British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 puppeteer

Puppeteer

A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, such as a puppet, in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or...

 Don Austen joined the Jim Henson

Jim Henson

James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...

 Creature Shop

Jim Henson's Creature Shop

Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets, and Frank Oz.It was originally created as a result of the observation that the team that had been put together for The Dark Crystal was extremely hard to recreate for Labyrinth, since the...

 in 1986 for the movie Labyrinth

Labyrinth (film)

Labyrinth is a 1986 British/American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, produced by George Lucas, and designed by Brian Froud. Henson collaborated on the screenwriting with children's author Dennis Lee, Terry Jones from Monty Python, and Elaine May .The film stars David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin...

.
He was a puppeteer for other blockbuster movies including Santa Claus: The Movie

Santa Claus: The Movie

Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 British/American Christmas film starring Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind...

(1985), The Little Shop of Horrors

The Little Shop of Horrors

The Little Shop of Horrors is a 1960 American comedy film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a farce about an inadequate young florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human flesh and blood. The film's concept is thought to be based on a 1932...

 (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...

(1988), The Bear (L'ours) (1988), The Witches (1990), and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...

(1999).

He performed in two more Muppet

The Muppets

The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...

 movies: The Muppet Christmas Carol

The Muppet Christmas Carol

The Muppet Christmas Carol is a 1992 musical comedy film adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, starring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, directed by Brian Henson, produced by The Jim Henson Company, and released by Walt Disney Pictures...

(1992), performing inside both the Ghost of Christmas Present (dancing with Michael Caine

Michael Caine

Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....

), and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He also made brief performances in Muppet Treasure Island

Muppet Treasure Island

Muppet Treasure Island is a 1996 American musical film based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. It is the fifth feature film to star The Muppets and was directed by Jim Henson's son Brian Henson....

(1996) as Pirate Crew & Cannibals.

Austen's British TV debut was on the irreverent cult ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 puppet show Spitting Image

Spitting Image

Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....

. (1987–90)

Austen voiced and puppeteered Sky One

Sky One

Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...

's DJ Kat for more than 2000 award-winning DJ Kat Shows (1989–95) and 200 breakfast shows as Earl E Bird on Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's Early Bird (1991).

Austen voiced/puppeteered feline gang leader Danny Mogg (1991) in comedy drama series The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...

. This TF1/Channel 4 co-production, recorded at AB Studios Paris, was a vehicle for French TV star Dorothee

Dorothée

Dorothée , the stage name of Frédérique Hoschedé, is a French singer and TV presenter.- Biography :1. Her childhood :...

.

During the live ITV Saturday morning show What's Up Doc?

What's Up Doc? (TV series)

What's Up Doc? was a Saturday Morning children's variety series produced Scottish Television and aired on ITV from 1992 to 1995 and hosted by Andy Crane, Yvette Fielding and Pat Sharp...

(1992–94) Austen teamed up with John Eccleston

John Eccleston

John Eccleston is a puppeteer, writer and presenter known for his work as lead puppeteer of Rygel in Farscape, Groove in The Hoobs and his many roles on British children's television alongside Don Austen...

 to write and puppeteer a run of British TV favourites. Firstly, The Wolves, a.k.a. Bro & Bro, who within weeks earned their own spin-off comedy drama Wolf It! (1993–96) for four series.

Austen and Eccleston joined BBC1's Saturday morning 3hr flagship Live & Kicking

Live & Kicking

Live & Kicking was a BBC Saturday morning children's magazine programme, running from 1993 to 2001. The fourth in a succession of Saturday morning shows, it was the replacement for Going Live!, and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, comedy, competitions and the showing of...

 (1995–2000) and cantankerous Leprechauns Sage & Onion - built by Darryl Worbey Studios - hit the small screen while that other Irish phenomenon, Riverdance

Riverdance

Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...

, packed houses in London's Theatreland.

As Mr. Sage, sporting a rather dodgy hairpiece, Austen wrote and puppeteered comedy sketches for five years. Outliving three sets of in vision presenters, he became the longest surviving 'presenter' (Eccleston took time out to perform Rygel in the sci-fi series Farscape

Farscape

Farscape is an Australian-American science fiction television series filmed in Australia and produced originally for the Nine Network. The series was conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment...

).

To cover Eccleston's sojourn an overbearing long lost sister joined the cast. 'Shamrock' was puppeteered by Rebecca Nagan. This series, hosted by Zoe Ball

Zoë Ball

Zoë Louise Ball is an English television and radio personality, most famous for becoming the first female host of the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show and for her earlier work presenting the 1990s children's show, Live & Kicking.-TV career:The daughter of the children's TV presenter Johnny Ball and his...

 and Jamie Theakston

Jamie Theakston

Jamie Theakston is an English television and radio presenter, producer and actor.-Education:...

, won a BAFTA in 1999. The Leps, as they were affectionately known, guest-starred on a wide range of British TV shows including The French & Saunders

French & Saunders

French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act....

