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Roy Skelton - Henry Swift, Balberith, Vauturm

Creepy castles
  Do you believe in ghosts?

Ah, I do believe in ghosts, yes. When I was very young, seven or eight, I used to have a nightmare about a particular place in a castle and this ghost, which I never saw. I used to wake up terrified and I even went to the doctor because it was every single night at the same time.

Then, later on, I joined a company and we played a place that was a castle. They said, 'This is where the white lady walks,' and it was the same room that I'd seen in my dreams! Having said that, I've never seen a ghost and I don't know that I believe in them, but that actually happened.

Funny voices
  When did you discover your talent for voice artistry?

Well, it was an accident really, I'm primarily an actor and I did all my early work at the Bristol Old Vic Company. I then did four or five West End [plays] and I was a singer as well.

But then I was booked to do, don't ask me how many years ago, Pinocchio on television and played Lampwick, the boy who got in an awful lot of trouble. The Goons had just come out, so one day at rehearsal I started to read scripts in Goon voices, and the director said, 'Oh they're wonderful, let's use them.' I said, 'You can't, somebody else is doing them.'

But a month or two months later this girl rang me and said, 'I believe you do wonderful puppet voices,' and I said, 'No I don't, I've never done them'. She said, 'Well, I'm auditioning some at the BBC, could you come and have a go?' So I said, 'Yes,' went and did them and the BBC hated them!

But Gordon Murray, who had come and done the audition, rang me and said, 'I hated the puppets but loved your voice, would you come and do Toy Town and be Mr Grassen?' It went on from there. I still do a lot more theatre work than anything else, but gradually it sort of took over.

Creature comforts
  What do you think you'd most enjoy about the 19th century?

Oh difficult one to answer. I think I'd enjoy, if I was rich, the flair and the fashion, and in some ways the acting pretence of a lot of it,

I'd have hated the poverty and hated to see other people as poor as [they were] then. I can't think much else actually. Some of the music I would have liked.

Any creature comforts that you think you might miss?

Oh yes. Central heating is one of them because I hate the cold weather. Although I'd like the flounces and flurries of things, I'd also hate in some way to dress up all the time. I'm not a tie and suit man anyway, it's always open-neck shirts.

Abracadabra
  If you could possess a magical power, what would it be?

I think teleportation would be absolutely wonderful, absolutely stunning. If you could transport yourself from one place to another, or you could be transported without the hassle of aeroplanes and waiting for trains, that would be absolutely wonderful.

I'd also like - it's going to sound very strange - but I would love to have had the power once, just once, perhaps a month or two months, to be able to change sex, and to see what it feels like to be a woman. My wife actually feels the same way. She said it would be great for two months. I wouldn't want to stay that way, but just to find out.

Zipping up the charts
  Do you like being part of a process where you do your thing and then leave it in the hands of the animators?

It's the story of my life. I did this children's programme for 20 years called Rainbow, and of course did the voice of Zippy and George. It's all been revived again now. That has been an animation but it's a puppet animation.

It's gone mad. I've just made a record and it's number 15 at the moment on Top of the Pops, and the album's just come out. It's all a bit silly, but it's wonderful.

Did you actually sing new stuff for the record, or did they sample old dialogue from the show?

We recorded new stuff. There's another album coming out, which includes It's Raining Men, Dancing Queen and Do You Really Like It?

A whole new career beckons?

It's ridiculous at my age. I don't mind anybody knowing my age - I'm 71 - but to go into the pop world at 71... I thought, 'Well, you know, that's life.'

Multiple personalities
  What do you most like about the characters you're playing today?

I'm playing about four different characters, and I like the technique of trying to be different, even sometimes playing [several characters] in the same scene. It's an acting exercise, in a way.

It's like when I used to do Zippy and George in Rainbow, I used to love that. I wrote about 150 of those programmes as well, and I used to write scenes where they argued with one another because I enjoyed changing the voice so quick. I love this because there's a lot of emotion in it, which is good. Everybody's enjoying it.

I've been screaming, I've been werewolfing, I have been growling, I have been changing my personality from being nice to being absolutely ruddy horrible. I've really enjoyed myself an awful lot.

How are you getting on with Amber and Chris as co-writers and director?

Absolutely superbly well, I hope. Either [that, or] they're being incredibly kind to me. They're a delight to work for. Very firm, but with such charm. It's great.

Exterminate!
  We can't let this interview go without asking you about your voice work on Doctor Who.

Ah, Doctor Who. It's been great and it's very nice when the cheques come in, still, from America actually, which is not bad. I've done Daleks, Monoids, and the original Cybermen.

I did the Krotons, which was quite fun because they were evil creatures and so I played them with South African accents.

I also played an invisible man who appeared when he was killed, and I played a million-year old king.