Roy Skelton

Roy William Skelton (20 July 1931 – 8 June 2011) was a British actor most noted for his voice work. He was best known for playing Zippy and George in Rainbow, and for voicing the Daleks and the Cybermen in Doctor Who.

Life and career
Born in Nottingham to John H Skelton and Dorothy (née Bromley), Skelton trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and worked at Oxford for a year, being lead juvenile to Ronnie Barker. He discovered his vocal talents by reading the script of a Pinocchio TV serial he was involved in, as Lampwick, using Goon voices, which got the attention of Gordon Murray.

Roy met Peter Hawkins during Toytown, who would become a close friend. In 1957, he met his future wife Hilary Tooze at the nightclub, after being announced as a television personality, which Hilary replied to affectionately. They married two years later. They would go on to have two children, Eliza and Samantha.

In 1965, he began his long association with Doctor Who voicing the Monoids in The Ark, which Peter Hawkins recommended him for. 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. This confused many of the actors, who did not know when his lines finished.

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. Roy also voiced the Krotons in their sole 1968 appearance, giving them South African accents. Skelton's first on-screen role was as Norton in Colony in Space (1971); during rehearsals could not stop laughing while warning of killer lizards.

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 Roy most fondly-remembered included meeting Elizabeth II and Ernie Wise, 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, and particularly enjoyed being able to quickly switch between Zippy and George. Contrary to popular belief, he did not base Zippy's voice off of the Daleks, but when asked where he got it, he jokingly claimed that it was a cross between Margaret Thatcher and Ian Paisley. Roy had intentions to write for other programmes, including Take a Chance, but never received any further contracts requiring him to do so.

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, a good friend. He, Michael 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.

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. He died at his home in Brighton, East Sussex, on 8 June 2011, after suffering a stroke at age 79.