Mike Bennett Writer, Producer, Actor

Mike Bennett Author and playwright

Mike Bennett has been writing since he was 6 years old, and he received his first commission for the BBC at 17 from producer Ted Beston. During this period he wrote for Playground (Radio 1 & 2) and the Tony Blackburn Show (Radio 1). He Also Wrote and co-starred in the children’s series Bill Wonder, alongside Keith Chegwin, Tony Blackburn and Maggie Philbin (Radio 2).

He went on to work for producer Mike Jackson as scriptwriter in residence at Children’s ITV. During this 3-year period he wrote for many noted TV presenters and celebrities, including Ringo Starr, Matthew Kelly, Bernard Breslaw, and Cheryl Baker. He also wrote and devised Children’s ITV Summer Mornings, presented by Mark Granger and produced by Mike Jackson, and was a writer on Primary Science (BBC2), Fun Factory (ITV), Young London (LBC) and Learn English With the Muppets.

Mike Bennett Author and playwright

Mike went on to work as a playwright at the Mermaid Theatre, under the direction of Lord Bernard Miles, where he wrote Safety In Numbers and It’s All In The Stars. Both these children’s plays made national tours, as well as running in the west end at The Mermaid, The Bloomsbury and The Arts Theatre. Mike also wrote for the famous Unicorn Theatre Company. His other west end credits include the critically acclaimed musical All Cloned Up, (Westminster Theatre), for which he also composed the music, and the glam rock musical Block Buster (Players Theatre).

He has written and co-written many plays and farces which have been seen at theatres such as The Crucibal in Sheffield, Harlow Playhouse, The Grand Opera House in York, Cheltenham Everyman, Derby Playhouse, and the Edinburgh Playhouse. He also wrote the acclaimed play about Mari Lloyd called The Good Old Daze, presented at The Wimbledon Theatre. Artists appearing in his plays such as Seaside Romp, Hands of My Crumpet, Adventures of Alice, and Happy Families, included Bob Grant, Molly Sugdon, and Jack Douglas.

Mike Bennett Author and playwright

Mike has also written and scripted for many well known comedians and performers, such as Frankie Howerd, Jim Bowen, and Anita Harris for whom he wrote and directed four talking books for the Pinewood Studios company, One Media iP Group Plc..

He is currently writing and directing six childrens books to be read by Rik Mayall, as well as a six part TV show for Phil Cool called Stories In A Cool Place. He has recently been commissioned to write and adapt six books for Magnitude publishing including Gonx and Sammy Socket Gets Deep.

Mike Bennett Record Producer

Gaining a series of awards, including 12 Gold Discs and the coveted Ampex Gold Reel Award, Mike Bennett has written, produced, and remixed a diverse range of artists, including Ian Brown, Toyah, The Stranglers, Gregory Isaacs, The Specials, The Selecter, Hazel O’Connor, Wishbone Ash, Emerson Lake and Palmer, BMX Bandits, Bad Manners, and The Fall of whom he was also a group member.

After working with many independent artists Mike’s first break came when he was asked to write and produce Toyah’s Dreamchild album, which was released on the Pinnacle- based Cryptic Records, and featured collaborations with the acclaimed Utah Saints. It wasn’t long before Mike was expanding his repertoire by co-writing and producing albums for the legendary Frank Zappa/John Lennon cohort Kim Fowley. The albums around this period included Let the Madness In (Receiver Records) and Trip of a Lifetime (Universal). The latter featured a string of guest stars including Roni Size, William Orbit and Teenage Fan Club. He went on to produce Kim Fowley and the BMX Bandits’ Receiver Records’ album Hidden Agenda At the Thirteenth Not. Mike also co-wrote and produced tracks with Fowley for the BMX Bandits’ album Theme Park (Creation Records).

