Born 13th September 1959 in Middlesex, England, Bobby Davro was named Robert Nankeville at birth.
Popular in the UK in the middle 80's and early 90's for his comedic impressions of famous people, he is now rarely seen on television, except for the occasional guest appearence.
Copy Cats
In 1985, he starred in Copy Cats, a popular entertainment programme on ITV which comprised of many fast moving sketches. In this show, which lasted three series, Davro starred with many other famous British impersonators of the day.
This included
Davro
Davro used this show as a springboard for his comedy skills and his talent for mimicry and he was given several series of his own, including Davro, Bobby Davro On The Box, Davro's Sketch Pad and A Kind of Magic. His popularity started to fade in the early nineties, and in 1992, the BBC were criticized for giving Davro the opportunity to present a show called Public Enemy Number One.
Public Enemy Number One
Public Enemy Number One was a budget Saturday night television series where celebrities such as Tony Blackburn and Peter Stringfellow competed against each other to predict the outcome of Candid Camera style stunts. If their predictions failed, they would have to carry out a forfeit.
Rock With Laughter
Davro managed to scrape though this series and somehow managed to be rehired by the BBC in 1993 to star in another solo show called Rock With Laughter, also for the BBC which was shown on Tuesday evenings. Previously Davro had starred in his own stage show called Rock With Laughter, and the television show of the same name was an adaptation of this sucessful project. The television series was unfortunately not very successful. It contained Davro starring in musical parodies with his guest stars, who ranged from Shane Ritchie to The Grumbleweeds. After being put on a back burner for two years by the BBC, it was eventually broadcast a year after it was recorded, after the BBC's variety department had been disbanded.
Winner Takes All
After four years of obscurity, Davro was given another chance by cable channel Challenge TV when he was chosen to present a re-vamped version of Winner Takes All. Despite being an old concept, on this show Davro proved that he still had his original talents by being quick-witted and on the ball.
Big Brother
By 2000, Davro had become the butt of a joke on the UK version of Big Brother. When the housemates completed a task, Big Brother gave them a reward in the form of a video containing a number of Bobby Davro shows. As the housemates had been locked in a house for weeks without the privelege of being able to watch the television, the promise of being able to see a video was one which they were all looking forward to, however, when a Bobby Davro video was produced for them, only two of the housemates stayed awake to watch all the episodes.
One comment from Anna, a housemate was,
"Bobby Davro? Even my Gran hates Bobby Davro"
Now, in 2002, Davro lives happily with his wife and three young daughters and takes work as an after dinner speaker, and enjoys supporting his favourite football team, Tottenham Hotspur. He also takes on work as a compere, and on Sunday 14th July 2002, was compere for the Big Gig Weekend in Somerset.
Television Credits
Sources
http://www.imdb.com
http://www.tvchronicles.com/britishcomedy/britcom2.htm
http://offthetelly.users.btopenworld.com/features/tvhell.htm