Roy Skelton

Born in Nottingham^[3] to John H Skelton and Dorothy (née Bromley),^[1] Skelton trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and worked at Oxford for a year.^[3] Having performed voices, based on those from The Goon Show, while rehearsing for a Pinocchio TV serial he played Lampwick in, producer Gordon Murray cast him as part of the BBC Puppet Theatre.^[4][5] Skelton met Peter Hawkins during Toytown, who would become a close friend.^[4] In 1957, he met his future wife Hilary Tooze at a nightclub, marrying her two years later.^[6] They would go on to have two children, Eliza and Samantha.

In 1966, he began his long association with Doctor Who voicing the Monoids in The Ark, which Peter Hawkins recommended him for.^[4] In the 1966 story, The Tenth Planet, Skelton originated the voices of the original Cybermen, delivering an unsettling, sing-song voice constructed by placing the inflections of words on the wrong syllables.^[7] This confused many of the actors, who did not know when his lines finished.^[8][4]

In 1967, Skelton began voicing the Daleks with The Evil of the Daleks alongside Peter, who recommended him for this as well. He made a rule that although the Dalek voice could get higher when angry, it could never go down.^[3][9] He also voiced the Krotons in their sole 1968 appearance, giving them South African accents,^[5] and his first on-screen role was as Norton in Colony in Space (1971).^[3]

In 1973, he became the voice of both Zippy and George in Rainbow, continuing the roles for over 30 years and writing over 150 episodes. Some moments Skelton most fondly-remembered included meeting Elizabeth II and Ernie Wise,^[10] and with his singing experience he played Father Christmas in one episode, although the producers at Thames Television did not believe he did the singing. He considered Rainbow to be his best work,^[4] and particularly enjoyed being able to quickly switch between Zippy and George.^[11] Contrary to popular belief, he did not base Zippy's voice off of the Daleks,^[4][12] but when asked where he got it, he jokingly claimed that it was a cross between Margaret Thatcher and Ian Paisley.^[12][13] Roy had intentions to write for other programmes,^[13] including Take a Chance, but never received any further contracts requiring him to do so.^[13]

Also in 1973, he played the on-screen role of James in the Doctor Who story The Green Death standing in for Tony Adams. Skelton was asked to play Davros in Genesis of the Daleks, but due to filming Rainbow had to be replaced by Michael Wisher,^[3] a good friend. He, Michael^[4] and another Dalek voice, Brian Miller, who he befriended alongside his wife Elisabeth Sladen, would appear together in Barry Letts's 1986 production of Alice in Wonderland.^[3]

When Nicholas Briggs became the voice of the Daleks in its 2005 revival, Skelton praised his performance for being able to put emotion into it, even though he wished he had been doing it.^[14] He died at his home in Brighton, East Sussex, on 8 June 2011, after suffering a stroke at age 79.^[15]