Justin Fletcher

Justin Fletcher MBE (born 15 June 1970)[1] is an English comedian, children's television presenter and actor on the BBC pre-school television channel CBeebies. [2] speaking and performing in various, often self-created, roles. He specialises in slapstick comedy and works with children with special needs through his show Something Special. Fletcher also appeared as the award-winning comedian, Mr Tumble.

For the ice hockey player, see Justin Fletcher (ice hockey).

Justin Fletcher MBE
Born	(1970-06-15) 15 June 1970 Reading, Berkshire, England
Occupation	Comedian, actor, presenter
Notable work	Fun Song Factory Tweenies Tikkabilla Something Special Shaun the Sheep Gigglebiz Justin's House Tiny Tumble Jollywobbles
Awards	BAFTA Children's Awards 2008 Best Presenter

Biography

Born in Reading, Berkshire, he attended Theale Green School. Fletcher is the son of songwriter Guy Fletcher. He has three sisters and one brother. He currently lives in Winnersh, Wokingham, Berkshire.[3] He is also the cousin of Dire Straits keyboardist Guy Fletcher.

Career

Justin worked for Sounds Good in Theale as a cassette duplicating machine operator and generally amused his co-workers with his characterisations.

While in his final year studying drama at the Guildford School of Acting, Fletcher started to regularly watch Phillip Schofield in the BBC1 broom cupboard with Gordon the Gopher, and decided that a career in children's television was for him.[4] He then met Phillip Schofield, who suggested that he should make a show reel to showcase to TV executives.

Having sketched out various comedic characters, he put together a show reel called Justin Time, which encompassed two different characters: Anna Conda, a myopic reptile-house warden; and Arthur Sleep, a regional newsreader who has difficulty staying awake and can sleep anywhere no matter what.[4] Both characters would later be used for his CBeebies show Gigglebiz.[4] Sent to various broadcasters and production companies his first TV show after graduation was Fun Song Factory for GMTV, working with Dave Benson Phillips (he had earlier done Playdays on the stage after its cancellation).[5]

BBC and CBeebies

He was part of the Tikkabilla programme, out of which was spun Higgledy House, a slapstick comedy for children with Sarah-Jane Honeywell, which progressed to the very popular Mr Tumble. Fletcher has also voiced the characters of Doodles and Jake in Tweenies, Miguel in Finley the Fire Engine, Sleeping Bear and Growling Tiger in CBeebies' Boo!, with additional voices in Todd World, Shaun the Sheep and Timmy Time. In 2006 Fletcher became a presenter on CBeebies but left in 2007.

Through his own production company, Fletcher developed Something Special, which he presents while signing in Makaton, a type of sign language.[6]

In November 2008, CBeebies aired three different pilots made by Fletcher, with the possibility of one of them becoming a full-time series. They were called Humphrey the Painter, Gigglebiz and Captain Adorable. In January 2009, an announcement by CBeebies was made that Gigglebiz would become the regular show, starting in September 2009, with the Humphrey and Captain Adorable characters being included, which was now a series of character-based comedy sketches linked by jokes told by children.[4][7]

His voice over work for CBBC includes voicing Harold from Thomas the Tank Engine, which he has performed on BBC Radio 4, arena tour and pantomime. Fletcher is a relief continuity presenter for CBeebies' presentation links and regularly performed on the CBeebies radio station on BBC Radio 7 until its change to BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2011.

Fletcher also appears as himself along with a range of animated characters in the Bee Bright series of award-winning educational DVDs.[8]

He also occasionally appears in a show called The Hollies School.

Justin's House

In October 2011, CBeebies began broadcasting Justin's House starring Fletcher with Steven Kynman[9] as "Robert the Robot" and Jane Deane as "Dee Livery".[10] The show is based in Justin's fictional house, and recorded live in front of a studio audience.

