Tony Robinson

Early career

Too young to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Robinson instead studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. After leaving, he spent four years in repertory theatre^[8] most notably at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.

Robinson won an Arts Council bursary to work as a director at the Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, and founded the Avon Touring Company, a Bristol-based community theatre company, with writer David Illingworth.^[8] He played a small role as student doctor Grace in the 1972–73 series of Doctor In Charge.

Robinson appeared in the 1974–75 season at Chichester Festival Theatre, as Angel Chicago in the nativity musical Follow The Star. In the 1975 season, he appeared as Hovstad in Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People. In 1976, he appeared as Feste in Twelfth Night, and as Majorin in Monsieur Perrichon's Travels.^[8]

In 1972, Robinson starred in the children's educational programme Sam on Boffs' Island and was later a presenter on Play Away.^[9] He also appeared in the award-winning Horizon documentary Joey, and in the title role in the BBC production of The Miracle of Brother Humphrey. He also had a minor part in the film Brannigan starring John Wayne.^[8] He was also one of the Who Dares Wins team in the Channel 4 comedy/satirical show in the early/mid-1980s.

Blackadder period (1983–1989)

Robinson came to prominence in 1983 for his role in the British historical sitcom Blackadder, as Edmund Blackadder's dogsbody Baldrick. In the first series, broadcast as The Black Adder, he was quite astute, while his master was an idiot. Later series (Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third, Blackadder Goes Forth) moved the duo through history and switched the relationship: the Edmund Blackadder of Blackadder II was a brilliant schemer, whereas Baldrick had devolved into a buffoon whose catchphrase was "I have a cunning plan" (which he rarely had).

In addition to his acting on Blackadder, Robinson also wrote and narrated several Jackanory-style children's programmes, encouraged by Richard Curtis.^[10] Programmes in this style included Tales From Fat Tulip's Garden (continued in Fat Tulip Too), Odysseus: The Greatest Hero of Them All (a retelling of the Iliad and the Odyssey) and Blood and Honey (tales from the Old Testament, filmed on location).

On BBC Radio 4 Comedy in Delve Special (1984-1987) by Tony Sarchet.

After Blackadder (1989–1999)

After Blackadder, Robinson became the narrator and one of the lead actors for the British animated series Nellie the Elephant, based on a song of the same name. The series ran from 1989 to 1991 and was shown on Children's ITV.

He also provided voice-over to the Free-ranger Chicken cartoon short, an English child-scripted arts-funded production in 1989. Robinson also presented the early-Saturday evening series Stay Tooned for BBC 1, which featured a selection of classic Warner Brothers and MGM cartoons. In 1989 he created the children's comedy TV series Maid Marian and her Merry Men, a loose retelling of the legend of Robin Hood in which he appeared as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Four series were broadcast on BBC1 during 1989–94. In 1990 he appeared as "Shlomo Denkoviz" in Series 8, Episode 2 of Bergerac – "My Name’s Sergeant Bergerac".

Also in 1994, Robinson played a minor part in an episode called "One Flew Over the Parents' Nest" in the TV series Minder, playing a character called "Willie the Weed".

Career 1999–2010

In 1999, Robinson returned to star in a one-off Blackadder short film to celebrate the new millennium, titled Blackadder: Back & Forth. This short film was shown in the Millennium Dome throughout 2000 and was later aired on BBC One in 2002.

Robinson also contributed the voiceover for the TV series Airline in its set of new series from 1999 focusing on the daily routine of EasyJet staff at a selection of airports. The show was made for ITV and is often repeated today on Sky Real Lives, Sky 1, Sky 2, Sky 3 (now Pick TV) & ITV2. He worked as the narrator for six of the remaining nine series until 2006 when the series ended. Tony Robinson's Cunning Night Out, a largely improvised stage show, followed in early 2005 and included a mix of the many themes from his career for which Robinson is famous.

In addition to telling his own stories, Robinson narrated the abridged audiobook versions of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. Nigel Planer, Celia Imrie and Stephen Briggs narrated the unabridged versions. He also provided the voicing for several characters in the videogame Discworld. He followed on this Discworld work by playing a role in the live action television dramatisation of Hogfather, broadcast on Sky over the Christmas season in 2006.

Robinson also presented Classic FM's Friendly Guide to Classical Music which aired on a Sunday at 4 pm. The whole 16-episode series was repeated on 26 December 2006. He revealed on the BBC Radio 2 feature "Tracks of My Years" that his favourite songs are: "I Can Help" by Billy Swan, "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol, "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera, "Unfinished Sympathy" by Massive Attack, "Tangled Up In Blue" by Bob Dylan, "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" by Beverley Knight, "This Woman's Work" by Maxwell, "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons and "Falling Slowly" by the Frames.

In 2007, Robinson narrated television advertisements for Honda, in the humorous style of Tales From Fat Tulip's Garden. The advertisements feature plastic cars with expressive faces (similar to Thomas the Tank Engine). He also did voiceovers for cleaning products Domestos and Vanish from 2007-2009. In early 2007 Robinson visited thirty towns in Britain and Ireland with his one-man show, A Cunning Night Out. The show was released on DVD.

