Rod,Jane & Freddy
Singers, songwriters, actors and presenters, Rod Jane and Freddy have enjoyed enormous success both on television and in the theatre spanning two decades.
Rod Jane and Freddy first performed together in the summer of 1980 when they appeared on Thames Television’s award winning children’s show Rainbow. They wrote all the songs and music and acted out daily themes with Zippy, George, Bungle Bear and the presenter Geoffrey Hayes.
Within a year they were given their own show ‘ROD JANE & FREDDY’, a series of mini operas which they wrote produced and performed for over seven years.
Running concurrently with Rainbow, these musical stories enabled them to create wonderful characters and fantastic situations ranging from fairies and goblins at the bottom of the garden to 'Germs' down a plughole, to 'Little Miss Muffet' meets spaceman' Zoom. '! These shows had very elaborate costumes and make up but no scenery!
The first four series involved a technique called Ultimatte which electronically placed RJ&F onto a caption that gave them a background to work in, i.e. in a drawing of an alley way they were superimposed as ‘cats’! Rather like the films you see, such as ‘Godzilla’, where it’s all ‘matting’. For these shows they won an award in America for technical merit, being quite ‘cutting edge’ at the time.
For the next three series the format changed to a theatrical show on TV, giving them their now familiar, ‘black and white’ look. These shows were based more on using your imagination with songs and sketches, dance and mime to illustrate a theme, i.e. in the’ Suitcases’ show, they made a train out of suitcases, a car, and a desert island which used a green umbrella as a palm tree! A much simpler approach, but very creative and gave RJ&F an identity.
This format transferred perfectly to the ‘real’ stage and in 1990 when Thames TV lost its franchise, Rod Jane and Freddy set off on a nationwide tour to play every major theatre in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including a season at the Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End where they performed a specially commissioned Christmas Show.
Their highly individual theatre shows were an eclectic mix of mime, dance, songs and sketches. With two tours a year for six years, this was hard work, but RJF found it well worth it to be in front of live audiences and an experience they will never forget. Very happy days!
Along with numerous guest appearances for Television and Radio, RJF have performed in Panto for the past 15 years. Between them they have played most of the major characters, including Prince Charming, The Ugly Sisters, Dick Whittington, Dame Trot, Wishee Washee, King Rat, Abanazar, Idle Jack, Aladdin, The Chinese Policemen, Robin Hood, Wendy, Michael & John etc
Both Rainbow and ‘ROD JANE & FREDDY’ have enjoyed enormous success. Rainbow won a BAFTA in the UK and ‘ROD JANE & FREDDY’ won an award in America and three Gold Badge Awards from BACS (British Academy of Composers and Songwriters) for outstanding contribution to the music business.
They have written and produced 10 albums, 24 videos, written jingles for commercial radio, theme and title music for TV, songs for Pantomimes and managed to write a massive 2500 songs during the course of their careers!
RJF and can be seen as Prince Charming and the ‘Uglies’ in Cinderella at It’s Behind You Gallery 6. Don’t forget to take a look at our own Rod Jane & Freddy Gallery.
Jane Tucker
Jane studied piano and ballet from the age of three and her first ambition was to be a concert pianist, but as a teenager she decided she wanted to be an actress and trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where she continued her piano and singing whilst embarking on a full time drama course.
She comes from an artistic background - her grandmother was an opera singer, her mother a pianist and her father a drama director at the BBC so she was destined to be involved in the Arts!
After graduating she followed the classic route of repertory theatre, touring, TV and radio leading to a job for Thames Televison, which was to last for 21 years!
In 1974 Jane began work on the award winning TV series – Rainbow. Then in 1980 Jane, with fellow partners Rod Burton and Freddy Marks were given their own show ‘Rod Jane and Freddy’, which ran for nearly 10 years in tandem with Rainbow.
In 1990 Rod Jane & Freddy took their show on the road and toured extensively across the UK playing every major theatre for the next six years. They won the BACS ( British Academy of Composers and Songwriters ) Gold Badge Award for outstanding contribution to the music industry in 1996.
Since then Jane has performed in Pantomime every year and also appeared in numerous other productions including Beatrix Potter in the musical Jemima Puddleduck and Friends at the Unicorn Theatre in London, Ann Hathaway in Shakespeare’s England, a series made for American TV, performed her own cabaret in Dulwich, and regularly does voice over work for Disneyland and BBC Schools. Apart from all her songs and music written for Thames TV she composed the music for the stage shows Wizadora and Playdays, and was the Musical Director for The Millenium Experience-Children of Promise.
Jane still writes and composes at her London home, works out regularly as she has a passion for fitness and health. She loves sunshine, flowers, animals, Sondheim musicals, classical music, ballet , books and films.
Rod Burton
Rod began his stage career as a singer and musician working extensively both here and abroad with his own band. His talents as a songwriter soon emerged and since then his prolific output has included work for radio, theatre and of course TV.
He has made over 1,500 television appearances not only in Rainbow, and Rod Jane and Freddy, but in numerous other shows, not least singing for the Queen and Prince Philip in Hyde Park, which was broadcast live!
In recent years Rod has played in London’s West End along with Jane and Freddy and toured extensively in their highly acclaimed stage shows, playing every major venue in the country. In 1996 he won a Gold Badge Award from The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. Rod also enjoys performing in Pantomime, and has played numerous characters over the years, including King Rat in Dick Whittington, John in Peter Pan, Emperor in Aladdin, and the Dame in Robin Hood.
When he’s not working Rod enjoys travel, cooking, and looking for antiques for his home in London.
Rod is the proud father of son Joel.
Freddy Marks
Biography to follow soon.
Updated April 7th, 2006.