Phil Fletcher
Phil Fletcher is a British puppeteer. He established his puppet manufacturing and performance company, Gluvets, at the age of 11. Having found summer work performing in holiday camps, he became a full-time puppeteer in 2002. In 2009, Phil was cast by the BBC as the puppeteer of Hacker T. Dog, an anthropomorphic Border Terrier dog puppet, for continuity segments on the CBBC Channel. Hacker had appeared in the television series Scoop from 2009 but was being brought in as a presenter sidekick for Iain Stirling, continuity announcer on CBBC, for the following year. Phil performed on screen hidden by a trolley, desk or couch. He gave Hacker a voice for the first time and the character proved very popular. Stirling and Fletcher were nominated for a BAFTA for best children's presenter in 2010. The Hacker character was so successful he received his own TV series, Hacker Time, which ran for 63 episodes and was nominated for eight BAFTAs, including best children's performer for Phil in 2013.
Phil performed on screen hidden by a trolley, desk or couch. He gave Hacker a voice for the first time and the character proved very popular. Stirling and Fletcher were nominated for a BAFTA for best children's presenter in 2010. The Hacker character was so successful he received his own TV series, Hacker Time, which ran for 63 episodes and was nominated for eight BAFTAs, including best children's performer for Phil in 2013. Phil says that the personality of Hacker is based on himself: "I just do what I find funny ... The bits that are always the funniest are made up – I'm always just trying to throw the presenter under the bus, really. I have no regard for the presenter, I just throw them under the bus because I think it'd make good telly". He received a further BAFTA nomination for best children's performer in 2017 for his work on CBBC. The character has also appeared on breakfast news programming, Today at Wimbledon and Celebrity Mastermind (his specialist subject was The Pet Shop Boys).
From 2017 Fletcher voiced Sweep in Sooty and from 2021 has appeared as Larry the Lizard on Buffering.
Phil says that the personality of Hacker is based on himself: "I just do what I find funny ... The bits that are always the funniest are made up – I'm always just trying to throw the presenter under the bus, really. I have no regard for the presenter, I just throw them under the bus because I think it'd make good telly". He received a further BAFTA nomination for best children's performer in 2017 for his work on CBBC. The character has also appeared on breakfast news programming, Today at Wimbledon and Celebrity Mastermind (his specialist subject was The Pet Shop Boys).
From 2017 Fletcher voiced Sweep in Sooty and from 2021 has appeared as Larry the Lizard on Buffering. In 2022 a segment that Hacker had filmed with co-host Lauren Layfield in 2016 became a viral meme.Phil told his sound operator not to play the usual background music during the segment and asked Layfield to move her head close to the Hacker puppet. Phil had Hacker look into her eyes and say "We're just normal men". Layfield asked "What do you mean, normal men?" and Hacker, replied "We're just innocent men".
Layfield struggled to maintain composure through laughing and snorted loudly, described by the Big Issue as "the most famous snort in the country". Phil says "Her reaction was genuine because she didn't know what I was gonna say: nor did I, really. It just threw her over the edge, because what does that even mean? Why would you say that on kids' telly?"
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