Rowland John Rivron (born 28 September 1958) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

writer, comedic actor and television personality.

Early career

Rivron played the comic character 'Dr Martin Scrote' on the

Jonathan Ross Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show '' Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s and early 2010s, hosted his ow ...

chat show ''The Last Resort'', and also played Scrote on

Night Network ''Night Network'', ''Night Time'' and ''Night Shift'' were names given to the overnight (usually between 12 and 6am) schedule of the ITV (TV network), ITV network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24-hour broadcasting in 1986, ...

's ''Bunker Show''. This became a series 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 ...

called ''Set of Six'' about Scrote and his brothers. In 1989 he and

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...

starred in ''The Groovy Fellers''. In the early 1990s he presented his own chat show, ''Rivron'', in which he, his guests and the entire set floated in the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. He also made an appearance in the children's schools series ''Cats' Eyes''.

Music

Rivron played drums on Fat Les's 1998 single "

Vindaloo Vindaloo or vindalho is a curry dish from the state of Goa in India. It is known globally in its British-Indian form as a staple of curry houses and Indian restaurants and is often regarded as a fiery, spicy dish. Vindaloo evolved from the Port ...

". As one half of the band "Raw Sex" (with Simon Brint) he also featured regularly on BBC TV's ''

French and Saunders ''French and Saunders'' is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comedy duo and namesake Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders that originally broadcast on BBC2 from 1987 to 1993, and later on BBC One until 2017. It is al ...

'' show. Rivron featured on drums in the "Sophisticated Fool" song and "All We've Got To Do Is..." song from ''

A Bit of Fry and Laurie ''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'' is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, broadcast on both BBC1 and BBC2 between 1989 and 1995. It ran for four series with ...

'', also on BBC TV. He was a contributing writer to ''

Rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

'', a UK drumming magazine, and is a regular guest on

's BBC shows. Rivron appeared on the children's TV programme ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...

'' at age 15, playing the drums. For eighteen months Rivron drummed for Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. He later played with the ''Idiot Bastard Band'', with

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. Part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s, he and his comedy partner Rik Mayall starred in the television sitc ...

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''Given name#Name at birth, né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is a retired English stand-up comedy, stand-up and Improv comedy teacher, improv comedian, actor, performance poetry, performance poet, cartoonist and podc ...

, Simon Brint and

Neil Innes Neil James Innes (; 9 December 1944 – 29 December 2019) was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the comedy rock group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Py ...

Television

Presenting

Rivron regularly presented television shows such as ''

Holiday A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

'' and ''Summer Holiday''. Rowland Rivron presented the comedy

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

shows '' Jammin''' and ''Radio Rivron'', and starred in the Channel 5 programme '' Trust Me - I'm A Holiday Rep''. He also co-presented the Saturday breakfast show on BBC London 94.9. Rivron also appeared on '' Richard & Judy's New Position'' as the celebrity barman. He also presented the video to promote ''

One Foot in the Grave ''One Foot in the Grave'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom written by David Renwick. There were six series (each consisting of six half-hour episodes) and seven Christmas specials over a period of ten years from early 1990 to late ...

'' for the title of BBC Britain's Best Sitcom in 2004.

Game shows

Rivron acted as a team captain on ''Question of TV'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, and was a panellist on the first episode of '' Shooting Stars'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

. A special celebrity edition of the show " Incredible Games" was broadcast at the end of its first season with Philippa Forrester and

Keith Chegwin Keith Chegwin (17 January 1957 – 11 December 2017), also known by the nickname Cheggers, was an English television presenter and actor, appearing in several children's entertainment shows in the 1970s and 1980s, including ''Multi-Coloured Swa ...

appearing alongside Rivron as the contestants in place of the usual kids taking part (who were shown to be tied up before the games started). In 2004 he hosted the short-lived regional gameshow ''The Price of Fish'', starring local commercial radio presenters. The gameshow was filmed at The Talk venue in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

and shown only in the

Anglia TV ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

region. In 2006 Rivron was part of Channel 4's ''

Come Dine with Me ''Come Dine with Me'' is a British reality series that has aired on Channel 4 since 10 January 2005 and is narrated by Dave Lamb. Format The original format features five amateur chefs who live in the same town or area, who each host a three-c ...

''. He was the first celebrity to be voted out on 2007's edition of ''

Comic Relief Does Fame Academy ''Comic Relief Does Fame Academy'' is a spin-off of the original ''Fame Academy'' show where celebrities students sing as students of the Academy. The programme was launched in 2003 to help raise money for the charities supported by Comic Relief ...

''. In 2012, Rivron was a contestant on ''

Let's Dance for Sport Relief The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. They are sometimes called ' ...

'' with his take on the

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician and DJ who helped popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. His music makes extensive use of Sampling (music), samples from eclectic ...

music video '' Weapon of Choice'', winning his heat and going straight through to the live final on

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a wikt:biennial, biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Dire ...

, which he went on to win on 17 March 2012. On 1 December 2012, he took part in an episode of ''

Pointless Celebrities ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay Entertainment subsidiary Remarkable Entertainment for the BBC and hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode, four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but ob ...

'' on

, as well as a

special on 21 March 2014, paired with Mark Durden-Smith.

Acting

In 1984, Rivron appeared in the episode 'Cash' of '' The Young Ones''. In 1994 he starred in the

improvised comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its ...

film '' There's No Business...'', and in 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 ...

children's science programme '' Cats' Eyes'': in 2005 he appeared in the

sitcom '' Blessed''. In 1990 he appeared as the main characters, the six Scrote brothers, in ''

Set of Six Like most forms of modern football, rugby league football is played outdoors on a rectangular grass field with goals at each end that are attacked and defended by two opposing teams. The rules of rugby league have changed significantly over th ...

''.

Activism

In October 2007, Rivron "waded into an unholy row" over plans for a mobile phone mast planned for the tower of his local church in North London. After joining the mass protest, he explained: "It's not really needed... In the Good Book they turned water into wine and now they're turning masts into misery". Fellow campaigner Paul Barnard commenting: "We were very grateful to Rowland Rivron for his support and he managed to cheer people up with his quips and jokes".

Personal life

Rivron was born in

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

,Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. and brought up in

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...

, and attended Abbotsfield Secondary School. He has two brothers, Richard and Raymond. He and his wife Monica (''née'' Appleby), have three children and two dogs. The couple are avid caravanners, and Monica is the author of ''The Caravan Cookbook''.

References

External links

Rowland Rivron Biography
Off the Kerb Productions
Ask Rowland Rivron transcript
BBC Chat Archive
Watch Rowland Rivron's story writing tips
BBC raw words {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivron, Rowland 1958 births Living people British television presenters Actors from Aylesbury Actors from the London Borough of Haringey English male comedians 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians Comedians from Buckinghamshire Male actors from Buckinghamshire English sketch comedians People from Muswell Hill Actors from the London Borough of Hillingdon People from Hillingdon Comedians from the London Borough of Hillingdon