Blind Date's voiceover star 'Our Graham' Skidmore dies aged 90

Blind Date voiceover star Graham Skidmore - known as 'Our Graham' - has died aged 90.

The late Cilla Black hosted the ITV dating show between 1985 and 2003 and would ask 'Our Graham' for a quick reminder about contestants before the guest picked their mystery date.

Skidmore, whose voice was also well known by fans of BBC comedy panel show Shooting Stars - died on 27th December 2021 but his death has just been announced.

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His son Neil, 54, told The Sun newspaper: “He might not have wanted to be seen on screen, but he had a celebrity voice - a known voice.

“He loved it. I do event organising and had a show in London and got Dad to do the voice over. People recognised him straight away.”

Skidmore - a father of three and grandfather of five - had vascular dementia for the last 10 years of his life, which he spent in Kent.

Neil revealed that as children he and his siblings featured in TV adverts that their father recorded voiceovers for, playing families in ads for companies such as P&O Ferries and Abbey National building society.

Daughter Catherine Johnson, 52, revealed Skidmore had originally planned to be a doctor but missed his final exams due to an ear infection.

He started singing as a hobby and his strong voice got him into musical theatre.

As well as being a voiceover artist, he made a living running a laundrette and a corner shop, as well as renting out property.

Though best known for his work on Blind Date and Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer's Shooting Stars, Skidmore appeared in a St Trinian's movie, a Style Council video with Paul Weller and as an extra in the Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

She revealed: “At my wedding when he started talking people were turning round saying ‘I know that voice’, even though they did not know he was the voice on Blind Date.

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“He was very modest. He was not a theatrical ‘look at me person.’ He never really wanted his face to be seen that’s why he liked doing the voice overs.”

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