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Tony Robinson (born August 15, 1946) is a British television comedy actor and
political campaigner. He is presenter of the
popular archaeology television series, Time Team
and similar archaeological and historical
programmes.

Born in London, his first professional acting
experience came at the age of twelve, when he
appeared as a member of Fagin's gang in the
original production of the musical Oliver!,
including a stint as the Artful Dodger.

In the early 1970s he starred in Children's
fantasy/comedy programme Sam On Boff's Island,
about a man who falls asleep while eating his
breakfast cereal and ends up transported to an
island which looks just like his cereal. After
being part of the Who Dares Wins (TV comedy)|Who
Dares Wins comedy performers, he came to
prominence for his role in the British situation
comedy Blackadder as Edmund Blackadder's
disgusting man-servant/batman Baldrick. In the
first series he was quite intelligent but
subsequently his character evolved into that of an
intellectually challenged buffoon. His catchphrase
in this programme was, "I have a cunning plan."

In the 1980s he also wrote and narrated several
Jackanory-style children's programs - although
more energetically than the Jackanory house style,
with Robinson bounding about the place acting out
all the parts. Programs in this style included
Tales From Fat Tulip's Garden (continued in Fat
Tulip Too), Odysseus: The Greatest Hero of Them
All (a retelling of the Iliad and the Odyssey),
and Blood and Honey (tales from the Old Testament,
filmed on location in Palestine).

In the late eighties he created the comedy TV
series Maid Marian and her Merry Men, a loose
retelling of the legend of Robin Hood in which he
appeared as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Until 2000, he was vice-president of the actors'
union British Actors' Equity Association|Equity.
Since leaving, he has been elected to the The
Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party's National
Executive Committee.

In 2004 Robinson presented the Channel 4
television programme "The Worst Jobs in History",
re-enacting some of the more horrible jobs of the
past millennium.  He then took the show on tour
around the country along with an autobiographical
question and answer session.

Tony Robinson's Cunning Night Out, a largely
improvised stage show, followed in early 2005 and
included a mix of the many themes from his career
for which Robinson is famous. He also presented
The Real Da Vinci Code, a documentary for Channel
4's Weird World series which examined (and largely
debunked) the claims made by Dan Brown in his
novel The Da Vinci Code.

He has also been active in 2005 in the "Make
Poverty History" campaign, in the lead-up to the
G8 summit in Scotland.

==Selected films==

*Brannigan (movie)|Brannigan (1975) - Messenger
*The NeverEnding Story III (1994) - Engywook (male
gnome)
*Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999) - Sod-Off
Baldrick/Baldrickus

==External links==

*http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733153/ Tony
Robinson's page in the Internet Movie Database
*"http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/765633.
stm Tony Robinson's cunning plan" - BBC News
article dated Friday 26th May 2000
*http://www.boldoutlaw.com/robint/tonyrob1.html
Tony Robinson - Interviews in Sherwood
*http://www.foylesystems.com/index.php?view=Fattul
ip Tales From Fat Tulip's Garden - Tony Robinson