STEVE NALLON
Steve Nallon is one of Britain’s most versatile and prolific writers and performers, working in all aspects of the media, from film and television to radio and theatre. His eclectic body of work has ranged from acting, stand-up, dame in panto, motion capture performance and audio books, through to novels, short stories, broadcasting, playwriting and non-fiction – plus a time in academia as a university lecturer on Greek Drama, Restoration Theatre, and the American Musical.
VOICE ARTIST
Steve began as a performer in 1976 on the Northern Working Men’s Club circuit in his home county of Yorkshire in England. After gaining a degree in Drama and English at the University of Birmingham, he became in 1984 a foundering member of the ITV television series SPITTING IMAGE, providing voices for The Queen Mother, Roy Hattersley, Denis Healey, Malcolm Rifkind, Margaret Thatcher, David Attenborough, Enoch Powell, Bruce Forsyth, David Frost, Ted Heath, Leonard Rossiter, Harold Wilson, Alan Bennett and many more for well over a decade. When in 2015 SPITTING IMAGE created a puppet of the then Prime Minister David Cameron for the show NHS IN STICHES at the Hackney Empire, it was Steve who provided the voice. In 2015 he was invited to be a guest at the Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration of SPITTING IMAGE at the BFI (British Film Institute) and his interview featured in the BBC Arena documentary WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SPITTING IMAGE? And Steve returned to SPITTING IMAGE when the show was relaunched on Britbox in 2020.
Steve’s appearances on television as an impressionist include ALISTAIR MCGOWAN’S BIG IMPRESSION (as Dame Maggie Smith), THE IMPRESSIONABLE JON CULSHAW (as Ann Widdecombe), RORY BREMNER... WHO ELSE? (as Patricia Routledge) and his stand-up act of iconic voices featured on the cult comedy TV series DAN AND DUSTY SHOW (ITV1) to great acclaim. Steve has as well been heard on countless radio comedies and panel shows, notably MUSEUM OF CURIOSITY, AND THIS IS THEM and FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Television credits as a celebrity guest include CALL MY BLUFF (BBC), NOEL’S TELLY YEARS (BBC), POINTLESS CELEBRITIES (BBC) and THE ONE SHOW (BBC), plus PULL THE OTHER ONE, LOOSE LIPS and DON’T DRINK THE WATER.
Over the years Steve has contributed to various documentaries celebrating the art and craft of the impressionist. These include NIGHT OF A THOUSAND FACES (BBC) in a sketch with Dame Edna Everage, played by Barry Humphries, and WHO DID YOU DO? (BBC), presented by the actor and comedian Ricky Gervais. In SIXTY YEARS OF SWING, a documentary for BBC Parliament on the history of General Election night broadcasts, Steve discussed the contributions of anchor men and political pundits such as Robin Day and Bob McKenzie, giving illustrations of their individual vocal styles along the way.
Steve’s work as a voice actor covers audio books, animation, film dubbing, video games, children’s television, commercials and dramatic readings. Television and film credits include HARRY HILL’S TV BURP (ITV providing the voices of David Cameron, Mikhail Gorbachev and The Queen among others), HANDS OF A MURDERER (US TV movie with Edward Woodward), ANIMAL MADNESS, PALLAS, IN SEARCH OF LA CHE, WIRE IN THE BLOOD (providing the voice of the serial killer in the ITV crime series), BULLSEYE! (the comedy movie directed by Michael Winner) and CHARLIE (the RTÉ television drama series concerning the life and politics of former Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey). Steve has also featured on various records, including NO CLAUSE 28 with Boy George, and the comedy CD release FUNNY TIMES with Harry Hill. In 2019, Steve played David Cameron, Jeremy Hunt, Dominic Cummings, David Davis, Kenneth Clarke, David Dimbleby, Sammy Wilson, Donald Tusk, Sir Graham Brady and Lord Buckethead in the audio book version of Boris Starling’s satire WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S BREXIT. In the video game EVIL GENUIS II (2021) Steve provided the voices of John Steele and Sir Daniel, and for FUTURE SHOCKS RADIO (2021) he played various roles, including Sir Francis Wallsingham.
