Here’s a media crossover we didn’t expect – Total War: Warhammer voice actor Richard Ridings, who lends his stentorian roar to the Vampire Count Vlad von Carstein and bling Empire wizard Balthasar Gelt, is also the voice of Daddy Pig. Yes, that Daddy Pig, the bewildered but genial father of Peppa Pig from the ongoing preschool cartoon of the same name.
Ridings also provides Total War: Warhammer voices for the Greenskins Azhag the Slaughterer and Wurrzag the Great Green Prophet, and the Dwarf King Thorgrim Grudgebearer.
Ridings has had parts of various sizes in 33 videogames. He voiced both Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines in the (helpfully titled) Warhammer 40k game ‘Space Marine’. Perhaps most famously – for gamers of a certain vintage, at least – Ridings was the voice of the mentor in Dungeon Keeper by Bullfrog, all the way back in 1997.
The Total War: Warhammer series is full of gloriously over the top acting – one reason it’s up there on our list of the best Total War games – and Ridings’ performances are all suitably hammy. Balthasar Gelt has something of a fan cult – the greatest human wizard in Warhammer: The Old World has a colossal ego and self-confidence, which Ridings projects beautifully in his booming voice.
In Peppa Pig, Ridings has played the part of Daddy Pig since 2004 which, we are horrified to tell you, was almost twenty years ago. Peppa should be off to university by now, and Daddy Pig should be enjoying his hobbies of puddle jumping, competition high-diving, ballet, and jazz-drumming in peace.
Ridings isn’t the only Peppa Pig actor to voice a Warhammer character (which isn’tt a sentence we ever thought we would write). Human megaphone Brian Blessed voices Grampy Rabbit, and also provides the voice of Gotrek Gurnisson in the Total War: Warhammer II Gotrek & Felix DLC, and in the Warhammer audiobook Realmslayer.