[3] He discovered his vocal talents by reading the script of a Pinocchio TV serial he was involved in, as Lampwick, using Goon voices, which got the attention of Gordon Murray.

[5] Skelton's first on-screen role was as Norton in Colony in Space (1971); during rehearsals could not stop laughing while warning of killer lizards.

[11] Contrary to popular belief, he did not base Zippy's voice off of the Daleks,[4][12] but when asked where he got it, he jokingly claimed that it was a cross between Margaret Thatcher and Ian Paisley.

Skelton was asked to play Davros in Genesis of the Daleks, but due to filming Rainbow had to be replaced by Michael Wisher,[3] a good friend.

He, Michael[4] and another Dalek voice, Brian Miller, who he befriended alongside his wife Elisabeth Sladen, would appear together in Barry Letts's 1986 production of Alice in Wonderland.