Ratings

Episode ratings from BARB.[11]

Episode no.	Airdate	Total viewers	Share	CBeebies weekly ranking
1	8 October 2011	675,000	7.1%	2
2	9 October 2011	716,000	7.8%	1
3	15 October 2011	535,000	6.0%	5
4	16 October 2011	744,000	7.8%	1
5	22 October 2011	570,000	6.8%	6
6	23 October 2011	715,000	6.3%	1
7	29 October 2011	634,000	4.2%	1
8	30 October 2011	497,000	8.0%	5
9	5 November 2011	464,000	5.3%	5
10	6 November 2011	527,000	5.7%	1
11	12 November 2011	526,000	6.7%	6
12	13 November 2011	Under 485,000	3.3%	Outside Top 10
13	19 November 2011	537,000	6.5%	4
14	20 November 2011	Under 497,000	5.8%	Outside Top 10
15	26 November 2011	Under 461,000	5.5%	Outside Top 10
16	27 November 2011	489,000	5.4%	4
17	3 December 2011	Under 486,000	6.1%	Outside Top 10
18	4 December 2011	510,000	4.0%	5
19	10 December 2011	409,000	6.3%	3
20	11 December 2011	572,000	6.1%	1
23	15 December 2011	800,000	6.4%	2
21	17 December 2011	Under 581,000	6.3%	Outside Top 10
22	18 December 2011	Under 581,000	3.3%	Outside Top 10

Other work

Starting in 1998 Fletcher presented the Fun Song Factory for the GMTV series for a year as his first full-time presenting role. He later returned to the show in 2004, as the voice of Ozzy.

He owns a production company, Scrumptious House, which has released a DVD called Let's Sing Nursery Rhymes with Justin Fletcher.

In the CITV channel programme Jim Jam and Sunny, he is the voice of both Jim Jam and Slim the cowardly giraffe.

His voice appears on the VTech Alphabet Desk, Turn and Learn Driver and the Bob the Builder phones, the children's train ride at Animal Farm Country Park near Burnham-on-Sea, and a number of Crick Software titles.[12]

From December 2009 to January 2010, Fletcher played the character Buttons in Cinderella at the Capitol Theatre in Horsham, West Sussex.[13] From December 2010 to January 2011, he played the character Josh the Jester in the pantomime Sleeping Beauty at The Hexagon theatre in Reading, Berkshire.[14] From December 2011 to January 2012, he played the character Wishy Washy in the pantomime Aladdin at the Hexagon theatre in Reading.[15] In recent years he has performed in 2 pantomimes in Woking, 7 pantomimes in Reading and returns in 2018 for the panto Aladdin again at the Hexagon.[16] In 2019 Fletcher will star as Buttons in Cinderella which he also wrote.

He also attends festivals such as Camp Bestival in Dorset to entertain children. Justin is a patron for Bournemouth-based performing arts school Stagewise.

His debut album Hands Up the Album reached number 16 in the UK Albums Chart on 11 March 2012. In March 2013 he released his second album, Best Friends. In January 2015 he released his third album, Just Party.

On 12 September 2015 he appeared on Pointless Celebrities, and got knocked out in the second round.

Fletcher presented a daily radio show on Fun Kids weekdays from 9 am to 10 am called Justin's Word.

Awards

Orders of Chivalry

Fletcher was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to "children's broadcasting and the voluntary sector". [17]

Professional awards

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2007[18]

• Nominated as Best Presenter for Something Special

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2008[19]

• Awarded Best Presenter for Something Special

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2010[20]

• Awarded Best Presenter for Something Special
• Nominated Best Performer for Gigglebiz

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2011[21]

• Nominated Best Presenter for Something Special

• BAFTA Children's Awards 2012[22]

