Barney Harwood is an English television presenter and actor, probably best known for his work with CBBC, on shows such as Blue Peter and Prank Patrol, while also helping compose the theme tunes and incidental music for the latter and one of his other shows, Bear Behaving Badly.

Barney is also a very keen gamer, so after meeting him at the BAFTA video game awards, we tracked him down, to find out more about his love of gaming.

Q. Where did your love affair with gaming begin?

“When I was about 9 years old, I was bought a commodore 64 with two games. Booty and Paperboy! I have a problem-solving brain that likes puzzles and so started with platform ‘find the key to unlock the next level’ stuff and progressed from there!”

Q. The best thing about coming from Blackpool is?

“Having an appreciation for a well cooked chip! They simply can’t do it down south! They use alien potatoes that don’t like to be crispy on the outside and soft in the middle! The best thing about coming from Blackpool is being able to go home to the best chippy I know!”

Q. PES or FIFA?

“FIFA every time! It’s like the Canon vs Nikon debate, though, once you choose one, you stick with it!”

Q. What’s your console of choice?

“PS3! The only reason I would own an Xbox is for Halo (this is, in fact, why I own an Xbox).”

Q. What do you think of the PSN hacking debacle?

“It’s the world we live in! People are always gonna find a way of hacking into a system that uses credit cards! I feel sorry for Sony actually!” (more…)