Fat Friends star Richard Ridings has totally transformed since his days in the hit drama.
The actor is best known to TV audiences for playing Alan Ashburn in the TV series about a slimming club. The show – which is now available on Netflix – first aired in 2000 and also featured the likes of Gaynor Faye and Gavin and Stacey stars Ruth Jones, James Corden, Sheridan Smith and Alison Steadman.
It wrapped in 2005 and 19 years later Richard looks very different with his new bald look and more casual attire. But there’s one thing that everybody will probably recognise about him, and that’s his voice.
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Now 65, the actor is actually the voice of Peppa Pig’s father, Daddy Pig. Richard started lending his vocals to the popular pig in 2004 and the role has run and run as the cartoon about a piglet and her life with her family continues to entrance children everywhere.
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The actor has said in interviews that he loves the role and in 2022, he told Business Insider he had no plans to hang up his mic any time soon. “I will keep going until I lose my voice,” he said.
“Why wouldn’t I? It’s such a gorgeous thing to be part of. The scripts are superb. I’m a lucky man.”
Richard has also been in several TV shows since Fat Friends, with roles in programmes like Casualty, Coronation Street and Holby City. And he’s popped up on the big screen in movies such as The Brothers Grimm and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
(Image: PA)
His voice can also be heard in a raft of video games. He has voiced characters in projects like Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Total War: Warhammer and Dragon Quest Heroes II.
Richard is also a dad and his daughter Freya has made a name for herself as a singer. The 29-year-old took the music world by storm after finding fame in 2017 with her song, Lost Without You, and followed it up with hits like Castles and You Mean The World To Me.
(Image: five)
Freya unveiled her second album, Blood Orange, last year, and Women In Pop quoted her as saying: “It’s a privilege to do this job, it’s not a given, so I’m just going to give my all to every opportunity that I get.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