 Christmas Special: The Making Of Titanic (1998), Jim Davidson

Jim Davidson

Jim Davidson may refer to:* Jim Davidson , American actor* Jim Davidson , American football player, played for Ohio State Buckeyes and drafted by the Buffalo Bills* Jim Davidson , Australia author, see Meanjin...

's Generation Game (1998), The National Lottery

National Lottery (United Kingdom)

The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...

 (1998), and GMTV

GMTV

GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...

 for St. Patrick's Day Celebrations (1998 & 99)

During 1999, Austen was hand-picked by master puppeteer Frank Oz

Frank Oz

Frank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...

 to help him portray Yoda

Yoda

Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, appearing in the second and third original films, as well as all three prequel trilogy films. A renowned Jedi master, Yoda made his first on-screen appearance in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back where he is responsible for...

 in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. For this complex puppet, Oz needed three helpers, including Austen, David Greenaway and Kathy Smee.

Next was a return to the Henson fold, and all 250 episodes of BAFTA winning TV series The Hoobs

The Hoobs

The Hoobs is a BAFTA-winning children's television programme created and produced by The Jim Henson Company. It stars five creatures called Hoobs from the fictional Hoobland, and their interactions with Earth and the human race...

 (2000–02). Here he voiced and puppeteered the excitable, vulnerable purple Hoob, Iver

Iver

Iver is in the south-east corner of the English county of Buckinghamshire and it forms one of the largest civil parishes in the South Bucks district.Iver railway station is in Richings Park.-Etymology:...

, alongside John Eccleston as Groove. The production was the largest ever pre-school commission by a UK independent. It gained Gemini Award nominations for three consecutive years, "Best Performance In A Pre-School Series." (Shared).

Austen's penchant for live TV was seen again, year round, on the Saturday morning ITV series, Ministry Of Mayhem (2005) voicing and puppeteering Scratch - one half of riotous duo The Hyenas, Scratch & Sniff, a third Austen-Eccleston collaboration.

MOM changed its format and was renamed Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown

Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown

The Ministry of Mayhem was a CITV show which broadcast on the ITV Network from January 2004. As of January 2006, the onscreen name was Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown. It was the last regular studio-based Saturday morning show on ITV....

 (2006), retaining presenters Holly Willoughby

Holly Willoughby

Holly Marie Willoughby is an English television presenter and model, known for her work in presenting children's TV and entertainment shows. In her early career she modelled underwear and went on to present CD:UK...

 and Stephen Mulhern

Stephen Mulhern

Stephen Daniel Mulhern is a British TV presenter, entertainer, and former magician. He began presenting in the studio on CITV in May 1998 and became a leading presenter until he left in August 2002. He has presented a number of shows, including SMTV Live, Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown and...

 from the previous outing. Scratch featured largely in the slimmed down line up. Austen was also called upon to write and voice the game commentary to ‘Supermarket Sneak’ and, further to his portrayal of Ozzy Osbourne on MOM, performed in vision as Igor, a larger than life dancing Russian Cossack.

Austen notched up 6 series as voice and puppeteer on CBBC's Basil Brush Show (2002–2007) playing evil Cousin Mortimer and naughty nephews Bingo and Bungo. The show was shortlisted for a BAFTA in 2006. Basil & Bingo performed at Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...

 for the Children's Party at the Palace

Children's Party at the Palace

The Children's Party at the Palace was an event organized by Peter Orton of Hit Entertainment and David Johnstone of DJI consult, held at Buckingham Palace Garden on 25 June 2006 in honour of the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. The event, which had the theme British children's literature, was...

 (2006).

Austen puppeteered Wooly the Sheep in the Woolworths

Woolworths Group

Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...

 TV/radio commercials (2003–08) with Eccleston as sidekick Worth the Dog. The ad campaigns were shot in London and Prague.

The Hyenas recorded 15 gameshows for Granada Kids – CITV (2006)

In 2006, Austen and Eccleston worked on a pilot for MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

.

In 2007 The Leprechauns returned for the Christmas Puppet Special of the BBC's The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...

'.

In January 2008, Don & John were invited to join the newly commissioned Fur TV

Fur TV

Fur TV is a comedy puppet show produced by MTV Networks Europe and airs on MTV channels throughout Europe. The show uses Muppets style puppetry, but in a more adult setting. The characters are shown to undertake human activities such as drinking and having sex.-Cast:The main characters are Fat Ed...

team for MTV, performing the outrageous puppet characters Fat Ed & Mervin respectively.

In April 2008 International action hero Jackie Chan joined Don & John in their latest Woolworths TV commercial.

Don flew out to Sydney (2010) to join Australian puppeteers on the CBBC, Jim Henson, Sticky Productions, Me And My Monsters. He played the role of Haggis providing the voice whilst inhabiting the enormous orange furball. Colleague David Collins controlled the animatronic eyes from off camera.