Steve’s one man show ‘A Guided Tour Round the World of the Impressionist’ remains in constant demand all over the UK and abroad. In the show Steve takes his audience on the journey of his own history of doing voices, from the classic characters on radio and television who intrigued him as a child, through to the modern world of celebrity, sport and culture. Along the way, he illustrates a few tricks of the trade as to how voices are created, offers some theories as to why we find mimicry so funny and what it’s like taking on the personas of other. As Steve says himself, “Impressionists, we’re the only people in the world who want to be accepted for who we’re not!”
NOVELS, SHORT STORIES AND NON-FICTION WRITING
Steve Nallon is now an established novelist and author. His young adult fantasy time adventure series THE SWIDGERS – THE TIME THAT NEVER WAS (2022) and THE TIME THEY SAVED TOMORROW (2024) – received excellent reviews on publication. Bestselling YA writer Joseph Elliott described THE TIME THAT NEVER WAS as “a rambunctious riot of a book with a totally unpredictable plot – I never knew where I was going to be taken next!”. DESTINATION TIME TRAVEL (2023), an exploration of time travel in film and television written with Dick Fiddy archivist at the British Film Institute, has proved a hit with science fiction fans across the world. The book includes an exclusive interview with Steve Moffat, former showrunner on DOCTOR WHO and the adaptor of Audrey Niffenegger’s novel THE TIME TRAVLLER’S WIFE for television.
STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES (2024) is a collection of ‘Twelve Spooky Tales of Supernatural Strangeness and Weirdly Wonderful Goings On’. The comedian and satirist Rory Bremner said of the tales, “One of our best impersonators has now found his voice as a writer – stories full of wit, character and intrigue, as entertaining as any of Steve’s characters.” Not surprisingly perhaps for a man of many voices, the stories are varied in format, style and tone. There’s a tale with a plan to expose fraudulent clairvoyants that leads to unexpectedly grave consequences; a Gothic horror featuring the biblical Witch of Endor; a laugh-out-loud farce involving a frolicsome Hattie Jacques taking up ghostly residence in the downstairs toilet of two gay bears; a murder mystery set in an old manor house where a symposium on the Victorian ghost tale is taking place; a creepy Halloween homage to M.R. James, plus Christmas angels, unaccountable shadows and even a theatre ghost thrown in for good measure!
Steve’s comic novel I, MARGARET, a spoof biography of Lady Thatcher written with Tom Holt, was published by Macmillan in 1989. Steve has also made numerous contributions to books and periodicals with columns and articles for various publications such as such as THE NEW STATESMAN, MUSICAL STAGES and SCRIPTWRITER.
Steve Nallon is a member of The Writers’ Guild, The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and The Society of Authors.
