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Peter began his career as an actor in 1969 playing his first role on stage as Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island at the Mermaid Theatre. He then joined The National Theatre for two years where he appeared in eleven productions. Other theatre credits include Jackson in Pump Boys and Dinettes, David in the Surprise Party, Jesus in the Mystery Plays, Scarecrow in the The Wizard of Oz, Cosmo in Singing in the Rain. Peter played Charlie Chaplin in a new musical called The Little Tramp, recording an album for Warner Brothers of the same show. He trained for six months before taking on the role of Barnum which he played most recently in 1999. He took over the part of Bill Snibson in the National tour of Me and My Girl and appeared as Denry Machin in The Card at Regents Park Theatre for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He recently toured in Corpse playing twins and in 2004 appeared in two Alan Ayckbourn plays Bedroom Farce, Things we do for Love. One of his most recent roles was as Stan Laurel in a new production of Laurel and Hardy which he hopes to revive in 2005. Peter is a well-known face on the small screen where his extensive work as an television actor has included The Childhood Friend, Sons and Lovers, Renoir My Father, Warship, Fathers and Families, Sam, Fallen Hero, King Cinder, Oranges and Lemons, The Flockton Flyer, Space 1999 and The Big Race. His feature film credits include Stardust, Quilp, The Lifetaker and a famous cameo in Flash Gordon. In 1980 he became the eleventh presenter of Blue Peter working on the show for five years wearing his green and white check suit, running marathons and recording a single called Cold as Ice which he sang live to Elton John who then asked him out for a curry. It reached 113 in the charts. He went on to make Duncan Dares the original action man series. He produced and filmed a six part series called Travel Bug for CBBC in which he, his partner Annie and their four children travelled around the world exploring the rainforests of South America, climbing mountains in the Himalayas and going on safari in Africa. In the follow up series they visited China, and their backpacking adventures can be seen in Chinese Breakaway on Channel Five and Sky. Peter is currently producing a slapstick comedy series and plans to film documentary in India next summer. Peter has had a long association with pantomime, following in his parent's footsteps. As a producer his theatre work includes The Gingerbread Man, Erik The Viking, and new productions of Robin Hood, Cinderella and Aladdin. Peter is thrilled to be a member of the Birds and the Bees after struggling for three decades to make it in the music biz and hopes that nobody is to bitter about the bands latent success. Peter has taken on the volunteer role of Chief Scout for five years and looks forward to helping the half a million scouts in the UK celebrate with 30 million scouts worldwide their centenary in 2007. |
