Neil Buchanan
Biography
Born in Liverpool in 1956, Neil played guitar in a heavy metal band called Marseille before beginning his television career in the early 1980s. He hosted TVS's Number 73 and its replacement Motormouth on Saturday mornings, oversaw room raiding on Finders Keepers, and played French artist Smart Arty in comic book show ZZZap!. He's perhaps best known, however, for Art Attack, which he co-created and presented from 1990 until 2007.
After Art Attack ended, Neil reformed Marseille for a short while, before focusing on serious art work and photography.
Trivia
With his Art Attack co-creator, erstwhile Runaround foil Tim Edmunds, Neil founded production company The Media Merchants in 1992. In addition to Art Attack and ZZZap!, the company produced Terror Towers, Animal Crazy, and It's a Mystery - the last two of which were also presented by Neil. It was acquired in 2000 by Britt Allcroft, of Thomas the Tank Engine fame; her company was itself acquired by HIT Entertainment in 2002. The Media Merchants effectively closed down in 2007 when production of Art Attack ended.
In 2020 Neil denied that he was street artist Banksy, after a number of rumours circulated online.
