Between 1981 and 1983, Donald acted as singer and lyricist for comedy rock band Johnny Shiloe’s Movement Machine.

He specialised as an antagonist on Carlton Television's live debate programmes in the early 1990s, and moved on to play important roles in the BBC’s I Love series and Channel 4’s 100 Greatest.

In 2004, he presented The Regionnaires, a six-part north-east regional panel show broadcast on ITV Tyne Tees, which he co-wrote with his former Viz partner Alex Collier.

His work with the band stopped when Simon became full-time carer for his eldest brother Steve, who was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2008 and died the following November.

In 2005, Donald started performing stand-up comedy, initially working the circuit in Tyne and Wear, where he compèred both The Horse’s Mouth in Newcastle and Mack’em Laugh in Sunderland.

After taking a break to care for his terminally ill brother, Donald returned to stand-up comedy, beginning to appear on stage as the characters he had previously talked about in his routine.