Neil Buchanan

Neil Buchanan is an affable, fast-talking Liverpudlian who left school with 5 0-Levels (including art) after being turned down by Liverpool Art College. He knew little of the ways of television until a short-lived career as a rock star in the mid-seventies collapsed in the inevitable morass of litigation and bad debt. When looking for a job, one advert in particular caught his eye, "Have You Ever Had Breakfast With A Gorilla?" It was advertising for acts on a new TVS Saturday morning children's show and, although he didn't get the part of the presenter, he was offered a spot on the anarchic kids' TV show, No 73, as a caricaturist. The rest as they say is history; Buchanan has since presented many children's TV programs including No 73, Motormouth (1988), Finders Keepers (1991) and ZZZap! (1993). He then collaborated with Tim Edmunds to invent, present and produce Art Attack (1990), ITV's acclaimed children's art show. In the past five years, few of ITV children's shows have been as consistently successful as "Art Attack" and, as a home grown British show, it is also very popular with parents. Despite increased competition from dedicated children's channels such as Nickelodeon and The Children's Channel, "Art Attack" continues to command a loyal following of around five million viewers each week and is the most popular television program made especially for children! It is popular with TV bodies too and has won various awards from the likes of New York International Film and TV Festival, the Prix Danube, the Prix Jeunesse, The Royal Television Society and BAFTA. "Art Attack" is currently in its 10th series for the ITV network and there have been three Christmas specials.