THATCHER POWER DRESSING
In the 1980s Steve Nallon became known, as The Times put it, “the industry standard” for his famous impersonation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Steve appeared as Margaret Thatcher in numerous popular TV series throughout the 80s and beyond including THE NEW STATESMAN (ITV) with Rik Mayall, THE MIKE YARWOOD SHOW (ITV), HARTY GOES TO EDINBURGH (BBC), NOW SOMETHING ELSE (BBC), GET FRESH (ITV), THE ROLAND RAT SHOW (BBC), SATURDAY LIVE (C4), THE TOM O’CONNOR ROADSHOW (BBC), THE LITTLE AND LARGE SHOW (BBC), THE TROUBLE WITH JOAN COLLINS (ITV), I’VE GOT A SECRET (BBC), BULLSEYE (ITV), KNOWHOW (BBC), THE RORY BREMNER SHOW (BBC), THE BIG BREAKFAST (C4), TELETHON (ITV), NEWSNIGHT (BBC), DECIBELS OF THE DECADE (SKY), FACE TO FACE (NHK Japan), MOTORMOUTH (ITV), CINDERELLA - THE SHOE MUST GO ON (ITV), THIS MORNING (ITV), WOGAN (BBC), TEN GLORIOUS YEARS (BBC), POSH FROCKS AND NEW TROUSERS (C4), THE JAMES WHALE SHOW (YTV), BEN ELTON - THE MAN FROM AUNTIE (BBC), JAMESON TONIGHT (SKY), CALENDAR (YTV), JUKE BOX JURY (BBC), ELINOR (HTV), KELLY, THE BOBBY DAVRO SHOW (ITV), THE HIPPODROME SHOW (SKY), THE KRYPTON FACTOR (ITV), SCOTCHING THE MYTH (STV), RING MY BELL (C4), THAT’S LIFE! (BBC), PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE (BBC), THE HAPPENING (SKY), COMIC RELIEF (BBC), CHILDREN IN NEED (BBC), BETTER LATE (ITV) and the US series BAD GIRLS: REBELS WITH A CAUSE. Steve featured in the film DREAMING (BBC Screen One) as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher alongside comedian Billy Connolly, plus he made special appearances as Thatcher in the stage shows THE SECRET POLICEMAN’S THIRD BALL and THE SECRET POLICEMAN’S BIGGEST BALL. With the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis, Steve’s Margaret Thatcher performed her special version of Prokofiev’s PETER AND THE WOLF – turning it into ‘MAGGIE’ AND THE WOLF – and offered an insightful and somewhat personal variation on the song ‘My Favourite Things’. Steve also appeared at a special Charity Gala at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, again conducted by Carl Davis. Steve’s more recent appearances as Lady Thatcher have been in the Dutch Public Broadcaster’s VPRO documentary series SPEECHES and in the short film THATCHER FROM HELL! directed by Roger Law, which was shown at the BFI to an enthusiastic and occasionally gleeful audience. Steve has also ‘guested’ as ‘Maggie’ on THE WEAKEST LINK (BBC), where ‘she’ was booted off in round one!
Stage performances as Margaret Thatcher have been the political drama DEAD SHEEP (Park Theatre and national UK tour) and the satirical comedy THE LAST TEMPTATION OF BORIS JOHNSON (Park Theatre). Steve also played the former Prime Minister opposite Toby Jones in the BBC radio political series THE CORRUPTED, adapted from the GF Newman novels, and for many years Steve recreated Thatcher for the BBC’s UK CONFIDENTIAL series, an annual radio documentary featuring dramatic reconstructions of the British Cabinet papers released under the thirty (now twenty) year rule. Although Steve has now, as it were, ‘retired’ Lady Thatcher in full costume, he is still very happy when called upon to voice the former Prime Minister for ongoing projects. Steve’s Thacher is is in particular demand when it is not possible to access original archive. Use of Parliamentary recordings is strictly limited and so when it came to making 6 DAYS, the Mark Strong movie telling the story of the SAS raid on the Iranian Embassy, and the producers needed a speech that Mrs Thatcher had given in Parliament, they turned to Steve to recreate the moment. Steve’s also been heard offering some well known quotations of the former Prime Minster in the cult comedy horror movie EAT LOCALS and he has also recreated several Thatcher speeches in two shows for Gary Clarke’s dance company, namely COAL (2016-2018, Winner of a UK Theatre Award and a Critics Circle National Dance Award) and more recently DETENTION (2024).
Steve is often asked to contribute to TV programmes and documentaries analysing the style, voice and politics of Margaret Thatcher and these have included WORLD IN ACTION (ITV), THE SOUTH BANK SHOW (ITV), THE DAY SHE WENT (BBC) and the HBO series THE SECRETS OF BODY LANGUAGE. In 2024 producer Michael Grandage asked Steve to voice coach the actress Francis Barber in her preparation for her role as Mrs Thatcher in the Tim Walker BBC radio drama WHEN MAGGIE MET LARRY, an imagining of a meeting in the 1970s between the then Leader of the Opposition and Lawrence Olivier. “It was well worth it,” Michael Grandage said when the drama was recorded.
