We find out what became of the legendary Get Your Own Back host...
Sweet revenge
What was it about 90s telly and gunge? If you were an adult on TV, you could barely move without getting covered in the slimy stuff – and slime master general was surely Dave Benson Phillips, presenter of children’s game show Get Your Own Back. It gave kids the chance to gunge their parents or teachers for the most trivial of reasons, like not letting them eat sweets after dinner. But what happened to telly favourite Dave and what’s he up to now?
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Doing it for the kids
Dave got into entertainment when he worked at the Polka Theatre for children in Wimbledon, south London, as an usher. He had a talent for entertaining the kids, and after stints busking and working at children’s parties, he became a Bluecoat at Pontins. He was eventually scouted by a talent agent and got a job on BBC children’s show Playdays, which ran for nine years.
Time for gunge
In 1991 Dave got the gig on Get Your Own Back, which was nominated for a BAFTA. Any kid worth their salt wanted to gunge their mum, uncle or evil PE teacher, but it was only the very lucky few who made it onto the show. The show ran until 2004 and Dave became a proper TV staple. He reminds us of our childhoods so much.
So what’s he up to these days?
Since the show finished in 2004, Dave’s appeared on Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, Pointless and children’s show Sooty. Now 53, he told our sister site CelebsNow that he’s often asked if he’ll bring Get Your Own Back to TV once again, revealing: "A Get Your Own Back reboot is never far from my thoughts. A lot of people still have great affection for the show and the love still humbles me even when we do live shows at universities, festivals and... the Edinburgh Festival."
And Dave is also entertaining the kids currently at Butlins in Skegness, sharing this great snap of himself with his trusty guitar.
We hope he’s back on our TV screens ASAP!
Main pic: Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock
