‘Peppa Pig’ and ‘Doctor Who’ voice actor was 99

David Graham, the British actor known for voicing characters as varied as Grandpa Pig on Peppa Pig, the butler in the Thunderbirds franchise, and the villainous Daleks on Doctor Who, has died at 99.

Anderson Entertainment, the company behind the Thunderbirds franchise, announced the news on social media Friday.

“We’re incredibly sad to confirm the passing of the legendary David Graham,” the company said. “The voice [of] Parker, Gordon Tracy, Brains and so many more. David was always a wonderful friend to us here at Anderson Entertainment. We will miss you dearly, David. Our thoughts are with David’s friends and family.”

Per The Guardian, Graham was born in London and worked as a radar mechanic while serving in Britain’s Royal Air Force during World War II. He began his career in entertainment after moving to the U.S. and studied acting in New York.

Graham began working in TV in the early ’50s, but his voice got most of the attention by the 1960s. It was in 1963 that he first played the mutant creatures known as the Daleks on the BBC’s iconic sci-fi series Doctor Who.

Thunderbirds came along in 1965, using marionettes rather than traditional animation. The premise was that a family decades into the future went around the world saving people with powerful, high-tech machines. Graham voiced Parker, the butler.

The actor voiced Grandpa Pig on the popular Nick Jr. series Peppa Pig beginning in 2012. Called “Papa Ig” by Peppa’s younger brother, George, he last appeared on the show in 2021.

Graham explained in a 2015 interview that voice work is just that — work.

“I do act while I’m doing the voice. I put all my energy in,” he told The Mirror. “Just because it’s a cartoon or puppet doesn’t mean you don’t take it seriously. I take it as seriously as working at the National [Theatre].”