John Sparkes (born 6 January 1954) is a Welsh comedian and actor.
Early life
Sparkes was born on 6 January 1954 in
Swansea, Wales.
After working, firstly at
Lloyds Bank in Mumbles and then as a teacher, in the 1980s he turned to comedy and moved to London, performing on the alternative cabaret circuit with comedians such as
Alexei Sayle,
Jo Brand,
Paul Merton, and
Rik Mayall.
Television comedy career
Naked Video and Absolutely
Sparkes starred in the sketch show Naked Video, where he played Siadwel, the geeky South Wales poet who wore an anorak and glasses.[ The character also appeared when Sparkes was part of the BBC Radio 4 comedy programme Bodgers, Banks & Sparkes.
]
He was one of the team behind the Channel 4 sketch show Absolutely, which ran for four years between 1989 and 1993.[ Absolutely back for a full series – sketch team's comeback gathers pace, Chortle.co.uk, 15 July 2015]
Barry Welsh
Barry Welsh Is Coming was a long-running comedy series for HTV Wales. As well as playing Barry Welsh, the hapless host of a talk show, Sparkes also plays other characters within the programme, such as pub singer Gwyn, old Mr Ffff and Fishguard news reporter Hugh Pugh. Although the series ended in 2004, it returned in 2007 for a series of one-off specials.
Throughout its original run, the series also won four BAFTA Cymru awards for Best Light Entertainment.
Children's television
Sparkes provides the voice of the narrator and some other characters in the children's animated series Peppa Pig, in which the voice of fellow Absolutely star Morwenna Banks is also featured.
Radio
After killing off Siadwel in Naked Video, Sparkes revived the character in 2014 for a new series of radio shows for BBC Radio Wales, which was recommissioned a year later.
Writing
Sparkes has written and presented three ongoing television series of Great Pubs of Wales for ITV Wales. He has voiced the unseen character of archivist Goronwy, in a section of Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention for BBC One and has written and presented Ghost Story, in which he spent the night alone with a camcorder in haunted houses around Wales. He has also co-written and presented Doug Strong's Special Places, a factual comedy series for ITV Wales and ITV Central.
Other work
In 2005, Sparkes performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Absolutely Presents John Sparkes and Pete Baikie with his Absolutely colleague Peter Baikie.
For Welsh television, he starred in Jeff Global's Global Probe (ITV Wales), and he resurrected the character Frank Hovis, originally devised for the Absolutely series, in Pub Quiz (BBC Wales).
Personal life
Sparkes is married to Beverly and they have two grown-up daughters.
Filmography
Film
|
|
| British-German film by Andi Engel, starring Jeroen Krabbé |
| |
| Voice role |
| Narrator, Mr Potato |
| The Farmer, Bitzer, Hector |
| Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience | Narrator |
| The Farmer, Bitzer |
| 2024 | | The Farmer | Voice role, cameo |
Television
|
|
| 6 episodes |
| 1 episode |
| 28 episodes |
| 1 episode |
| 1 episode |
| 8 episodes |
| |
| |
| |
| 2 episodes |
| |
| 1 episode |
| |
| |
| 26 episodes |
| TV movie |
| |
| 44 episodes |
Theatre
External links
