Christopher Biggins

Christopher Biggins
Biggins in 2009 at the Carlton Club
Born	Christopher Kenneth Biggins (1948-12-16) 16 December 1948 (age 68) Oldham, Lancashire, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actor, television presenter
Years active	1970–present
Spouse(s)	Beatrice Norbury (m. 1971–74) (divorced) Neil Sinclair (m. 2006)

Christopher Kenneth Biggins (born 16 December 1948) is an English actor and television presenter.

Biggins was born in Oldham, Lancashire, and brought up in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where he took elocution lessons and participated in local drama groups. His first lead stage role was at the age of 17 in a Stage '65 production of Molière's Le Médecin malgré lui, leading to work with a local repertory theatre company.

Biggins appeared as the regular character Lukewarm in the situation comedy Porridge (1974–1977) starring Ronnie Barker. Other comedy shows he appeared in include Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973) and Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973, 1978). He played Nero in the BBC dramatisation of I, Claudius (1976), from the novels by Robert Graves, having been selected for the role partly on the strength of a television commercial in which he had played a Roman emperor presiding over the games. He also appeared in the BBC's Poldark (1977) as the Reverend Osborne Whitworth, and the TV miniseries Masada (1981).

Despite these serious roles, his co-hosting of Surprise Surprise and hosting children's game show On Safari (1982–1985) for TVS led to his being typecast as a "bubbly personality"; when asked in 2005 if he resented this, he replied