Phil Cornwell Explained

Phil Cornwell
Birthname:Philip Cornwell
Birth Date:5 October 1957
Birth Place:Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England
Years Active:1980–present

Philip Cornwell (born 5 October 1957) is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is part of the Dead Ringers television and radio series, and is 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 also portrayed DJ Dave Clifton from I'm Alan Partridge and the movie, .

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. In 1997 as part of the same advertising campaign he performed another spoof sketch of the 1970s television series The Sweeney.[1]

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

Cornwell 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. In 2013, he reprised the role for the movie .

Cornwell 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.[2]

Cornwell also voiced Sir Lancelot and Robin Hood in the animated children's television series King Arthur's Disasters. He played King Stupid in the CBBC series Stupid!, having replaced Marcus Brigstocke, because the latter was involved in Excuse My French on BBC Two. Cornwell also appeared in the Doctor Who episode, "The Fires of Pompeii". In 2010 he presented/hosted the Friday night EuroMillions lottery draw show on BBC One. In 2011 he did several stand-up comedy gigs as character Switzerland McNaughtiehorse. Cornwell is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.[3] and presents the weekly podcast The Spurs Show[4] with Mike Leigh.

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

Cornwell will play Sanson 'The Bourreau' in the 2023 movie Napoleon, directed by Ridley Scott.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleCharacter
2000 Blood Doug
2001 Large Barry Blaze Mouseley
2004 Martin Bormann
Stella Street: The Movie Mick Jagger
2007 I Could Never Be Your Woman Cameraman
Mayor Osborne
2010 Made in Dagenham Dave
2013 Dave Clifton
2023 Napoleon Sanson 'The Bourreau'

Television

YearTitleCharacterProductionNotes
1980 Something Else Various impressions1 episode
1986–1996 Spitting Image Jamie Spencer-Churchill (voice) 19 episodes
1987 The Corner House Harry 2 episodes
1987–1988 Get Fresh Gilbert the Alien (voice) 80 episodes
1988 On the Waterfront Gilbert the Alien (voice) 1 episode
1991 Remote Control Various Characters Channel 4UK version
1992 Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show PC Cornwell 1 episode
1992–2012 The Comic Strip Presents... Various Characters Channel 4 8 episodes
1994 The Bill Jeff Price Episode: "Settling The Score"
Lovejoy Syd Bishop 1 episode
1996 Only Fools And Horses Drunken man in Hospital Episode: "Modern Men"
1997–2002 I'm Alan Partridge Dave Clifton Series 1 and 2
2002 The Bill Shane Pellow In 8 episodes from Episode 023 to Episode 071
2002–2006 Dead Ringers Various Characters BBC
2003-2010 Meg and Mog Mog
2004 Stella Street Various Characters BBC
2005Twisted TalesDocBBC ThreeEpisode: "Whacked"
Stupid!King StupidCBBCSeason 2 (replaced Marcus Brigstocke)
2005–2006 King Arthur's Disasters Sir Lancelot, Robin Hood (voices)
2008 Doctor Who Stallholder BBC OneSeries 4 Episode 2 "The Fires of Pompeii"
Harry and Paul Various Characters Series 2
Headcases Robert Mugabe, Morgan Freeman, Steven Spielberg (voices)
2011 Skins Diesel Series 5
2012 Mrs Biggs DS Jack Slipper TV miniseries - Episodes 1x2 and 1x5
2013 Great Night Out Tonky Series 1
Misfits Geoff
2014 Not Going Out Police Officer Series 7 Episode 10 'The Wedding'
Midsomer Murders Eddie Rayner Episode: "The Flying Club"
2015 Holby City Sean Cronin Series 17 Episode 14 'Wages of Sin'
2016 Jericho Joe Capstick
2018 Damned 'Animal' Hames 1 Episode
2022Man Vs BeeArmstrongNetflixTV mini series
Mrs Brown's Boys Boris 2 Episodes
Call the MidwifeBernardBBC One1 Episode
2023 Vera Philip Robson Series 12 Episode 5 'The Rising Tide'

Direct-to-video

YearTitleCharacterNotes
2002 Murdoc Niccals (voice) Direct-to-video movie
2006 Murdoc Niccals (voice) Direct-to-video movie

Video games

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1997-03-16 . Cries & whispers . 2022-11-09 . The Independent . en.
  2. Web site: Gilbert's Fridge . Film & TV Database . BFI . 2007-09-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131019072115/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/16936 . 19 October 2013 . dead .
  3. http://homepage.mac.com/elliottday/worldofpub/cornwell.html web of pub | Phil Cornwell: Not just a Tottenham fan…
  4. http://podcast.playbackmedia.co.uk/spurs.xml, Download Phil Cornwell Mp3 and Phil Cornwell Music at Playbackmedia
  5. Web site: Li . David . Postmortem: Pixelogic's The Italian Job . Gamasutra . . 26 September 2018 . en . 14 August 2002.