Wow! What an honour. And it doesn’t stop with the Female Voiceover Artist of the year. I’ve also been nominated for the Best Overall Performance in the Corporate/Explainer Category and the Best Female Radio Drama Performance. 

I’m utterly thrilled as you can imagine. It’s been a super busy year for Claire Wyatt Voiceover and I’m so pleased my hard work, and the great work my lovely clients have given me, is getting some recognition.

Best Overall Corporate Performance

Ooooo, it was hard to know what to submit for this category. I’ve been involved in so many great projects. But I settled on the short explainer I voiced for Birla Carbon.

Best Female Radio Drama Performance

My work for Big Finish has been recognised in this category. Specifically the performance I gave in The Ninth Doctor Chronicles, The Bleeding Heart. It was great fun to do and, for once, I didn’t play an alien!  Plus it was directed by the wonderful Helen Goldwyn who is also nominated for her terrific acting work.

You can read more about some of my other Doctor Who adventures below and listen to my reels and samples here.

The versatile voice of radio drama

About the Awards

The awards are part of the One Voice Conference created by Gravy for the Brain. They say “The One Voice Conference is a brand-new concept, aimed at all levels of Voiceover Professional; from Beginner to Expert – everyone is catered for – all 300 delegates! One Voice is the only voice acting conference you’ll ever need to attend. Our goal is to take the voiceover industry forward and create a new standard of voice acting conference. Everyone is invited because each and every one of us works, plays a part, or simply loves the world of voiceover.”

A full list of all the categories and nominees is available and the event takes place in the DoubleTree by Hilton, Docklands hotel on 28th April 2018. This black-tie event will feature a 3-course dinner, drinks and a wonderful awards show, located by the Thames river.

Tickets for the awards go on sale on March 1st 2018 at 09:00 GMT.

I’ll be there in my best frock!

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Well, what a year it’s been! I always get reflective around Christmas and it’s nice to be thankful for all the good things that have happened. So, what do I mean by voiceover journey? Well, 2017 has been hugely challenging on a personal level, so it’s been a blessing that my professional life has blossomed and flourished alongside it all. I’ve made new friends, worked with some amazing new companies and brands, collaborated with some heroes and had a lot of fun.

I really hope the year has been as wonderful for you.

Tis the season to be…THANKFUL

Here’s a little list of the great work I’ve been honoured to be part of this year:

• I’ve become a voice of Global (home of some of the UK’s best loved radio stations) and now regularly voice radio commercials all over the country.
• I confused my little toddler in TK Max when Mummy’s voice suddenly came over the tannoy! It’s been great fun doing some in-store announcements this year.
• My first Torchwood episode was released and I did my first drama for Audible working with an amazing cast including Miriam Margolyes, Douglas Booth and Alison Steadman
• I’m super proud to have been part of an audio drama set in WW2. Can’t say more until it’s released sadly!
• I’ve added brands like Tesco, DHL, TFL and BP to my rosta of clients.
• And of course I’ve launched my new website with updated demo reels and some fun seasonal offerings.
• But, best of all, I’ve built my business and continued to make friends from the wonderful people in our industry.

Some festive fun at the Gravy for the Brain Christmas Party

Louisa Gummer and Claire Wyatt

Me, Ally Murphy and Kenny Blyth

Me and Helen Quigley

My raffle winnings!

Here’s hoping 2018 is as exciting and rewarding.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you all

Love Claire

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As an actor I gained a reputation as the go-to person for playing multiple roles in one show. In fact, I’ve rarely ever been in a show where I only play one character! It requires an active imagination, an ability to manipulate your body, a willingness to make a fool of yourself and, of course, a great ear for accents and vocal character.

And it’s not just inventing characters. I’ve had to impersonate real people too. It takes a lot of listening and playing around before you find all the elements that make up someones voice. Are they breathy, nasal or shrill? What pitch and speed do they talk at? Is there a defect or impediment? What shapes do they make with their mouths and faces to form the sounds? Detailed research and a lot of hard graft but I get there in the end.

Anne Hegarty from The Chaser

What’s great is that all my theatre training and experience is now bleeding into my voiceover work. A recent client found me via Google precisely because they needed a skilled voiceover artist who could also do impersonations. They needed someone to impersonate some people from the TV game show The Chaser as well as coming up with characters playing the game. It was a lot of fun. Sadly, I’m not allowed to share the content so I’ll have to leave it to your imagination. But they did share the avatars with me.

