ANDY BURNHAM DANGER MOUSE DWARF DIES IN MOVIE STUNT
BURNHAM’S LOOKALIKE PENFOLD DWARF KILLED IN FREAK STUNT MISHAP
A DWARF who found fame playing Penfold in a stage version of kids’ cartoon Danger Mouse died on a film set when a stunt went wrong.
Diddy Todd Williams, who’s the spitting image of Manchester’s Labour Mayor Andy Burnham, plunged 40ft to his doom from a platform in Bulgaria.
A DWARF actor who found fame as Penfold in a live- action stage play of kids’ cartoon Danger Mouse has died on the set of a new movie. Todd Williams, 39, who was often mistaken for the mayor of Manchester and possible future Labour leader Andy Burnham, fell 40ft from a gantry during a stunt. Todd was filming a remake of the classic 1982 Cannon and Ball movie The Boys in Blue, which is being filmed in Bulgaria because of Brexit.
He was cast as the midget brother of PC Bobby Ball, played by the late Bobby
Ball in the original.
A source on set said: “The stunt involved Todd jumping from the gantry into a huge airbag below during a scene in which he is fired from a giant catapult by Bobby, in order to catch some fleeing art criminals.
“Unfortunately, as Todd liked a glass or two, he was a bit unsteady when he climbed up to the platform.
“A couple of people asked if it would be wiser to wait until he’d sobered up a bit but he told them to f** k off.
“Of course, the inevitable happened. He stumbled backwards and fell off the platform. His final words of ‘ Crikey!’ echoed around the set before he plunged to his death, landing with a splat.
“It was clear he was dead as soon as we got to him.”
Production was halted for two days while movie bosses negotiated with local health and safety chiefs to avoid prosecution for the mishap.
Our source added: “They had to pay an official £ 300 to make it all go away.”
It was a sad end for Todd who in 2019 won rave reviews as Ernest Penfold, Danger Mouse’s hamster sidekick, in a live- action version of the toon at the Biddulph Empire theatre.
The character was voiced by the late Terry Scott in the original TV series, but critics said Todd had “made the part his own.”
Last week Todd’s political doppelganger, Andy Burnham, retained his position of mayor of Manchester.