• Awarded the Flynn Rossiter award for entertainment

Filmography

Years	Programme	Role
1998–2004	Fun Song Factory	Himself (Presenter), Ozzy (voice only, 2004 version)
1999–2002	Tweenies	Jake and Doodles (Voice Only)
1999	Legoland	Jonathan Ablebody (Voice only)
2000	Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge	Swampy (Voice Only)
2000	Chicken Run video game	Rocky and Fetcher (voice only)
2002–07	Tikkabilla	Himself (Presenter)
2003–2006	Boo!	Growling Tiger and Sleeping Bear (voice only)
2007–10	CBeebies on BBC Radio 7	Himself (Presenter)
2002	Higgledy House	Himself
2003-present	Something Special	Himself, Mr Tumble and various characters
2006–07	CBeebies Continuity Links	Himself (Presenter)
2006	ToddWorld	Pickle (UK dub), Additional voices
2006	CBeebies Springwatch	Himself (Presenter)
2006	Jim Jam and Sunny	Jim Jam and Slim the cowardly giraffe (voice only)
2007–16	Shaun the Sheep	Shaun, Timmy (Season 1-5 onwards) (voice only)
2007-9	Yo Gabba Gabba!	Brobee, Plex (UK dub)
2008	Famous 5: On the Case	Timmy and Smidgie (voice only) [23]
2007	Finley the Fire Engine	Miguel and other characters (UK dub, voices only)
2009–	Gigglebiz	Various characters
2009–12	Timmy Time	Timmy, Yabba the Duck, Finlay the Fox and others (voice only)
2010	Jollywobbles	Mr Jolly
2011	Olly the Little White Van	Olly (voice only)
2011–2017	Justin's House	Himself
2015	Shaun the Sheep Movie	Shaun and Timmy (voice only)
	Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer's Llamas
2019	A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon	Shaun and Timmy (voice only)
	GiggleQuiz	Various characters

Live performances

1997 Playdays Mr Jolly (live stage show only)

• Camp Bestival

• 2009[24]
• 2010[25]
• 2011[26]
• 2012[27]
• 2015[28]

References

1. "Children's TV star appointed MBE". BBC News. 13 June 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
2. "BBC CBeebies website". 20 September 2009. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
3. "BBC - CBeebies Presenters - Justin". Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
4. "Interview: Justin Fletcher on Gigglebiz". CBeeBies. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
5. "Interview: Justin Fletcher". CBBC. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
6. "Justin Fletcher is Something Special". 12 November 2008. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
7. "Gigglebiz Homepage". 20 September 2009. Archived from the original on 9 January 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
8. "Bee Bright". Retrieved 15 January 2013.
9. "BBC - CBeebies - Justin's House". Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
10. "Jane Deane Home Page". Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
11. "Top 10 Programmes - BARB". Archived from the original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
12. "Clicker Books @home". Archived from the original on 31 May 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
13. Hewitt, Phil (4 December 2009). "PANTOMIME: All the major pantos in West Sussex and further afield". Midhurst and Petworth Observer. Johnston Press Digital Publishing. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
14. "Justin Fletcher to star in Hexagon panto". 3 March 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
15. "Madge Bishop to star alongside Justin Fletcher in Aladdin". Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
16. "Aladdin 2018". www.readingarts.com. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
17. "No. 58729". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2008. p. 16.
18. "Past Winners and Nominees - Children's - Awards - 2007". BAFTA. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
19. "Past Winners and Nominees - Children's - Awards - 2008". BAFTA. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
20. "Past Winners and Nominees - Children's - Awards - 2010". BAFTA. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
21. "Past Winners and Nominees - Children's - Awards - 2011". BAFTA. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
22. "Past Winners and Nominees - Children's - Awards - 2012". BAFTA. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
23. "Justin Fletcher IMDB Profile". Retrieved 15 January 2013.
24. Thomas H Green (31 July 2009). "Camp Bestival: punks, travellers and my mum and dad". The Daily Telegraph. London, England. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
25. "Ellie Goulding, Tinie Tempah and The Gruffalo for Camp Bestival". eFestivals. Bristol, England: NRG Internet Ltd. 18 May 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
26. "Fall in love with Mr Tumble at Harvest at Jimmy's". East Anglian Daily Times. Ipswich, England: Archant. 26 August 2011. Archived from the original on 22 April 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
27. "Camp Bestival '12". eFestivals. Bristol, England: NRG Internet Ltd. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
28. Sketchanet. "Camp Bestival 2016 - Kids - Mr Tumble". Retrieved 21 May 2016.

External links

• Justin Fletcher on IMDb