ACTING
As an actor Steve appeared in the sci-fi movie 51 DEGREES NORTH as astro-physicist Professor Richards, directed by the German born film director Grigorij Richters and which had an original score by Queen’s Brian May. In the short film THE GANZFELD PROCEDURE, produced by the BBC and directed by Keith McCarthy, Steve played the experimental scientist Professor Edmund Spencer. In the cult TV series JONATHAN CREEK (BBC) Steve featured as Rupert, Caroline Quentin’s ‘hot date’. Steve’s other film roles include the family doctor in THE GIRL WITH BRAINS IN HER FEET, the investigating immigration officer in THE REFUGE and the journalist Dave in FRANKIE AND JOHNNY. He has also appeared in the award-winning short film NUMBER THIRTEEN as Mrs McCrory, a possessive demonic mother figure.
On stage Steve Nallon has performed in several musicals, including the role of Jacque in CARNIVAL (The ‘Lost Musicals Season’ at the Barbican Theatre in London), the Narrator in THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (Leicester Haymarket), and Ted the Cloggie in THE CLOGGIES (Theatr Clwyd). At the Greenwich Theatre in 2017 Steve played the Irish journalist John Bland in the play CHINESE WHISPER, a comedy drama about the Victorian fraudster Sir Edmund Backhouse. The production proved to be timely in a world of ‘fake news’ and the play had a successful run and was well received (“entertaining and engaging”, The London Theatre). In the stage production of IN THE LIFE, a history of the gay language of polari mixing documentary, comedy sketches and dramatic recreations, Steve played a variety of characters including Field Marshall Lord Montgomery, Quentin Crisp and Sir John Gielgud among others. IN THE LIFE has been performed in several London venues, including the St James Theatre (now The Other Palace) and the South London Theatre.
In 2013, Steve toured the UK in the highly praised production of CISSIE AND ADA, playing Roy Barraclough/Cissie, a drama that centred around the friendship of the actor Roy Barraclough and the comedian Les Dawson, and the creation by the comic duo of the characters ‘Cissie and Ada’. In the audience at the Lowry in Manchester was the daughter of Les Dawson, who afterwards thanked the cast for giving her “two more hours in the company of my father.” CISSIE AND ADA also toured to the Buxton Opera House and the this led to Steve being offered Dame in their pantomime season, thus fulfilling a life-long ambition. Steve’s performance as Dame Trott in the Buxton Opera House production of JACK AND THE BEANSTALK garnered excellent reviews and the show broke all box office records.
As an actor Steve has worked extensively in BBC radio drama. Lead roles include Bobby in PROPS, Barry, in the highly popular BBC sit-com KING OF THE ROAD staring Bradley Walsh, and Attenborough in the comedy series PEOPLEWATCH. Playing opposite the legendary Leslie Phillips in MACLEAN - THE MEMOREX YEARS, Steve took on the roles of several former Prime Ministers, including Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, and in EDEN’S END, written by and featuring Shaun Williamson, Steve played Gerald Fleming, Mr Gresham and Bob Gilbert. In the cult radio comedy series BELIEVE IT!, which took place inside the head of its star Richard Wilson, Steve took on the role of Jorgen Riise, the Scandinavian incarnation of ‘Victor Meldrew’. Other acting roles in radio include the dramas PRIZEGIVING, A LOVESONG FOR ALFRED J HITCHCOCK, BEDSPRINGS, REMEMBERING LIVE AID and the series THE MUSIC MACHINE. In the biographical series MAD COMPOSERS Steve played every character voice, including Beethoven, Satie, Grainger, Gesualdo, Gurney and Ives.
PLAYWRITING AND ONE-MAN SHOWS
Steve has written and performed three one-man theatre shows which combine his story telling skills with acting, comedy and voice characterisation. The first of these was THE BIG ODYSSEY, which was a critical and box office hit at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2002 and which subsequently had a successful nationwide tour in 2003. His one-man version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL had a critically acclaimed sell-out run at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre for the Christmas season 2003/4, and STEVE NALLON’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ tale, won Best Comedy at the Buxton Fringe Festival and proved a popular show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2004.
