Phil's professional career started at Leatherhead in Puss in Boots playing the back end of the donkey.
Seasons in rep followed at Guildford, Derby, Nottingham, Birmingham, Oxford and Newcastle as well as television, radio and some film work in Hollywood.
They worked in the community, with therapists, with young people and senior citizens as well as in hospitals and prisons; teaching, directing and performing took them to Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Beirut, the Philippines, Tunisia, Mauritius, Indonesia, Malaysia, the US and Canada.
Such is the success of the Willow Globe Community Company, under Phil's guidance, that it has been invited to play CADW heritage sites and, by the RSC, to perform at Stratford.
In 1996 Phil founded 'Shakespeare Link' with his wife, Susanna Best (mother of the actress Eve Best), and is focused on broadening the appeal and accessibility of Shakespeare.