Phil Cornwell

Phil Cornwell
Born	Philip Cornwell (1957-10-05) 5 October 1957 Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England
Occupations	Actor comedian impressionist writer
Years active	1980–present

Philip Cornwell (born 5 October 1957) is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is part of the Dead Ringers television and radio series, and is the voice of Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band Gorillaz. Cornwell has co-written and performed principal roles in The Glam Metal Detectives and Stella Street. He also portrayed DJ Dave Clifton from I'm Alan Partridge and the movie, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

Early life and career

Cornwell was born in Leigh-on-Sea, in the County of Essex. He first appeared on TV in 1980 in the BBC youth programme Something Else - Southend as an episode presenter.

He is popularly known for voicing Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band, Gorillaz. He provided the voices of Mick Jagger and David Bowie for the Steve Wright in the Afternoon show on BBC Radio 1 in the late-1980s and early-1990s. These impersonations - augmented by many others, including the series narrator, Michael Caine - formed the backbone of the BBC TV series Stella Street, written and performed with John Sessions.

In 1996, he performed in a comedy spoof sketch TV advert to The Professionals imitating Martin Shaw's character of Doyle (with the actor Ray Trickett playing Lewis Collins' Bodie) for the release of the Nissan Almera. In 1997 as part of the same advertising campaign he performed another spoof sketch of the 1970s television series The Sweeney.

He played the part of Harry Noakes, Captain of the cockleboat Renown in the TV mini-series Dunkirk.

Cornwell has appeared in several films made by the Comic Strip, including the role as Dave Spanker in Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown. He also played Dave Clifton, a local radio DJ on Radio Norwich - a fictional radio station in both series of I'm Alan Partridge. In 2013, he reprised the role for the movie Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

Cornwell was the voice of Gilbert the Alien in the 1980s TV series Get Fresh, which later span off into Gilbert's Fridge, a series starring the character.

Cornwell also voiced Sir Lancelot and Robin Hood in the animated children's television series King Arthur's Disasters. He played King Stupid in the CBBC series Stupid!, having replaced Marcus Brigstocke, because the latter was involved in Excuse My French on BBC Two. Cornwell also appeared in the Doctor Who episode, "The Fires of Pompeii". In 2010 he presented/hosted the Friday night EuroMillions lottery draw show on BBC One. In 2011 he did several stand-up comedy gigs as character Switzerland McNaughtiehorse. Cornwell is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and presents the weekly podcast The Spurs Show with Mike Leigh.

In January 2013, he appeared in the ITV comedy drama series Great Night Out as Tonky.

Cornwell played Sanson 'The Bourreau' in the 2023 movie Napoleon, directed by Ridley Scott.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Character
2000	Blood	Doug
2001	Large	Barry Blaze Mouseley
2004	Churchill: The Hollywood Years	Martin Bormann
	Stella Street: The Movie	Mick Jagger
2007	I Could Never Be Your Woman	Cameraman
	Lady Godiva: Back in the Saddle	Mayor Osborne
2010	Made in Dagenham	Dave
2013	Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa	Dave Clifton
2023	Napoleon	Sanson 'The Bourreau'

Television

Year	Title	Character	Production	Notes
1980	Something Else	Various impressions	BBC Television	1 episode
1986–1996	Spitting Image	Jamie Spencer-Churchill (voice)	Central Independent Television	19 episodes
1987	The Corner House	Harry		2 episodes
1987–1988	Get Fresh	Gilbert the Alien (voice)	ITV	80 episodes
1988	On the Waterfront	Gilbert the Alien (voice)	BBC	1 episode
1991	Remote Control	Various Characters	Channel 4	UK version
1992	Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show	PC Cornwell		1 episode
1992–2012	The Comic Strip Presents...	Various Characters	Channel 4	8 episodes
1994	The Bill	Jeff Price	ITV	Episode: "Settling The Score"
	Lovejoy	Syd Bishop	BBC1	1 episode
1996	Only Fools And Horses	Drunken man in Hospital	BBC	Episode: "Modern Men"
1997–2002	I'm Alan Partridge	Dave Clifton	BBC	Series 1 and 2
2002	The Bill	Shane Pellow	ITV	In 8 episodes from Episode 023 to Episode 071
2002–2006	Dead Ringers	Various Characters	BBC
2003-2010	Meg and Mog	Mog	CITV and Tiny Pop
2004	Stella Street	Various Characters	BBC
2005	Twisted Tales	Doc	BBC Three	Episode: "Whacked"
	Stupid!	King Stupid	CBBC	Season 2 (replaced Marcus Brigstocke)
2005–2006	King Arthur's Disasters	Sir Lancelot, Robin Hood (voices)	CITV
2008	Doctor Who	Stallholder	BBC One	Series 4 Episode 2 "The Fires of Pompeii"
	Harry and Paul	Various Characters	BBC	Series 2
	Headcases	Robert Mugabe, Morgan Freeman, Steven Spielberg (voices)	ITV, STV, UTV
2011	Skins	Diesel	E4	Series 5
2012	Mrs Biggs	DS Jack Slipper	ITV	TV miniseries - Episodes 1x2 and 1x5
2013	Great Night Out	Tonky	ITV	Series 1
	Misfits	Geoff	E4
2014	Not Going Out	Police Officer	BBC One	Series 7 Episode 10 'The Wedding'
	Midsomer Murders	Eddie Rayner	ITV	Episode: "The Flying Club"
2015	Holby City	Sean Cronin	BBC One	Series 17 Episode 14 'Wages of Sin'
2016	Jericho	Joe Capstick	ITV
2018	Damned	'Animal' Hames	Channel 4	1 Episode
2022	Man Vs Bee	Armstrong	Netflix	TV mini series
	Mrs Brown's Boys	Boris	BBC One	2 Episodes
	Call the Midwife	Bernard	BBC One	1 Episode
2023	Vera	Philip Robson	ITV	Series 12 Episode 5 'The Rising Tide'

Direct-to-video

Year	Title	Character	Notes
2002	Phase One: Celebrity Take Down	Murdoc Niccals (voice)	Direct-to-video movie
2006	Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades	Murdoc Niccals (voice)	Direct-to-video movie

Web series

Year	Title	Character	Notes
2020	Song Machine	Murdoc Niccals (voice)	Web series by Gorillaz

Video games

Year	Title	Character	Notes
2001	The Italian Job	Charlie Croker	Michael Caine impersonation

External links

• Phil Cornwell at IMDb