Early life

Born in Derker, Oldham, Lancashire, Cribbins served an apprenticeship at the Oldham Repertory Theatre. In 1947, he interrupted his apprenticeship to undertake national service with the Parachute Regiment in Aldershot and in British-administered Mandatory Palestine.

Early stage and record career

Cribbins made his first West End theatre appearance in 1956 at the Arts Theatre, playing the two Dromios in A Comedy of Errors, and co-starred in the first West End productions of Not Now Darling, There Goes the Bride and Run for Your Wife. He also starred in the revue And Another Thing, and recorded a single of a song from the show titled "Folksong".

In 1962 he released three comic songs. "The Hole in the Ground" was about an annoyed workman who eventually buries a harasser. "Right Said Fred" was about three workmen who struggle to move an unspecified heavy and awkward object into or out of a building. Both these songs were produced by George Martin for Parlophone, with music by Ted Dicks and lyrics by Myles Rudge. "Hole in the Ground" and "Right Said Fred" both reached the top ten in the UK Singles Chart (all chart positions are given below). His third and final single was "Gossip Calypso", which was another top 30 hit.

Films

Cribbins appeared in films from the early 1950s, mainly comedies. His credits include Two-Way Stretch (1960) and The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) with Peter Sellers, Crooks in Cloisters (1964) and three Carry On films - Carry On Jack (1963), Carry On Spying (1964) and Carry On Columbus (1992). Other appearances include the second Doctor Who film Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966) as Special Police Constable Tom Campbell; She in 1965; The Railway Children (1970, as Mr Albert Perks, the station porter) and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Frenzy (1972, as Felix Forsythe). Later films include Dangerous Davies - The Last Detective (1981), Blackball (2003) and Run for Your Wife (2012).

Narration and voice work

Cribbins was the narrator of the British animated children's TV series The Wombles from 1973 to 1975 and also narrated a BBC radio adaptation of The Wind in the Willows. He was the celebrity storyteller in more episodes of Jackanory than any other personality, with a total of 114 appearances between 1966 and 1991. He also narrated the audio tape of the Antonia Barber book The Mousehole Cat.

In the 1960s, he provided the voice of the character Tufty in RoSPA road safety films. He also provided the voice of Buzby, a talking cartoon bird that served as the mascot for the then Post Office. He also appeared reduced to OO gauge scale in adverts for Hornby model trains.

Cribbins is also the voice of Harry Bailey, the landlord of the Tabard Inn described by Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales, at the Canterbury Tales Attraction in Kent, which he recorded in 1987.

Cribbins also had a short stint doing voiceovers for the Mark and Lard Show on BBC Radio 1 where he would explain made up folk traditions.

In 2015 Cribbins was among an ensemble cast in an audio production of The Jungle Book, in which he played the White Cobra.

Television

Cribbins was the star of the ITV series Cribbins (1969-70). Other TV appearances include The Avengers (1968), Fawlty Towers (1975, as the spoon salesman Mr Hutchinson who is mistaken by the character Basil Fawlty for a hotel inspector), Worzel Gummidge (1980), Shillingbury Tales (1980) and its spin-off Cuffy (1983). Besides voicing The Wombles, Cribbins was a well-known regular on BBC children's television in the 1970s as host of performance panel game Star Turn and Star Turn Challenge. These programmes concluded with Cribbins narrating a detective story as recurring character "Ivor Notion", with a script usually by Johnny Ball but sometimes by Myles Rudge, the co-writer of his Top 10 singles. He starred in the BBC's 1975 Christmas production Great Big Groovy Horse, a rock opera based on the story of the Trojan Horse shown on BBC2 alongside Julie Covington and Paul Jones. It was later repeated on BBC1 in 1977 He regularly appeared on BBC TV's The Good Old Days recreating songs made famous by the great stars of Music Hall.

Among his later TV appearances are Dalziel and Pascoe (1999), Last of the Summer Wine (2003), Coronation Street (2003, as Wally Bannister) and Down to Earth (2005).

Cribbins currently stars as Jack in the series Old Jack's Boat, set in Staithes, and broadcast on the CBeebies channel starting in 2013. This has featured Helen Lederer, Janine Duvitski and former Doctor Who companion Freema Agyeman in supporting roles. Although Agyeman and Cribbins both played companions and supporting characters during David Tennant's tenure in Doctor Who (appearing in six episodes together), Old Jack's Boat marks the first time the two actors have appeared together on screen.

On 9 May 2015 he gave a reading at VE Day 70: A Party to Remember in Horse Guards Parade, London which was broadcast live on BBC1.

Later stage career

Cribbins' later theatre credits include the roles of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre, Moonface Martin in Anything Goes with Elaine Paige at the Prince Edward Theatre, Dolittle in My Fair Lady at the Houston Opera House, Texas and Watty Watkins in George Gershwin's Lady, Be Good at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and on tour. He has also appeared in numerous pantomimes. He appeared in the BBC CBeebies Proms (Number 11 & 13) at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 July 2014 as Old Jack.