Jenny Ryan from The Chaser

My many acting roles

Here’s just a selection of some of the shows I’ve done where I’ve had to take on characters and do impersonations:

• Vanity Fair by William Thackeray. I played the wealthy,grouchy and flamboyant octogenarian Lady Steyne as well as an hilarious and loving Irish military wife. I also played a teenager, a middle aged mum and a sour and snobbish Governess.
• Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. In this I played a man. Yup, you heard that right. At 5’2″ and the tender age of 25 I played the comic role of Ragueneau the pastry chef as well as a few extra characters here and there.
• Coronation Street on Stage by Jonathan Harvey. To celebrate 50 years of the iconic soap we toured and amazing show featuring some of the most famous characters and scenes. It was the hardest  job and most epic vocal challenge of my life! I played 11 characters including Vera Duckworth, Elsie Tanner, Annie Walker and Hayley Walker. The hardest part was doing an accurate impersonation but one that would work on stage to audiences in their 1000s. A breathy TV voice would never carry. So I had to adapt the voice but still sound like the character. Not easy! And then you add the millions of costume and wig changes. I was a sweaty mess by the end of each show.
  • You can see a short video of me playing Annie Walker on YouTube – watch from about 45 seconds in.

“Claire Wyatt is an instantly recognisable Elsie Tanner, her Vera Duckworth pairs well with Lailey’s Jack, but the audience’s hearts almost audibly go out to her Hayley and Sangster’s Roy Cropper.” Theatre Review

Some memorable Doctor Who Audio drama characters

• The Boy that Time Forgot – I played Madam Teegarna, a Scorpion-like alien military leader, as well as other minor characters.
• Exotron – in this I played a telepathic hyena called a Farakosh, a young Northern technician and a computer!
• Return to the Web Planet – I played Mother Earth herself in this spooky existential tale.
• The Silver Turk – this was fun to record as I had to play the posh Countess Mitzi Wittenmeier as well as her young Scottish maid in the same scene. I also played at least three more minor characters.

I also use my character skills for radio commercials too. And of course there’s Halloween and the Xmas season approaching!

Don’t forget to get in touch if you’d like to find out more.

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I spent another joyous day with the team at Big Finish productions last week recording an episode of Torchwood. It’s all hush hush at the moment until it’s released, but I can talk about the other great projects I’ve done for them. And I can tell you this – it’s never a dull day and I usually die at least once!

My first encounter with Big Finish (the production company that make audio content for Doctor Who, Torchwood and other great sci-fi hits) was back in 2007. It was a bit of a trial by fire! I got a call and was asked if I could do the voice of a telepathic hyena! “Sure!” I said without the first clue as to how I would do it. “Oh, and you’ll also be playing a construction worker, some tannoy announcements and the voice of a sentient computer” says the lovely director. “No problem” I say while swallowing down my terror. Multi-roling is what I’m well known for in my acting life, but with audio work it’s even harder. You have no costume or physicality to help differentiate your characters for the audience.

In audio drama your skills are stripped bare – it’s just your voice and the imagination of the listener. A challenge I relish! The job was Exotron. A Doctor Who story with Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant. I had an absolute blast and it obviously went well as I was soon asked back to do more.

Over the last few years I’ve worked with Doctors Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Paul McGann and had the pleasure of working with some amazing other actors including David Schneider, Isla Blair and the late Sam Kelly. Every project has it’s challenges. From evil, scuttling Scorpions to Mother Life herself – I never know what’s coming. I once had to play both an elderly Countess and her young Scottish maid in the same scene and in conversation! It was a relief to finally play the Doctor’s companion in the The Ninth Doctor Chronicles recently – just one character and my own accent!

Creating atmosphere

PARADISE 5: Richard Earl, Nicola Bryant, Colin Baker, Helen Goldwyn and Claire Wyatt

And it’s not just the named characters you’ll be playing on a Big Finish job. Oh no! Most of the fun comes when creating the wild tracks. Death scenes, chattering aliens, Victorian crowd scenes – there’s always some extra hubbub that needs voicing. Ask yourself how to ‘chatter’ in a made up Scorpion language and then make it sound different for fear, anger and various types of death!

You have to have a warmed up voice, an open mind and a willingness to play and make a prat of yourself.

I work hard to practice accents and play around with my voice to see what tones, energies and characteristics I can create. Audio drama is all about being versatile and creative. And I can’t wait to do more.

As soon as it’s released I’ll let you know about the Torchwood job.

Listen to my Doctor Who stories here:

• The Boy that Time forgot
• Exotron
• The Ninth Doctor Chronicles – The Bleeding Heart
• Paradise 5
• Return to the Web Planet
• The Silver Turk

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