Austen's British TV debut was on the irreverent cult
ITV puppet show
Spitting Image. (1987–90) Austen voiced and puppeteered
Sky One's
DJ Kat for more than 2000 award-winning
DJ Kat Shows (1989–95) and 200 breakfast shows as
Earl E Bird on
Channel 4's
Early Bird (1991). Austen voiced/puppeteered feline gang leader Danny Mogg (1991) in comedy drama series
The Wild Bunch. This TF1/Channel 4 co-production, recorded at
AB Studios Paris, was a vehicle for French TV star
Dorothee. During ITV's Saturday morning show ''
What's Up Doc? (1992–94) Austen teamed up with John Eccleston to write and puppeteer a run of British TV favourites. Firstly, The Wolves
, aka Bro & Bro, and within weeks earn their own spin-off comedy drama Wolf It!'' (1993–96) for four seasons. Austen and Eccleston joined
BBC One's Saturday morning 3hr flagship
Live & Kicking (1995–2000) as cantankerous
Leprechauns Sage & Onion – built by
Darryl Worbey Studios – while that other Irish phenomenon,
Riverdance, packed houses in London's Theatreland. As Mr. Sage, sporting a rather dodgy hairpiece, Austen wrote and puppeteered comedy sketches for five years. Outliving three sets of in vision presenters, he became the longest surviving 'presenter' (Eccleston took time out to perform
Rygel in the sci-fi series
Farscape). To cover Eccleston's sojourn an overbearing long lost sister joined the cast. 'Shamrock' was puppeteered by
Rebecca Nagan. This series, hosted by
Zoe Ball and
Jamie Theakston, won a
BAFTA in 1999. The Leps, as they were affectionately known, guest-starred on a wide range of British TV shows including The
French and Saunders Christmas Special: The Making Of Titanic (1998),
Jim Davidson's
The Generation Game (1998), The
National Lottery (1998), and
GMTV for St. Patrick's Day Celebrations (1998 and 1999) During 1999, Austen was hand-picked by master puppeteer
Frank Oz to help him portray
Yoda in
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. For this complex puppet, Oz needed three helpers, including Austen,
David Greenaway and Katherine Smee. Next was a return to the Henson fold, and all 250 episodes of BAFTA winning TV series
The Hoobs (2000–02). Here he voiced and puppeteered the excitable, vulnerable purple Hoob,
Iver, alongside Eccleston as Groove. The production was the largest ever pre-school commission by a UK independent. It gained Gemini Award nominations for three consecutive years, "Best Performance in a Pre-School Series." (Shared). Austen's penchant for live TV was seen again, year round, on the Saturday morning ITV series,
Ministry of Mayhem (2005) voicing and puppeteering Scratch – one half of riotous duo
The Hyenas, Scratch & Sniff, a third Austen-Eccleston collaboration. MOM changed its format and was renamed
Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown (2006), retaining presenters
Holly Willoughby and
Stephen Mulhern from the previous outing. Scratch featured largely in the slimmed down line up. Austen was also called upon to write and voice the game commentary to 'Supermarket Sneak' and, further to his portrayal of Ozzy Osbourne on MOM, performed in vision as Igor, a larger than life dancing Russian Cossack. Austen notched up 6 series as voice and puppeteer on CBBC's
Basil Brush Show (2002–2007) playing evil
Cousin Mortimer and naughty nephews Bingo and Bungo. The show was shortlisted for a BAFTA in 2006. Basil & Bingo performed at
Buckingham Palace for the
Children's Party at the Palace (2006). Austen puppeteered
Wooly the Sheep in the
Woolworths TV/radio commercials (2003–08) with Eccleston as sidekick
Worth the Dog. The ad campaigns were shot in London and Prague. The Hyenas recorded 15 gameshows for
Granada Kids – CITV (2006) In 2006, Austen and Eccleston worked on a pilot for
MTV. In 2007 The Leprechauns returned for the Christmas Puppet Special of the BBC's
The Weakest Link. They were voted off after the first round. In January 2008, Austen and Eccleston were invited to join the newly commissioned
Fur TV team for MTV, performing the outrageous puppet characters Fat Ed and Mervin respectively. In April 2008 International action hero Jackie Chan joined Austen and Eccleston in their latest Woolworths TV commercial. Austen flew out to Sydney (2010) to join Australian puppeteers on the CBBC, Jim Henson, Sticky Productions,
Me and My Monsters. He played the role of Haggis providing the voice whilst inhabiting the enormous orange furball. Colleague David Collins controlled the animatronic eyes from off camera. == References ==