Dave Thompson

Dave Thompson is a British stand-up comedian and actor, who hit the headlines in July 1997 after being sacked from the role of Tinky-Winky in hit children's television series, the Teletubbies. The BBC said in a letter to Thompson that his "interpretation of the role was not acceptable". This refers to the events in which Thompson claimed that the character he played, "Tinky Winky", was a homosexual.^[1][2] Thompson recounted bursting into tears upon learning the news of his termination. In interviews, he supposed that the fact his voice was dubbed, unlike the other actors, was an indication of dissatisfaction over his performance.^[3] Bestselling British tabloid The Sun started a reinstatement campaign on his behalf. The resulting fervor over his dismissal quadrupled viewership from 500,000 to 2 million. He later appeared as Dave the Comedian/Mrs. Furblob in Ben Elton's 2000 movie Maybe, Baby^[4].

Books

• Sit-Down Comedy (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm Hardee & John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003. ISBN-10: 0091889243; ISBN-13: 978-0091889241

External links

• Homepage

References

1. ^ Thorpe, Vanessa, "Tantrums in Teletubbyland as Tinky Winky gets the elbow", The Independent (London), p. 3 (July 27 1997)}
2. ^ "interview with a teletubby", earthlydelights.co.uk
3. ^ Kitterick, Bernadette, "I burst into tears, says axed Teletubby". Bristol Evening Post, p. 5 (July 30 1997)}
4. ^ IMDB credits.