Children’s TV superstar on his way Down Under

Steve Kilgallon speaks to the art-show host who wears a famous spotted waistcoat.

IT’S 4.30am at Phil Gallagher’s house in Kent, England. He’s just got home from a nationwide tour, is surrounded by five suitcases in various states of (dis) organisation and is packing for a flight in five hours to Singapore, where adoring fans await.

Gallagher isn’t some crusty old rocker readying himself for a reunion tour. He wears a multicoloured waistcoat and makes things out of bits of toilet roll and papier mache on children’s television. The Sydney Daily Telegraph called him a ‘‘children’s superstar’’.

The kids, of course, don’t know him as Phil Gallagher, but Mister Maker, star of a BBC arts and craft TV programme syndicated worldwide – including to New Zealand, where it aired on the recently-deceased (and much lamented, in our house) Kidzone channel.

In an initially croaky voice, he apologises for his tiredness. Singapore will lead him to Hong Kong, to Australia, and then here, next month, for a three-city tour of New Zealand, delivering a live stage version of his television show. ‘‘It’s amazing,’’ he says, and sounds believable. ‘‘It does sound a bit of a cliche, but it is a dream come true for me. I amso honoured and privileged to be doing this. I’m really lucky.’’

My six-year-old, Henry, has been sitting patiently, wanting a word. Mister Maker is a personal hero. Gallagher, admirably, drops right into character to chat to him with unlikely energy, and answer, in considerable detail a difficult question about whether the Maker Mobile is a genuinely roadworthy vehicle.

Gallagher was originally a BBC local radio sports reporter. After a degree in radio, TV and film production, he got a runner’s job at the Disney Channel, worked his way up, and did some producing, directing and front of camera stuff with characters he’d written for himself. After almost 10 years, the opportunity came to audition for Mister Maker, ‘‘and I was lucky enough to be given the spotty waistcoat’’.

The waistcoat, which combined with an extravagantly gelled coiffure, is the de facto Maker uniform, and sometimes children don’t recognise him if he’s not wearing it. .

But when it’s on, they love him. The shows he’s flying to in Asia are his first ticketed arena shows there, but when he did a free event in a Jakarta shopping mall last year, an estimated 10,000 people turned up. This will be his first time in New Zealand and he gushes about the ‘‘incredible, amazing, great places’’ the gig has taken him to.

Over the decade, he’s learned the art side on the job. He genuinely makes everything, gathers all the craft materials, writes the script and says he really wants to inspire people. It has a pleasantly old-fashioned feel, reminiscent of the art shows of our youth fronted by Tony Hart, and Neil Buchanan’s Art Attack.

‘‘At its core, Mister Maker is a traditional arts and craft show,’’ he agrees. ‘‘Hopefully trying to inspire the little ones and the grown-ups that watch to try new arts and craft techniques. It’s performed and produced in a different way . . . very comical, colourful and with slapstick humour, but at its heart, that’s what it is about.’’

He sounds, genuinely, like a man who knows he’s been exceptionally lucky. Mister Maker and The Shapes play Auckland 9-11 July, Christchurch 12-13 July and Wellington 15-17 July. Details and tickets at livenation.co.nz