John's many and various television credits include Doctor Who, The Wedding Feast, The Doctors, Dad's Army, Take Three Girls, Rings on Their Fingers, My Wife Next Door, The Reverent Wooing of Archibald, Marry the Girls, Sorry, Tucker's Luck, The Prince Regent, Crown Court, The Brief, On the House, Rainbow, Game for a Laugh, The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Oscar, Ring of Bright Water (And Beyond), Dear Mother Love Albert, Crossroads, Indelible Evidence, Beadle's About, The Bill, and Blake's Seven. He also appeared in the movie Tarka the Otter.
He has performed in a wide variety of plays including The Chiltern Hundreds, Ten Little Indians, Miss Carraway Investigates, The Hollow Crown, The Taming of the Shrew, Wuthering Heights, Give a Dog a Bone, As You Like It, A Winter's Tale, Hay Fever, The Rivals, MacBeth, Hindle Wakes, The Deep Blue Sea, Diary of Anne Frank, A Doll's House, That Scoundrel Scapin, Measure for Measure, Hobson's Choice, Julius Caesar, The Hostage, Much Ado About Nothing, Plaza Suite, Flint, Don't Start Without Me, See How They Run, Sweet Wine of Youth, Bedroom Farce, and Hamlet.
John has worked for many years as a freelance narrator for BBC promotional trailers, radio commercials, film commentaries and has recorded a cassette language course for Cambridge University Press and Macmillans. He has also worked as the Continuity Announcer on Channel 4 in Britain.
At his first American convention, when fans hadn't yet seen the face behind the voice, John spent half a day "in disguise" as American fan "Fred" complete with button-bedecked scarf and hat. He entered the K-9 sound alike contest and won (duh). It wasn't until he took the stage for his panel session that fans realized his "little deception." Nowadays, having appeared at numerous conventions both here in the United States and in Britain, John is far too recognizable for a repeat performance.
Visions '93 biography of John Leeson, copyright 1995 by Her Majesty's Entertainment, Hoffman Estates, IL, USA. Used with permission.
John is quite a character, as I discovered at Visions '93. I was walking with him when someone came along with a remote-controlled model K-9. John got down on his hands and knees behind the K-9 and followed it for a good thirty feet. (I have a photo of that that I will have to put in here if it scans well enough.)
Additionally, he's a very nice guy. At Visions he took time out from a very hectic schedule to be interviewed for my newsletter - not about himself but about Elisabeth Sladen! Anyone who puts up with that deserves great credit.
Back to the TARDIS.