In July 2009, he appeared in the light-hearted BBC1 series Hotel Babylon as sly hit-man named Arthur Barnes. The character is knocked unconscious by a flying bottle expertly lobbed by the hotel manageress during a showdown in the lobby.^[11]

Career 2010 to present

In September 2013, Sir Jonathan Miller directed the Gala Performance of William Shakespeare's King Lear at the Old Vic in London. Robinson played the Fool.^[12]

In 2014, Robinson played the title role in a touring production of The Hypochondriac, Richard Bean's new translation of Molière's Le malade imaginaire, directed by Lindsay Posner.^[13]

(1994-2001) Beginnings and Time Team

In 1994, Robinson began presenting Time Team, a TV programme devoted to archaeological investigations limited to three days (the outcome was never guaranteed, varying from spectacular to disappointing). The series spanned 20 years, and included 59 one-off specials, which paved the way for his later history presenting career. In 2005, Exeter University conferred an honorary doctorate on Robinson, and honorary professorships on principal presenter Mick Aston and producer Tim Taylor, to reflect its great appreciation for what Time Team has done for the public understanding of archaeology in the UK.^[14] In the 2011 episode "Hitler's Island Fortress", Robinson described himself as an amateur archaeologist.

(2001-2012) Broader history presenting

From 2001, Robinson branched out into other history documentary series, including the series Fact or Fiction (which debunked historical myths and gave the true story), followed by Romans in 2003 and the highly successful The Worst Jobs in History in 2006, researching and re-enacting some of the more horrible jobs of the past millennium. He also took this show on tour around the country along with an autobiographical question and answer session. This first series was followed by The Worst Christmas Jobs in History in December 2005 and then a second series of The Worst Jobs in History on Channel 4 in April 2006.

Following this, he presented one-off specials such as Britain's Real Monarch (2004) and The Real Da Vinci Code (2005).

With Channel 4 Robinson presented Tony Robinson's Crime and Punishment, Catastrophe and Man on Earth focusing on humanity's struggle with climate change in the past 200,000 years. Unexplained with Tony Robinson was first broadcast on Channel 4 in December 2008. In this series, Robinson investigates paranormal phenomena combining the fields of archaeology, parapsychology, history and spiritualism to investigate paranormal evidence. He also presented The Doomsday Code in 2008.

From 1 September 2010, Robinson hosted a series on the National Geographic Channel called Birth of Britain which was repeated on Channel 4 beginning in January 2011.^[15] In 2011 he also presented Gods and Monsters.

Tony Robinson Explores Australia was first broadcast in the first half of 2012. Filmed in High Definition, the series roughly follows a chronology from the earliest sightings of Terra Australis Incognita through to the present with each era defined by a theme rather than equal blocks of time.^[16]

From 10 September 2012, Robinson hosted a series on History Channel called Tony Robinson's Time Walks. The series uncovers stories that shaped the character of various cities and suburbs around Australia, including Fremantle, Melbourne, Hobart, Woolloomooloo, Bendigo, Newcastle, Carlton, Brisbane, St Kilda, Adelaide, Canberra, Kalgoorlie, Townsville and Launceston. He also went to Christchurch, New Zealand.^[17] In 2015, Robinson continued his history presenting in Australia with “Tour of Duty“, again on History Channel.

During October 2012, it was announced that Time Team would be cancelled after nearly 20 years on television. Tara Conlan from The Guardian called the show "television history". When talking about the successful run of the show, Robinson said "Not many performers are given the privilege of featuring in two iconic TV series—but I've been lucky." The show's ratings were falling, causing Channel 4 to pursue an alternative "innovative" approach to historical documentary programming.^[18]

(2012-present) Post-Time Team and historical walking shows

Between 2012 and 2014, Robinson presented a series of programmes for Channel 4 called Walking Through History. It featured Robinson hiking through iconic British landscapes, including the Cairngorms, the Jurassic Coast and Stonehenge. At least 16 hour-long episodes were aired, in four series.^[19] A further 3 part series called Britain's Ancient Tracks with Tony Robinson was shown on Channel 4 in 2016.

In 2014, Robinson presented a history of The Great War titled Tony Robinson’s World War 1. He also presented The Real Mill, revealing the true history to the Channel 4 series, The Mill.^[20]

In 2015, Robinson presented an hour-long programme for Discovery TV, Tony Robinson's Wild West, in which he attempted to uncover the reality of America's Wild West in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Featuring such key figures as Wyatt Earp, Geronimo and Buffalo Bill,^[21] it included artefacts and stereographic images. Also in 2015 he hosted a short-lived program Time Crashers.

In 2016 he hosted Hidden Britain By Drone, exploring parts of Britain only accessible by Drone. A second series ran in 2018.^[22]

In February 2017, Robinson hosted his self-titled Channel Five programme Tony Robinson: Coast to Coast.^[23]

In 2018 Robinson continued his work with Channel Five presenting Britain’s Great Cathedrals where he uncovers the history behind 6 of Britain’s best cathedrals.^[24] In late 2018, Robinson will present a four-part series where he walks the River Thames from source to the mouth ^[25]