I’m having a bit of a second wind now - Christopher Biggins on his show at Wolverhampton Grand
He’s one of Britain’s most larger than life entertainers. Actor, TV presenter and showman Christopher Biggins has led a unique career on the stage and is one of the nation’s best loved panto stars and reality TV show contestants.
He will talk about his career this afternoon when he visits Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre for An Afternoon With.
The show will be presented by BBC Midlands Today’s Nick Owen and fans can take their seat a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with Biggins in the beautiful Grade II Listed auditorium.
Christopher is well known for his performances in pantomime, his most famous role is that of Widow Twankey in Aladdin. He last appeared in a Wolverhampton pantomime at the Grand Theatre in 2010.
His theatre roles have included The Baker in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, and 18 months at the London Palladium in the stage adaptation of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
In 2017, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Great British Pantomime Awards.
Christopher was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England and raised in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where he took elocution lessons and participated in local drama groups, leading to a job at the local repertory theatre.
He is best known as a comedy actor, appearing as the regular character Lukewarm in the popular situation comedy Porridge (1974–77) starring Ronnie Barker.
See Christopher in Porridge here:
Other comedy shows he appeared in include Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973) and Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em (1973, 1978). In 1976 he played dramatic role as Nero in the BBC dramatisation of I, Claudius by Robert Graves, having been selected for the role partly on the strength of a television commercial in which he had played a Roman emperor presiding over the games.
He also appeared in the BBC’s Poldark in 1977. Despite these serious roles, his co-hosting of Surprise, Surprise and hosting children’s gameshow On Safari (1982–1985) for TVS led to him being typecast as a “bubbly personality”; when asked in by an interviewer if he resented that, he replied: “No, not a bit of it. I’m perfectly happy being me, thank you, and I happen to know that I am afforded enormous respect from everybody I know. And anyway, I’m having something of a second wind now. I’ve reached the age where all kinds of roles are opening up to me.”
On children’s television he had a regular role as supermarket manager Adam Painting in the children’s television programme Rentaghost (1978–1983) and also played Reverend Whiting in Southern Television’s Brendon Chase, produced in 1980. In the early 1980s he hosted children’s gameshow On Safari, a bizarre afternoon game show with a jungle-themed studio set.
Christopher appeared in the Big Finish Productions audio drama The One Doctor, based on the television series Doctor Who. His film roles include The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and “The Baker” in the 1999 Video Version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. His theatre roles have included The Baker in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, and in the stage adaptation of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where he was teamed to great success opposite Louise Gold for 18 months at the London Palladium.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1999 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at the Theatre Royal, Brighton. He appeared in The One Doctor, one of Big Finish Productions’ audio dramas based on the television series Doctor Who.
See Christopher pay tribute to the late Cilla Black here:
He took part in the seventh series of I’m a Celebrity . . . Me Out of Here! in 2007. He was eventually voted the winner of the show on 30 November 2007. He took part in an episode of Celebrity Come Dine With Me, first shown on Channel 4 on 15 February 2009. He won £1,000 for his chosen charity.
In 2009, he played himself as a pantomime director in the BBC Two sitcom, Psychoville.
In 2010, he was a celebrity guest team captain on an episode of What Do Kids Know? along with Rufus Hound, Joe Swash and Sara Cox on Watch while later that year he played God in the BBC adult puppet comedy show Mongrels.
In May 2011, he starred in the second series of Channel 4’s Celebrity Five Go To . . . in which the celebrities visited South Africa.
In 2014, he took part in the celebrity cookery programme Celebrity MasterChef on BBC One. In 2014, he took part in a celebrity edition of Catchphrase. He voices It’s Not Me, It’s You on Channel 5.
On July 28, 2016, Christopher entered the Celebrity Big Brother house to participate in its 18th series. He was chosen by the public to take part in the first secret mission. He was removed from the house on day nine. The show’s producers stated that Christopher had made ‘a number of comments capable of causing great offence to housemates and the viewing public’.
Andy Richardson