Doctor Who

Having played Tom Campbell, a companion to Dr. Who in the 1966 feature film Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D., Cribbins returned to the world of Doctor Who in 2006, when a photograph of him and fellow Doctor Who alumnus Lynda Baron at a wedding appeared on the BBC's tie-in website for the television episode "Tooth and Claw".

In January 2007, Cribbins had a guest role as glam rock promoter Arnold Korns in Horror of Glam Rock, a Doctor Who radio play for BBC Radio 7.

In December 2007, Cribbins appeared as Wilfred Mott in the Christmas television special, "Voyage of the Damned"; he then appeared in a recurring capacity as the same character for the 2008 series, as the grandfather of companion Donna Noble. He became a Tenth Doctor companion himself in The End of Time, the two-part 2009-10 Christmas and New Year special, when his character was inadvertently responsible for that Doctor's demise. Cribbins's role as Mott makes him unique, as he is the only actor to have played two companions; and the only actor featured alongside the Doctor's enemies, the Daleks, in both the TV and cinema versions of Doctor Who.

Honours

In 2009, Cribbins was honoured for his work in children's television with a Special Award at the British Academy Children's Awards which was presented by former co-star Catherine Tate, who portrayed his character's granddaughter in Doctor Who.

Cribbins was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to drama.

In 2014 he was awarded the J.M. Barrie award for his "lasting contribution to children’s arts".

Filmography

Television

Year(s)	Title	Episode(s)
1960	Interpol Calling	"Slow Boat to Amsterdam"
1962	The Canterville Ghost
1966, 1968	The Avengers	"The Girl from Auntie" (1966) "Look - (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers ..." (1968)
1966-95	Jackanory
1971, 1976	Get the Drift
1973-75	The Wombles (Voices)
1975	The Great Big Groovy Horse
1975	The Further Adventures Of Noddy	"The Great Car Race" (Narrator)
1975	Fawlty Towers	"The Hotel Inspectors"
1976	Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (Narrator)
1976-78	Star Turn
1976	Space: 1999	"Brian the Brain"
1977	Play of the Month	Episode 97: "The Country Wife"
1979	Worzel Gummidge
1981	Shillingbury Tales
1982	The Good Old Days
1983	Cuffy
1983	Moschops
1986	Langley Bottom
1987	When We Are Married
1987	High & Dry
1990	Bertie the Bat
1993	A Passion For Angling
1999	Dalziel and Pascoe	"Time to Go"
2000	The Canterbury Tales	"The Journey Back"
2002	Barbara	"Ted's Shed"
2003	Last of the Summer Wine	"In Which Gavin Hinchcliffe Loses the Gulf Stream"
2003	Coronation Street
2005	Down to Earth	"Hot Air" "Tall Tales"
2007-10	Doctor Who	"Voyage of the Damned" (2007) "Partners in Crime" (2008) "The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky" (2008) "Turn Left" (2008) "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" (2008) "The End of Time" (2009-10)
2009	Never Mind The Buzzcocks	Doctor Who Special
2010	Catching the Impossible
2010	Would I Lie To You?
2011	A Comedy Roast	"Barbara Windsor: a Comedy Roast"
2011	Bookaboo	"The Bears in the Bed and the Great Big Storm"
2013-	Old Jack's Boat
2013	Doctor Who Live	The Next Doctor
2013	Have I Got News For You	-
2014	Midsomer Murders	The Flying Club
2015	New Tricks	Last Man Standing, Part One Last Man Standing, Part Two

Films

Year	Film	Role
1957	Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst
1958	Dunkirk
1959	Make Mine a Million
	Tommy the Toreador
1960	Two-Way Stretch
	The World of Suzie Wong
1961	The Girl on the Boat
	Nothing Barred
	The Best of Enemies
1962	The Fast Lady
1963	The Wrong Arm of the Law
	The Mouse on the Moon
	Carry On Jack
1964	A Home of Your Own
	Carry On Spying
	Crooks in Cloisters
	The Counterfeit Constable
1965	You Must Be Joking
	Cup Fever
	She
1966	Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.
1967	Casino Royale
1968	Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River
1970	The Railway Children
1972	Frenzy
1978	The Water Babies
	The Adventures of Picasso
1981	Dangerous Davies - The Last Detective
1992	Carry On Columbus
2003	Blackball

Discography

Chart singles

Year	Title	UK peak position	Notes
1962	"Hole In The Ground"	9	One of Noël Coward's choices when guest on BBC Radio's Desert Island Discs
1962	"Right Said Fred"	10	Inspired the name of the band of the same name
1962	"Gossip Calypso"	25	Written by Trevor Peacock

Albums

Year	Album	Notes
1962	A Combination Of Cribbins
1970	The Best of Bernard Cribbins
1983	The Snowman	Narrator
2005	The Very Best of Bernard Cribbins

[ Source: Wikipedia ]