Mark Speight

1965 - 2008

Born in 1965, in Tettenhall Wolverhampton, Mark was educated at Tettenhall College, Birchfield and Regis schools in Wolverhampton and subsequently attended Bilston Art College. Mark was a member of Wolverhampton’s Central Youth Theatre at the age of 21. He was introduced to CYT by his friend Frazer Price. Mark appeared in the production Bridge to the Blues. He followed this with a degree in Commercial and Graphic Art at the American College in London.

As a result of his appearance in Blind Date (ITV) the fashion agency Ugly’s Models secured his services and he was actively involved in advertising projects both internationally and nationally with them.

Obtaining his equity card, he appeared in Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s West End Show – Moby Dick – in the early 1990s. Mark played 6 different parts in the show and it ran for 6 months. During rehearsals Sir Cameron Mackintosh noted his artistic cartooning skills and asked Mark to produce a cartoon sketch of the show for the Independent. Mark also assisted in the design of the show’s programme.

From there Mark joined Billy Marsh Associates (the theatrical agency of legendary stars such as Morecambe and Wise, Bruce Forysth and Rolf Harris; to name but a few). Mark first shot to fame as the extraordinary rubber-faced presenter of children’s ITV popular Saturday morning show, Scratchy & Co, which was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Children’s Entertainment Show. It also won the RTS Award for Best Entertainment programme and was nominated as Best Children’s Show at the Independent Television Awards.

Mark was one of the BBC’s top presenters with the network’s highly rated children’s show, SMart, now in its fifteenth year. Also on television, he filmed a one-off special for the BBC’s Africa Week, shot in South Africa and a series of 5 special programmes for the Heaven and Earth Show (BBC 1). Mark was involved with the live finale programme of Saving Planet Earth (BBC 1), in which he produced a work of art based on the programme’s aim of saving the world’s endangered species.

He regularly presented art and craft items for This Morning (ITV 1) and in 2007 hosted the Muller Big Art Project in London’s Trafalgar Square for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day; for which he created a giant painting made up of 54 canvasses.

For BBC Northwest Tonight, Mark filmed an art campaign encouraging children of all ages to create portraits using any art form and linking with major art galleries in the Northwest.

In 2005, Mark took an active part in Rolf on Art – the Big Events (BBC 1) a live event in Trafalgar Square in which he worked with Rolf Harris to help create John Constable’s famous painting, The Haywain, on a gigantic scale. The BBC were so impressed with Mark’s contribution that they immediately engaged him to present live for the second programme; in which artists from all over the UK joined forces to create their version of Holbein’s majestic depiction of Henry V111. The BBC, the National Galleries of Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council subsequently teamed up for another event recreating Da Vinci’s masterpiece, Mona Lisa, in the grounds of Edinburgh Castle.

He has presented a wide variety of programmes, ranging from a game style series, Beat the Cyborgs (CITV) in which he took on the role of the extraordinary character Max Manus, to a 13-part series to History Busters (Discovery Channel), which won an RTS Award. He was the main presenter of the series See it Saw it and On Your Marks (both for the BBC) and Name That Toon (Granada) which won the Best CITV Award and for which Mark was nominated Best Presenter for 2 consecutive years. The Toon Room is yet another series in which Mark used his remarkable artistic expertise to educate and teach children how to draw cartoons.

He also regularly toured around the country with his Speight of the Art children’s workshops.

Mark loved encouraging kids to be imaginative and as President of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, he had the opportunity to be heavily involved in their valuable work for a number of years. He supported the Young Pavement Artists Competition (Marks Gallery with the winners) (YPAC) which encouraged schools, youth groups and communities to bring children together to draw and have fun.

Visit Marks gallery of images

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