1965 – 7 April 2008) was an English television presenter and host of children's art programme ''SMart''. Speight was born in Seisdon, Staffordshire, and left school at 16 to become a cartoonist. He t ...

who hosted

SMart ''SMart'' was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingha ...

. Gallagher has a TikTok account named "mistermakerofficial".

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Phil English male television actors English television presenters English male voice actors Living people People educated at Rainham Mark Grammar School 1977 births