Phil Cornwell

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Phil Cornwell
Born (1957-10-05) 5 October 1957 (age 63)
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England
MediumStand-up, film, television
Years active1986–present
GenresSketch comedy

Philip Cornwell (born 5 October 1957) is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is well known in the UK as being part of the Dead Ringers television and radio series, and achieved international recognition as the voice of Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band Gorillaz. Cornwell has co-written and performed principal roles in The Glam Metal Detectives and Stella Street. He is also well known as DJ Dave Clifton from I'm Alan Partridge and Alpha Papa.

Early life and career[]

Cornwell was born in Leigh-on-Sea, in the County of Essex. He first appeared on TV in 1980 in the BBC youth programme Something Else - Southend as an episode presenter.

He is popularly known for voicing Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band, Gorillaz. He provided the voices of Mick Jagger and David Bowie for the Steve Wright in the Afternoon show on BBC Radio 1 in the late-1980s and early-1990s. These impersonations - augmented by many others, including the series narrator, Michael Caine - formed the backbone of the BBC TV series Stella Street, written and performed with John Sessions.

In 1996 he performed in a comedy spoof sketch TV advert to The Professionals imitating Martin Shaw's character of Doyle (with the actor Ray Trickett playing Lewis Collins' Bodie) for the release of the Nissan Almera.[1] In 1997 as part of the same advertising campaign he performed another spoof sketch of the 1970s television series The Sweeney.[2][3]

He played the part of Harry Noakes, Captain of the cockleboat Renown in the TV mini-series Dunkirk.

He has appeared in several films made by the Comic Strip, including the role as Dave Spanker in Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown. He also played Dave Clifton, a local radio DJ on Radio Norwich - a fictional radio station in both series of I'm Alan Partridge.

He also voiced Sir Lancelot and Robin Hood in the animated children's television series King Arthur's Disasters. He was the voice of Gilbert the Alien in the 1980s TV series Get Fresh, which later span off into Gilbert's Fridge, a series starring the character.[4]

He played King Stupid in the CBBC series Stupid!, having replaced Marcus Brigstocke, because the latter was involved in Excuse My French on BBC2. Cornwell also appeared in the Doctor Who episode, "The Fires of Pompeii". In 2010 he presented/hosted the Friday night Euro Lottery draw show on BBC1. In 2011 he did several stand-up comedy gigs as character Switzerland McNaughtiehorse. Cornwell is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.[5] and presents the weekly podcast The Spurs Show[6] with Mike Leigh.

In January 2013 he appeared in the ITV comedy drama series Great Night Out as Tonky.

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Character
2000 Blood Doug
2001 Large Barry Blaze Mouseley
2004 Churchill: The Hollywood Years Martin Bormann
2004 Stella Street: The Movie Mick Jagger
2007 I Could Never Be Your Woman Cameraman
2007 Lady Godiva: Back in the Saddle Mayor Osborne
2010 Made in Dagenham Dave
2013 Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa Dave Clifton

Television[]

Year Title Character Production Notes
1986–1996 Spitting Image Jamie Spencer-Churchill (voice) Central Independent Television 19 episodes
1987 The Corner House Harry 2 episodes
1987–1988 Get Fresh Gilbert the Alien (voice) ITV 80 episodes
1988 On the Waterfront Gilbert the Alien (voice) BBC 1 episode
1991 Remote Control Various Channel 4 UK version
1992 Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show PC Cornwell 1 episode
1994 The Bill Jeff Price ITV Episode: "Settling The Score"
1994 Lovejoy Syd Bishop BBC1 1 episode
1996 Only Fools And Horses Drunken man in Hospital BBC Episode: "Modern Men"
1997–2002 I'm Alan Partridge Dave Clifton BBC Series 1 and 2
2002 The Bill Shane Pellow ITV In 8 episodes from Episode 023 to Episode 071
2002–2006 Dead Ringers Various Characters BBC
2003-2010 Meg and Mog Mog CITV and Tiny Pop
2004 Stella Street Various
2005 Stupid! King Stupid CBBC Season 2 (replaced Marcus Brigstocke)
2005–2006 King Arthur's Disasters Sir Lancelot, Robin Hood (voices) CITV
2008 Harry and Paul Various Characters BBC Series 2
2008 Headcases Robert Mugabe, Morgan Freeman, Steven Spielberg (voices) ITV, STV, UTV
2011 Skins Diesel E4 Series 5
2012 Mrs Biggs DS Jack Slipper ITV Series 1
2013 Great Night Out Tonky ITV Series 1
2013 Misfits Geoff
2014 Not Going Out Police Officer BBC One Series 7 Episode 10 'Wedding
2014 Midsomer Murders Eddie Rayner ITV Episode: "The Flying Club"
2015 Holby City Sean Cronin BBC One Series 17 Episode 14 'Wages of Sin'
2016 Jericho Joe Capstick ITV
2018 Damned 'Animal' Hames Channel 4 1 Episode

Direct-to-video[]

Year Title Character Notes
2002 Phase One: Celebrity Take Down Murdoc Niccals (voice) Direct-to-video movie
2006 Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades Murdoc Niccals (voice) Direct-to-video movie

Web series[]

Year Title Character Notes
2020 Song Machine Murdoc Niccals Web series by Gorillaz

Video games[]

Year Title Character Notes
2001 The Italian Job Charlie Croker Michael Caine impersonation[7]

References[]

  1. ^ 'Professionals' advert on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwcb_D2Xm-w
  2. ^ 'Sweeney' advert on Youtube https://www.youtube.com//watch?v=Z9K_EkU9KZE
  3. ^ 'Cries & whispers' article on the advert's filming, 'The Independent' 16 March 1997. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/cries-whispers-5387506.html
  4. ^ "Gilbert's Fridge". Film & TV Database. BFI. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
  5. ^ web of pub | Phil Cornwell: Not just a Tottenham fan… Archived 18 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Download Phil Cornwell Mp3 and Phil Cornwell Music at Playbackmedia
  7. ^ Li, David (14 August 2002). "Postmortem: Pixelogic's The Italian Job". Gamasutra. UBM. Retrieved 26 September 2018.

External links[]

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