Steve’s produced a fourth show, I’M NO ANGEL, for The Jermyn Street Theatre, featuring his comic ‘ghost’ character Lottie Wainwright. Miss Lottie toured the UK as part of a variety bill, appearing at the Komedia Brighton, the Civic Theatre Doncaster, the Northcott Theatre Exeter and the Komedia in Bath. She also made many ‘visitations’ to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London.
With Turan Ali, Steve co-wrote THE GHOST OF NUMBER TEN and THE NALLON TAPES, two comedy series for BBC radio, and he also penned with Mark Eden the highly acclaimed BBC Saturday Playhouse drama PROPS, which went on to have a successful run on stage at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London.
COMPUTER MOTION CAPTURE AND PUPPETEERING
Perhaps two unexpected sides to Steve’s professional work have been as a film and television puppeteer and as a Computer Motion Capture performer, where movement and performance is captured digitally for use in CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery). His highly accomplished puppeteering skills and vocal dexterity creating multiple characters meant that for many years Steve was one of the country’s most sought after performers in this area. Shows and series included CATS’ EYES (BBC), THE SPOOKS OF BOTTLE BAY (ITV), THE HOUSE OF GRISTLE (BBC), THE WILD BUNCH (C4), THE PIG ATTRACTION (ITV), THE DAN AND DUSTY SHOW (ITV), WHAT’S UP DOC? (ITV) and CRAZY COTTAGE (ITV), plus puppet work on the film MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND and remote control cable operation on the cult Netflix series DARK CRYSTAL. As a Computer Motion Capture performer Steve has worked for the company Centroid on video games and for HEADCASTER on their mobile apps. As early as 1988 Steve appeared on the BBC science series TOMORROW’S WORLD as a performer in a feature looking at the first experimental work in this area that later was to become known as Mo-Cap (Motion Capture).
SCRIPT EDITOR AND THEATRE DIRECTOR
Steve has worked as a freelance script editor and dramaturg on both film and theatre development projects, including, in association with the UK’s Screen West Midlands, young and up-and-coming screenwriters. Steve has also written on the subject of film and story theory for the magazine THE NEW STATESMAN and for the movie trade publication SCRIPTWRITER. Steve is often asked to contribute to TV shows discussing television history and culture, and these have included THE STORY OF LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT (BBC), FORTY YEARS OF ITV, FIFTY YEARS OF ITV and COMEDY CONNECTIONS (BBC).
For several years Steve was a member of the directing team on David Edgar’s Masters Degree Playwriting course at the University of Birmingham. In the final term, extracts from a dozen or so plays by the MA playwrights were produced and performed in front of an invited audience. Steve directed two plays a year, working closely with the new writers and student actors, many of whom went on to have successful writing and performing careers.
ACADEMIC, LECTURER AND CONTRIBUTOR
From 1995 to 2003 Steve was a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Birmingham Drama Department lecturing on film and directing courses in Stand-up Comedy, Greek Theatre, Broadway Musicals, Comedy of Manners and Story Structures. In addition to his academic work, Steve has contributed articles and reviews for periodicals such as MUSICAL STAGES and NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY. He wrote the chapter on musical theatre in THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC, published by Flame Tree Publishing, and has regularly appeared on the BBC radio series SOUL MUSIC discussing the power and artistry of popular music. Steve was invited to take part in the television programme BRITAIN’S BEST LOVED DOUBLE ACTS (C5), discussing and analysing the comedy techniques of Laurel and Hardy, Hinge and Bracket, Cissie and Ada, and Little and Large. Steve is often called upon to talk about the human voice and its capabilities on documentary series and these have included BBC radio programmes for the Open University such as IN OTHER WORDS and ACCENTS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS as well as SPEAK OUT!, WORD OF MOUTH, plus contributions on vocal technique for WOMAN’S HOURS and MANS’ HOUR.
