Puppet Building, Design and Character Development
Paul studied Art and Design at Middlesex University and started his career working for Kandor Architectural Model Makers.
He quickly moved into building model sets for the Carlton TV programme ‘The Spooks of Bottle Bay’.
Paul worked extensively in the theatre assisting designers Tim Reed, Tim Goodchild, Peter J Davison, Terry Parsons and Ralph Koltai amongst many others.
He then worked for the Tussauds Group on various models of rides in their theme parks at Alton Towers and Chessington – and models of their exhibitions in New York and Las Vegas.
Next Paul began working for The Jim Henson Company in the UK, at first making props and costumes for ‘Mopatop’s Shop’ for ITV and he soon moved on to creating puppets for the show. For two years he ran the Muppet workshop for ‘The Hoobs’, a programme the Henson Company made for Channel 4. He created two of the puppet characters for ‘Bambaloo’ for Henson’s and The Seven Network in Australia. He was part of the build team for Marvin the Paranoid Android which Henson’s Creature Shop made for the movie of ‘The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy’ and, with Nicola Tedman, he looked after Warwick Davis who played Marvin, for the shoot. He also made puppets for Henson’s for commercials and music videos.
Then Paul created some of the characters and ran the shoot workshop for ‘Five Minutes More’ made in Sydney Australia for The ABC, Snow River Media and Disney. For Disney, Spiffy Pictures and Baker Coogan he created many costumes for the Bunny’s of Disney’s ‘Bunnytown’, shot at Elstree Film Studios.
Having established his reputation as a puppet builder he recreated Monkey for the PG Tips commercials with Johnny Vegas followed by an entirely new character ‘Red’ for Virgin 1, the cable TV station.
For ‘Kids TV’and ‘ORF’ in Austria he created Franz Ferdinand, a new character for their children’s programme ‘Saugut’ and has made Nelson and Kasperl, two new characters for two new shows produced by the company.
Paul also spent four and a half years refurbishing, maintaining and recreating the puppets of ‘Avenue Q’ for Cameron Mackintosh in London’s West End and the National UK Tour. He was then approached by Fiery Light – producers of children’s theatre shows – to create a set of puppet characters for ‘Peppa Pig’s Party’, a stage show based on the TV animation series, in the West End and now playing to sell out houses around the country.
Paul has created a new set of puppets for ‘Peppa Pig’s Treasure Hunt’ touring the UK this autumn and next year. It will be at The Criterion Theatre in the West End over Christmas 2011.