Mike Bennett Record Producer

Hell bent on pushing the creative envelope into an even more left field direction Mike went on to produce and co-write several albums for celebrated Manchester group The Fall. These offerings include Cerebral Caustic (Permanent Records), The Light User Syndrome (Jet Records) and the Number One Indie single The Chistlers (Jet Records) in which Mike is heard duetting with Fall frontman Mark E. Smith. Mike’s next project was for ex-Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown for whom he co-wrote the smash hit single Golden Gaze (Polydor).

Other albums Mike co-wrote and produced around this period include the Wishbone Ash albums Trance Visionary (Universal), Psychic Terrorism (Universal) and Hazel O’Connor’s Big Night (Universal) and Frankie Howerd’s Get Your Titters Out (Tring) for which he was both lyricist and composer. He then went on to produce the Clubbed to Death album for The Stranglers (Universal).

Mike Bennett Record Producer

Whilst working as an in-house producer for Trojan Records Mike produced and re-mixed many leading artists including Jimmy Cliff, Dennis Brown, Desmond Dekkar, Gregory Isaacs and Bob Marley for whom he re-worked Soul Shakedown Party, Mr Brown, One Love, and Concrete Jungle for the reputed Trojan Jungle series.

Other remixes during this period include Too Much Too Young by The Specials, A Train to Skaville by The Selecter, and Double Barrel by Dave and Ansel Collins. Mike’s obsession with beats, pulses and street rhythms was soon to take him into the ever experimental world of drum’n’bass. This resulted in a prolific period where Mike and his newly-formed team of DJs produced 27 consecutive albums including massive sellers such as ‘Drum’n’Bass Mania’ (Demon), Drum’n’Bass Frenzy (Demon), The Jungle Collection (QED), Drum’n’Bass Invasion (Universal) and the acclaimed Junglist Jazz Collection (Intrinsic/Pinnacle).

Mike Bennett Record Producer

This deluge of quick-fire releases caught the attention of 70s stalwarts and stadium-fillers, Emerson Lake and Palmer, who commissioned Mike to produce the triple album Reworks/Brain Salad Perjury (Universal), which was subsequently performed in part at the Royal Festival Hall to commemorate the album’s release. Highlights from this eclectic set include a notable re-working of the band’s worldwide smash hit Fanfare to the Common Man.

Mike is currently in partnership with ex-Prodigy collaborator and engineer Angus Wallace of Far Heath Studios. Together they are developing a series of exciting new projects that embrace genres from M.O.R. through to industrial thrash metal, including an album by Welsh trio The Hush. They are also working with one of Mike’s favourite female vocalists of all time, Diane Charlemagne of Moby, Goldie and Urban Cookie Collective fame. After years of mixing live performances with loops, beats and breaks, Mike is currently enjoying creating music derived from live instrumentation in a strictly organic environment. However, he reserves the right to change direction at any given moment!

See discography

Broadcaster And Actor

Mike Bennett has co-written and co- produced several radio shows for LGR FM including the comedy series Another Planet, and the LGR Music Awards. The TV versioin was aired on the Greek channel Hellenic TV and Cypriot national station Rik TV. As an actor and presenter he has appeared on several shows including Here and Now (Central TV), Fun Factory (ITV), and Slobs (Channel 4) He Recently appeared playing several parts in Galton and Simpson’s Half Hour for Radio 2 & 4, alongside Frank Skinner, Rik Mayall, Mitchell & Webb, Paul Merton and June Witfield. This production won the coverted prize pick of the week. Mike has also presented for Primary Science (BBC2), and Young London (LBC), as well as appearing on Channel 4’s The Word.

He has also appeared in sketches and songs with Frankie Howerd and Jim Bowen. His has appeared all over the country in many plays in venues such as Derby Playhouse, Stratford Theatre Royal and The Palace Theatre Manchester. Miike’s westend appearances include Mr Tumness in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe (Sadlers Wells), OWL in Winnie the Pooh (Royalty Theatre), and Reinelf in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Sadlers Wells and Westminster Theatre), and McFee In Poles Apart (Mermaid Theatre).