Almost didn't get accepted into RADA because of a skin condition on his face.
One of the main reasons he was hired for the 1983 British series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was because he could do a Liverpool accent, which he had learned while living in a city hostel for two years as a teen.
Lent his voice to the Wallace and Gromit features Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Flushed Away (2006).
Other voiceover work includes radio, TV commercials, documentaries, cartoons and looping.
Played John Lennon's father, Freddie, in the 2010 biopic Lennon Naked.