// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Paul Chuckle prepares for stage debut at National Theatre
Paul Elliott will star as Mr Boo in the The Rise and Fall of Little Voice
They say it's never to late to try something new and, after more than six decades in the entertainment industry, Paul Chuckle is about to prove that true.
Real name Paul Elliott, the 79-year-old, is preparing to appear in his first ever play, taking on the role of Mr Boo in Jim Carwright's The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the National Theatre.
Elliott, from Rotherham, became a household name, alongside his late brother Barry, as one half of the haphazard Chuckle Brothers in children's TV show ChuckleVision, which ran from 1987 to 2009.
But now, after decades of playing for laughs, he is just weeks away from what he has described as his first ever "straight play".
Speaking to the BBC, he said: "63 years in the business and it's my first ever play, and, would you believe it, it's at the National Theatre - you can't write it.
"A young lad from East Herringthorpe, and now at the National.
Following the death of his brother in 2018, Elliott said he was determined not to retire, and, in recent years, has turned his hand to a variety of new opportunities.
In 2025 he starred in a gangster movie, playing The Jackal in Fall to the Top, and later the same year appeared in Celebrity MasterChef.
In keeping with trying new things, he is also set to star as Monsignor O'Hara in a touring production of Sister Act at the end of 2027.