How Mr Tumble conquered the world: Justin Fletcher turned a talent for clowning into millions in the bank, a six-bedroom country mansion and now a new girlfriend 21 years his junior

Unless you have young children, you’ve probably never heard of Justin Fletcher, and if you encounter this slightly nondescript middle-aged man on the street, you might still be none the wiser.

But if you are – or if your kids have grown up in the last two decades – you know that preschoolers think she’s the biggest star in the showbiz universe and – if you’re a mom – you might even have a secret crush on her, too!

For Justin, 55, the children’s TV megastar is the man behind the Mr. Tumble phenomenon, the colorful clown with a flair for slapstick and entertaining young children.

And its history is just as colorful; She has a connection to Elvis through her father, Cliff Richard was a regular at his house, and she grew up a huge fan of the Muppets Laurel and Hardy, adored Brian Cant in Playschool and, perhaps more surprisingly, a big fan of former comedian Kenny Everett, who specialized in more adult sketches for a clean-cut kid TV star.

His fame has even earned him unlikely celebrity fans, including Johnny Depp, Simon Pegg and Bryan Adams.

Beloved by generations of young children for his repertoire of characters and CBeebie daytime shows such as Something Special, Justin has quietly built a brand that is believed to have earned him a net worth of more than £1.5 million.

He achieved this by turning his talent for gentle clowning for little ones into a winning commercial formula that spanned television, panto, CBeebies live tours and translated into stunning sales via DVDs.

Sales of the Something Special DVDs alone are said to have exceeded 100,000, bringing the star an estimated £1 million, while the accompanying magazine brings in a further £180,000 a month.

He has been praised for his work with children with special educational needs on and off screen, won the highest awards children’s TV has to offer in the form of three children’s BAFTAs and was even awarded an MBE in 2008 for his services to children’s broadcasting.

In her spare time, she relaxes at her six-bedroom, £2.5 million country mansion in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire.

And now the slightly portly 50-something star, an unlikely sex symbol for millions of mothers, some of whom have even sent him marriage proposals, finally has someone to share it with.

True to the fairytale of Justin’s life, he’s also been lucky in love with his on-screen partner, who is 21 years his junior.

Samantha Dorrance has been a part of Justin’s life since she was cast as his ditzy best friend Tootsie in The Tale of Mr Tumble in 2015, when she was just 23 years old. Now, 11 years later, the two are said to be united and madly in love and touring together in Justin Live: Justin Time to Rock. Type.

But how did this — let’s face it — unlikely star make it so big and become so incredibly rich?

Part of the reason for this is that he has a work ethic that is absolutely second to none, and when he’s not filming his various shows on the BBC’s children’s channel, he’s busy promoting his brand with tours or pantos.

His rise to fame coincided with the boom in children’s television, with independent children’s TV stations becoming commonplace and parents delighting in the ‘electronic babysitter’ they provided.

Samantha Dorrance (left) has been a part of Justin’s life since she took on the role of ditzy best friend Tootsie in The Tale of Mr Tumble in 2015.

With the BBC legacy behind it, CBeebies and its programs were suitably blameless in this regard. When it launched in 2002, parents relied on it to educate and entertain rather than simply distract.

Step forward Justin Fletcher has become the star of an innovative show that aims to normalize children with special educational needs while appealing to mainstream audiences. There is no easy success.

Justin was born and raised in Reading and grew up in a home where he dreamed of show business. His father was the famous songwriter Guy Fletcher, who wrote hit songs for Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Ray Charles and Cliff Richard.

He once said in an interview with the Guardian: ‘I grew up in such a creative world and met some very interesting people.

‘My father wrote Power To All Friends, Cliff Richard’s entry for the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, and Cliff came along a few times. I was only three years old at the time, but my sister Juliet was madly in love with him and would hug him and not let him go.’

But Justin was more interested in creating characters than music, and when his father gave him a movie camera, he fell in love with making movies.

