Graham Hoadly
Graham Hoadly created the roles of the Commentator and Phillips in the London Palladium production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and may be heard on the original cast CD.
This is his second appearance at the London Palladium having last appeared here as Dexter, the manic movie director, in Singin' in the Rain with Tommy Steele.
His other West End appearances include: ugly brother Lumley in Mr Cinders (Fortune); Abe in Some Like it Hot (Prince Edward) and Francis in Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens (Criterion).
Prior to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Graham appeared on tour (and as part of the Covent Garden Festival) playing Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, Dick Deadeye (and Sir Joseph Porter's Aunt!) in HMS Pinafore and Pooh Bah in The Mikado, all for Opera della Luna.
He also played Sarah the Cook in Roy Hudd's Dick Whittington (Watford Palace), following his great success at the same theatre the previous year as Widow Twankey in Aladdin. Film and TV credits include: Blunt with Anthony Hopkins and Ian Richardson; Flywheel and Sightings as Jack the Ripper!
A frequent radio broadcaster Graham was one of the four regulars in the award winning BBC comedy series Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel which is currently enjoying a re-run on BBC 7.
His repertory appearances and national tours include: Salad Days as Uncle Augustine; Just a Verse and a Chorus; Cluedo as Colonel Mustard; Crazy for You as Fodor and Everett Baker; the Palladium production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as Simeon; A Christmas Carol in which he covered (and played) Scrooge and A Tale of Two Cities with Paul Nicholas.
Fringe work includes: The Chairs and McCorquodale in Funeral Games. At the King's Head Graham co-devised and appeared in the critically acclaimed tribute to the Gate revues of the 1930s, Meet Me at the Gate, and alternated with Lily Savage as Roscoe the drag queen in Elegies prior to its West End run.
Graham also performs in Cabaret and Music Hall all over the world, regularly appearing with the Concordia Theatre Company on the QE2 for Cunard. He has compered several Variety Tours and was a popular Chairman at the famous Players Theatre in London.