Michael Angelis

Michael Angelis (born in Merseyside, Liverpool on January 18th, 1952) was the longest running Thomas and Friends narrator. He narrated from the third to sixteenth seasons for the UK. He also narrated six American episodes on the New Friends for Thomas and Other Adventures DVD, the first six The Railway Stories CDs, other miscellaneous merchandise, and promos/commercials.

Angelis appears in many British television shows, such as "The Liver Birds", "Reilly: Ace of Spies", "Minder", "Sweet Medicine", "A & E", "Merseybeat", "A Touch of Frost" "The Boys from Blackstuff", "Midsomer Murders", "The Bill", "Auf Weidershen Pet", "I Woke Up One Morning", "George and Mildred", "Z Cars", and "Good Cop".

He has an older brother, Paul Angelis, and was married to Helen Worth from 1991 until 2001. He later married model Jennifer Khalastchi. Coincidentally enough Paul provided the voice of Ringo Starr in The Beatles animated film "Yellow Submarine".

He was originally hired to voice James and Percy in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, but was later replaced by Susan Roman and Linda Ballantyne respectively because the test audience thought that he made the characters sound old.

Michael has also starred in various television commercials, including Stones Bitter, the Post Office, McDonald's, and Think Road Saftey Campaigns.

Angelis also narrated John Peel's autobiography, "Margrave of the Marshes", on BBC Radio 4 in 2005, later released by AudioGO. In 2006 he starred in the film, "Fated", set in his hometown of Liverpool, as well as in episodes of "Midsomer Murders" and "The Bill" in 2007.

In September 2011, he participated in the BBC Radio 4 programme "The Reunion" talking with other cast members about his roles in the landmark 1980's drama series "Boys from the Blackstuff".

Trivia

 * He was the longest serving narrator for the series.
 * Some episodes from foreign dubs of the television series have credited Michael Angelis as the narrator even though they were redubbed.
 * Both he and Clive Mantle appeared in the same episode of "Casualty".
 * He and Mark Moraghan both appeared on the same episode of "Harry Enfield and Chums".
 * He was not credited in any of the season 5 intro segments for unknown reasons.