‘As far back as I can remember I was more into creating characters. I would write small characters and observe people. Especially school teachers. I was pretty good at imitating people. But what really started it was when my dad gave me his Super 8 cinema camera. That was it for me. “I was making my own films there,” he said.

He says he knew he wanted to do children’s television in his first year of drama school at the Guildford School of Acting in Surrey in the 1990s, and perhaps it was his desire to focus solely on the genre that gave him such a lasting longevity.

Justin is loved by generations of young children for his repertoire of characters and CBeebie daytime programs such as Something Special.

He began his career at the BBC in 1999, voicing characters on programs such as Tweenies and presenting the preschool program Tikkabilla.

But it was Something Special, released in 2003, the brainchild of BBC producer and former SEND (special educational needs) teacher Allan Johnston, that took his career into the stratosphere.

The show was a colorful fest that welcomed children into Mr Tumble’s world, but also aimed to provide content for children with special educational needs.

Mr Tumble the clown, dazzling in his signature colorful casual outfit painted on a red nose with stars, stripes and patches, was due to appear on stage alongside a cast of SEND children.

Entertainment was the agenda of the day as children at home and on the show participated in singing; especially the show’s cheerful “Hello” song and the games and activities in a set that includes the spotty Tumble couch decked out in colorful polka dot flags and the Tumble bag full of tricks and surprises.

Although primarily aimed at children with delayed learning and communication skills, it quickly became clear that the programme, featuring the enthusiastic Mr Tumble, appealed to all children and was therefore a blueprint for inclusivity for the BBC and was a huge success.

At the same time, the increasing number of children with SEND in the UK meant that the show was recognized as a pioneer and provided a vital service for parents looking to entertain their children.

Makaton cleverly integrates sign language into the show; This means it becomes a habit for not only the children who need to learn but also for others, helping children with SEND to become more accepted.

As the series became increasingly popular, Justin quickly developed his own cast of characters portraying Mr Tumble, Grandfather Tumble, Lord Tumble, Fisherman Tumble, Baker Tumble and Aunt Polly, as well as appearing as himself in scenes where he went out into the real world to meet SEND children.

The series remains his and the network’s biggest hit, with 14 series to date, but he has also starred in other BBC programs such as Gigglebiz and Justin’s House.

Fletcher joked that he received frequent calls from both Justin and Mr Tumble when he became publicly known and “answered them both”.

He said that when he received his MBE at Windsor Castle, one of the guards on duty recognized him as “Mr Tumble”, which “really made me giggle”.

Known for his bachelorhood until his relationship with Samantha, he admits to being a ‘workaholic’, jokes about receiving marriage proposals from mothers, but does not hide his desire to settle down.

He previously said: ‘I want to take some time for myself and my family.

‘I would love to have children so I need to find someone who loves children. ‘Some kids would be nice.’

He stepped back as presenter of the show last year, with new hosts Maddie Moate, Ben Cajee and George Webster taking over – but there are no plans to retire Mr Tumble.

After all, after two decades in the spotlight as Mr. Tumble, he can afford to rest on his laurels; Money will also probably flow in from live tours and pantos in his hometown, the Hexagon Theatre, and in the UK, where he loves to perform.

As well as being a regular at the theater like Justin for productive annual performances, he also tours around the UK and voices other children’s TV productions such as Shaun the Sheep.

Former child star Samantha now looks set to enjoy the family life she says she wants, as she has reportedly moved in with him at his Henley retreat, where they enjoy raising chickens together.

A source told the Daily Mail: ‘Justin and Samantha are madly in love and couldn’t be happier. Even though there is an age difference between them, this is not a problem. For Justin, Samantha is ‘the one’.’

One man who might breathe a sigh of relief if fatherhood means we won’t see much of Mr Tumble on the big screen is former England footballer Wayne Rooney.

After raising four children who enjoyed watching Justin’s shows, she joked that his relentless cheerfulness drove her to get a vasectomy.

‘The reason I hate him is I don’t hate him for what he did, it’s just because I had to go through it four times with every kid,’ he said.