John Leeson

After leaving school, John Leeson worked in a bookshop, and then as a porter in the Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital. He joined the Leicester Dramatic Society and ultimately applied for and won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. On leaving RADA, he worked in repertory and pantomimes, including "Toad of Toad Hall," in which he met his future wife. His first work in television was as a walk-on in a BBC play, The Wedding Feast (1965). The Spanish Farm (1968), Dad's Army (1968) and numerous situation comedies followed. He played the original Bungle the bear in the children's series Rainbow (1972), set questions for Mastermind (1972) and did a lot of freelance voice work for the BBC. He was cast in Doctor Who (1963), providing the voice of K-9, the robot dog companion of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, after he bumped into director Derrick Goodwin, with whom he had worked previously, in a pub. Since his time in the series, Leeson has continued to act and provide voiceover services for the BBC and many other companies. In 1995 he appeared in the Doctor Who spin-off video drama Downtime (1995), playing a disc jockey.