Peter Hawkins – Nostalgia Central

Born in Brixton, London, on 3 April 1924, Peter Hawkins became a renowned voice actor whose work was a staple of British children’s television for over four decades. Despite his face not being widely recognised, his voice was familiar to generations of viewers as the voice behind many beloved characters.

Hawkins’s career began in school productions and troop shows during WWII. He served in the Royal Navy and survived a torpedo attack on HMS Limbourne off France, then performed in plays and pantomimes during his recovery.

He toured Europe and Vancouver with the Pacific Showboat revue before working at the East Riding Theatre and studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

His West End debut was as Joe Gorme in Sit Down a Minute, and his first TV role was as Albert Tuggeridge in a 1949 BBC adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s The Good Companions.

In the 1950s, Hawkins joined the children’s variety show Whirligig, voicing puppet characters such as Mr Turnip and Porterhouse.

His inventive approach led to a decades-long career as a voice-over artist. He co-created the distinctive gibberish language called “Oddle-poddle” for The Flowerpot Men, which starred Bill and Ben, characters he improvised in a style that made the show Watch With Mother one of the most beloved of its time.

Hawkins also voiced characters in The Woodentops.

He is perhaps best known for voicing the Daleks in Doctor Who between 1963 and 1967 alongside David Graham – and also provided the voices for the 1965 film Doctor Who and the Daleks. Hawkins was also the first voice of the Cybermen (the iconic half-human, half-robot creatures) as well as a variety of other characters, including Zippy in Rainbow (1972).

One of his best-known roles was all the voices in Captain Pugwash. He also provided voices for Billy Bean and His Funny Machine, Bleep and Booster, Captain Zeppos, Paulus the Woodgnome, Tomfoolery, Noah and Nelly in SkylArk, SuperTed, Windfalls and Penny Crayon.

In addition to voice acting, Hawkins appeared on television in shows like Dave Allen at Large (1972-75), portraying characters such as Friar Tuck and a Mexican firing squad captain.

He married Rosemary Miller (pictured) – whom he met doing voices on Toytown – in 1956, and their son, Silas Hawkins, continued the family’s voice-over tradition, notably providing voices for the children’s TV series Summerton Mill (2005).

Peter Hawkins retired in 1992 due to health issues (he had an operation to remove a tumour in his brain) and passed away from pneumonia in London on 8 July 2006, aged 82, leaving behind a legacy as one of Britain’s most influential voice actors.