Whatever happened to… Dave Benson Phillips?

Sweet revenge

What was it about 90s 
telly and gunge? If you were an adult on TV, you could barely move without getting covered in the slimy stuff – and slime master general was surely Dave Benson Phillips, presenter 
of children’s game show 
Get Your Own Back. It gave kids the chance to gunge their parents or teachers for the most trivial of reasons, like 
not letting them eat sweets after dinner. But what happened to telly favourite Dave and what’s he up to now?

MORE: Whatever happened to… TLC?

Doing it for the kids

Dave got into entertainment when he worked at the Polka Theatre for children in Wimbledon, south London, as an usher. He had a talent for entertaining the kids, and after stints busking and working at children’s parties, he became 
a Bluecoat at Pontins. He was eventually scouted by a talent agent and got a job on BBC children’s show Playdays, which ran for nine years.

Time for gunge

In 1991 Dave got the gig on 
Get Your Own Back, which was nominated for a BAFTA. Any kid worth their salt wanted to gunge their mum, uncle or evil PE teacher, but it was only the very lucky few who made it onto the show. The show ran until 2004 and Dave became a proper TV staple. He reminds us of our childhoods so much.

So what’s he up to these days?

Since the show finished in 2004, Dave’s appeared on Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, Pointless and children’s show Sooty. Now 52, he tells Now that he’s often asked if he’ll bring Get Your Own Back to TV once again, revealing: ‘A Get Your Own Back reboot is never far from my thoughts. A lot of people still have great affection for the show and the love still humbles me even when we 
do live shows at universities, festivals and, last year, the Edinburgh Festival. It was my second time there with the show.’ Dave also tells us he’s producing two stage shows 
and has even written his own online sitcom. We hope he’s back on our screens ASAP!