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Dave Benson Phillips

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Dave Benson Phillips
Born (1965-02-03) 3 February 1965 (age 59)
NationalityBritish
OccupationChildren's television presenter
Years active1981–present
SpouseEmma (1 child)
Websitewww.davebensonphillips.co.uk

Dave Benson Phillips (born 3 February 1965) is a British children's television presenter who gained high popularity as the host of the children's game show Get Your Own Back, shown on BBC One (later CBBC) between 1991 and 2003. In 2005 he was among the select few honoured by induction into the Children's Walk of Fame. Benson Phillips has a particular interest in children with special needs, amongst whom his Makaton sign language video is extremely popular. He also donates many hours to charity work both in the UK and abroad.

Career

Benson Phillips started his career in 1981 at the Polka Children's Theatre in Wimbledon where, as a Theatre Usher, where he was bitten by the performing bug and set out to learn the art of entertaining children. He appeared in various magic and music shows and even helped out with the making of props and costumes.

Benson Phillips furthered his "education" by becoming a Bluecoat at Pontins Holiday Camps, the training ground for many of Britain's popular entertainers. After a brief period as a song and dance man, he realised he was much happier performing to "children". He went on to work for Haven Holidays as a Children's Uncle where he got his big break into television. He was spotted by the BBC and given the chance to appear in Playbus, which later became Playdays, a programme that ran successfully for nine years.

On Playdays, Benson Phillips was on the "Playground Stop" segment, in which he taught viewers about Makaton, a basic sign language which is typically used with special needs children.

This led to Benson Phillips being given his own show by the BBC, the popular BAFTA nominated Get Your Own Back, of which there were 14 series. He was given another major series in 1996, this time for ITV, called Disney's Wake Up in the Wild Room, which was aired every Saturday morning for two years.

Benson Phillips starred in the Fun Song Factory video series, which was televised for ITV. He has also presented other television programmes including the CITV series Petswap, co-presented by Fearne Cotton, Nick Jnr for Nickelodeon and Words and Pictures and Go For It for BBC Education. Benson Phillips is also well known for his work on the Disney Channel, presenting the children's cookery programme Bitesize and presenting as "Big Dave" on the Cable Guide Award winning Playhouse Disney with co-presenter "Little Alex" Lovell.

Benson Phillips donned a furry suit to play Bouma the food-loving Yeti in the CBBC cookery show Planet Cook alongside his good friend, TV Chef Kevin Woodford. The series is enjoying another airing on Channel 4.

Benson Phillips' voice appeared on many radio programmes including Playtime for the BBC and on the animation series Dream Street for ITV as the characters "Jack Hammer" and "Ice Cool". He also starred as "Big Blue" in the Sony PlayStation game Smarties Meltdown.

Benson Phillips continued to perform to live audiences throughout his career, including touring with Get Your Own Back – Live! and The Dave Benson Phillips Show, plus one of his self-professed proudest moments, singing at the London Palladium as part of the Children's Royal Variety Performance. In 1999, he made his first appearance in a musical, playing "Eddie Hair" in The Demon Headmaster, which toured throughout England. Benson Phillips and his "furry friend" Big Bear toured the Haven Holiday Villages on the south, west and east coasts in a summer tour.

Benson Phillips was inducted into Britain’s only Children's Walk Of Fame, as voted for by the nation's children. His plaque can be seen at Drusilla's Park, Alfriston, East Sussex along with other inductees: Sooty, Peter Rabbit and The Cheeky Girls.

In 2007, Benson Phillips celebrated 25 years in the business of entertaining children.

In 2008 Benson Phillips released two musical CDs, Dave's Are We There Yet? and Dave's Nap Attack. He was also one of the support acts for the group, McFly, at their Brighton concert.

2011 found Benson Phillips spending his time writing scripts for pre-school TV shows and creating new theatre shows for children with his entertainment company, Chester Benson Productions Ltd, which he runs with his wife, Emma. He also toured the country with live shows and music concerts for children and adults.

The pair also indulged in their love of classical music and worked with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to write and produce classical music concerts for children. They already have six very successful concerts under their belt, including an original score by composer Ian Stephens (along with Benson Phillips) to the classic rhyme, "We're Going on a Bear Hunt". It premiered to a capacity crowd at their last Teddy Bears Picnic concert and won rave reviews.

Benson Phillips has stated that he hopes that, one day, the "Bear Hunt" will be used as an introduction to the world of classical music for the world's young children, just like Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

In complete contrast to all the works he is known for, Benson Phillips also works as a DJ at clubs, events and universities around the UK.

Personal life

Benson Phillips lives with his wife, Emma. In 2010, the couple became parents. They have described their Son, Benjamin, as "the best production we've ever worked on". The three of them currently live in Worthing, West Sussex. He runs Chester Benson Productions, an entertainments company. Among its services are Big Red Mover, a removals and transportation company, an inflatables hire company[1] , a special slime effects service called The GOO CREW, and a company that create shows for theatres and live events.

Filmography

Videos and DVDs

  • Fun Song Factory
  • A Day Full of Surprise and Songs
  • Makaton - Nursery Rhymes
  • Wow! That's What I Call Nursery Rhymes
  • Get Up And Go
  • Dave And The Animals
  • Wiz Waz's World of ABC
  • Wiz Waz's world of 123
  • The Magical World Of Animals
  • Roald Dahl - The Enormous Crocodile
  • First Bible Stories
  • Bourne Leisure Health & Safety Film

References

  1. ^ http://www.davebensonphillips.co.uk {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

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