Mark Moraghan

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Mark Moraghan
Born
Mark Stephen Moraghan

(1963-01-27) 27 January 1963 (age 61)
Toxteth, Liverpool, England
Occupation(s)Actor, singer
Years active1978–present
WebsiteOfficial site

Mark Stephen Moraghan (born 27 January 1963)[1] is an English actor and singer. He has appeared in many British drama series including Peak Practice, London's Burning and Heartbeat. He is most famous for being the narrator for the children's television show Thomas & Friends from the seventeenth to twenty-first seasons, and his roles as Greg Shadwick in Brookside, Ray Wyatt in Dream Team, Owen Davies in Holby City and Adrian Atkins in Coronation Street.

Life and career[edit]

Moraghan was born in Toxteth, Liverpool on 27 January 1963. He started acting in 1978, when the BBC held auditions in his high school for the TV play Lies, and he was selected.[2] On 14 May 1988, Moraghan started his professional acting career playing a ferryman in the comedy Help!, and he subsequently went on to play in many TV series and several films. His longest running role was Owen Davies, a Consultant Obstetrician, in Holby City which he played from 2001 until 2005. He also appeared in a television commercial for the fabric softener 'Bounce' in 1996 with fellow Liverpudlian Katy Carmichael. He was recently a member of the cast of the British independent film Allies (2014).

Moraghan may be best known for his acting, but he also sings and in 2006 he starred in a musical production of Willy Russell's "Our Day Out" at Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre.[3]

He performed as a backing vocalist and percussionist in the Liverpool band Personal Column in the late 1970s.[4] In 2006, Moraghan came second in the BBC singing competition Just the Two of Us. His singing partner was Atomic Kitten singer Natasha Hamilton with whom he sang classic songs like "Islands in the Stream" and "With You I'm Born Again". He has also appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.[5]

He will starred and co-directed the made-for-TV film Stepdad.[6]

In 2008, Moraghan appeared in Celebrity MasterChef, reaching the final alongside Andi Peters and eventual champion Liz McClarnon.

On 9 April 2009, it was announced that Moraghan was touring the UK in a theatre production of Brian Clemens' play Strictly Murder, alongside Nick Barclay, Katie Funk, David Rumelle and Miriam Miller.

Moraghan's swing album, Moonlight's Back in Style (words by Nicky Campbell) was released on Linn Records on 14 September 2009. He sang the title song from the album on GMTV on 2 September 2009.

From 2013 to 2017, Moraghan became the narrator on the children's television show Thomas & Friends, succeeding both Michael Angelis and Michael Brandon (for both the UK and the US, respectively).[7] He is also narrator for the Thomas & Friends specials/films, King of the Railway, Tale of the Brave, The Adventure Begins, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, The Great Race and Journey Beyond Sodor. Despite having John Hasler and Joseph May take over his narration duties from 2018 onwards, Mark said that he will still work on Thomas & Friends. He returned in Season 22 to voice Dexter, an abandoned passenger coach who was found by Duck and restored as a mobile classroom. He also portrayed Mr Evans, a stationmaster who reads books from The Railway Series, and other stories about Thomas and his friends to the audience in the web series "Storytime with Mr. Evans" which aired from the 1 to 7 March 2019. He then went on to return to his role as narrator as part of the podcast: Thomas & Friends Storytime airing from June 2020 to December 2021.

Prior to narrating Thomas & Friends, Moraghan has appeared in other children's television shows The Lodge and Wilderness Edge which were both dramas and both made for ITV's children's programming block CITV.

In 2017, he appeared as recurring character Tim Richards in Emmerdale.

In December 2017, Mark starred in Jack and the Beanstalk Pantomime in Bournemouth where he played the devilish Fleshcreep.

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1995 Judge Dredd Judge Monroe
2008 Stepdad Derek Watson
2013 Thomas & Friends: King of the Railway Narrator Voice
2014 Thomas & Friends: Tale of the Brave
Allies Colonel Slade
2015 Thomas & Friends: The Adventure Begins Narrator Voice
Thomas & Friends: Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure
2016 Thomas & Friends: The Great Race
2017 Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor
2023 Our Kid Mark Parrott

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1988–2017 Emmerdale Tim Richards / Barry
1989–99 Brookside Colin Lambert / Greg Shadwick / Carl Trevor
1990–91 Waterfront Beat Det. Sgt. 'Macker' McVay
1991 Boon Wayne
1993–2008 Heartbeat Roy Leamus / Luke
1994–97 Harry Enfield and Chums Barry Scouser
1996–97 Peak Practice Phil Young
1999-2001 Dream Team Ray Wyatt
2000 Always and Everyone Lawrence Scott
Close and True Steve Sheedy
2001–05 Holby City Owen Davis
2006 Where the Heart Is Mark
2008 The Bill Jeff Bowman
Celebrity Masterchef Himself
2010, 2012 Doctors Guy Harrold / Tony Mullen
2013–2019 Thomas & Friends Narrator (Seasons 17–21) / Dexter / Mr. Evans Voice for Narrator and Dexter. Portrayal for Mr. Evans
2015 Coronation Street Adrian Mortimer

Web Videos[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2023 GTA… but with talking trains!! Narrator Voice; parodying his time narrating Thomas & Friends.
SPIDER-MAN 2… but with a Talking Train!!

References[edit]

  1. ^ http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=3031115&c=uk[permanent dead link] Researcha
  2. ^ Woman Archived 12 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Cannon, Nick, "From Lust to Dust", 23 August 1999 Accessed: 7 October 2006
  3. ^ markmoraghan.com Archived 12 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine Music section. Accessed: 4 September 2006
  4. ^ PersonalColumn pictures. Accessed: 7 October 2006
  5. ^ Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. 13 May 2001. ITV.
  6. ^ markmoraghan.com Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine News 21 November 2006 + 3 November 2006 Accessed: 29 November 2006
  7. ^ "Former Brookside actor to be Thomas the Tank Engine narrator". The Guardian. 17 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2015.

External links[edit]