Charlie Higson | |
|---|---|
 Higson at the 2013 British Comedy Awards | |
| Born | Charles Murray Higson 3 July 1958 |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, comedian, author |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Spouse | Victoria L Fullick (m. 1995) |
| Children | 3 |
Charles Murray Higson (born 3 July 1958) is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer. He has also written and produced for television and is the author of the young adult post-apocalyptic book series The Enemy, as well as the first five novels in the Young Bond series.
Born in Frome, Somerset, Higson was educated at Sevenoaks School, Kent and at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich (where his brother taught from 1986 to 2008, latterly as Professor of Film Studies). At UEA, Higson met Paul Whitehouse, David Cummings and Terry Edwards. Higson, Cummings and Edwards formed the band The Higsons, of which Higson was the lead singer from 1980 to 1986. They released two singles on the Specials' 2 Tone Records label. This was after he had formed the punk band The Right Hand Lovers, wherein he performed as "Switch". [1] Higson then started squatting in London [2] and became a decorator, including decorating the house of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. [3]
Higson started writing for Harry Enfield with Paul Whitehouse and performing comedy. He came to public attention as one of the main writers and performers of the BBC Two sketch show The Fast Show (1994–2000). He also worked with Whitehouse on the radio comedy Down the Line . [4] In 1994 Higson co-wrote (with Lise Mayer) the screenplay for the film thriller Suite 16.
He worked as producer, writer, director and occasional guest star on Randall & Hopkirk from 2000 to 2001. Subsequent television work has included writing and starring in BBC Three's Fast Show spin-off sitcom Swiss Toni . He first appeared as a panellist on QI in 2007. In 2010 he co-directed and starred in the series Bellamy's People .
In 2013 Higson adapted Agatha Christie's A Caribbean Mystery for ITV's Agatha Christie's Marple series. In 2015 Higson reimagined the novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson for ITV Studios into a ten part adventure series, set in the 1930s titled Jekyll and Hyde . In 2017, Higson appeared as Ian Winterman in series three of Broadchurch and as Ronnie Maguire in series three of Grantchester .
2020 saw Higson compete on Richard Osman's House of Games . [5] alongside Chizzy Akudolu, Kate Williams and Tom Allen. [6]
Higson has also starred in Lobby Land, a radio sitcom on BBC Radio 4, as Tom Shriver MP. [7]
Time Out has described Higson as "The missing link between Dick Emery and Bret Easton Ellis". [8]
Higson wrote a series of five Young Bond novels, aimed at younger readers and concentrating on James Bond's school-days at Eton starting with SilverFin , released in 2005, and ending with By Royal Command (2008). [9] Higson had been at school with Jonathan Evans, former Director General of MI5.
Higson wrote a post-apocalyptic, zombie-horror series of books for young adults. The eponymous first book in the series, titled The Enemy , was released in 2009. [10] At a school event at Abingdon School on 14 September 2011, Charlie told children: "Originally it was going to be three books and then my publisher, Puffin, said make it five, and now we're up to it being seven." [11] The seventh novel, The End , was published in 2015. [12]
In 2018 Higson wrote a Fighting Fantasy gamebook titled The Gates of Death, which was published by Scholastic books as part of their campaign to relaunch the Fighting Fantasy franchise. He is a long term FF enthusiast, having attended Fighting Fantasy Fest 2 in London the previous year and also made a cameo appearance in the Ian Livingstone gamebook Blood of the Zombies. [13]
In May 2023 Higson released his first adult Bond novel, On His Majesty's Secret Service, to mark the Coronation of King Charles III and support the National Literacy Trust. [14]
Higson lives in London with his wife and three sons.
| Year | Film | Role | Distributor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Suite 16 | Meteor Film Productions | Co-writer | |
| 1996 | Shooting Stars: Unviewed and Nude | Alan Ball / Hans Solo | Uncredited | |
| 1998 | The Land Girls | Subaltern | Uncredited | |
| 1998 | The Fast Show Live | Various characters | ||
| 2003 | King of the Ants | The Asylum | writer | |
| 2013 | Appearance | Charlie Higson | Short film | |
| 2014 | The Red Line | Barman | Short film | |
| 2017 | The Ministry of Stories Anthology of Horror | Hydra |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | The Craig Ferguson Show | Various characters | Television film, also writer |
| 1990–1991 | Vic Reeves Big Night Out | Various characters | 9 episodes |
| 1990–1992 | Harry Enfield's Television Programme | Various characters | 4 episodes, also writer |
| 1993–1995 | The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer | Robert De Niro Swiss Toni Various characters | 10 episodes |
| 1994–2014 | The Fast Show | Swiss Toni Various characters | 25 episodes, also writer |
| 1997 | It's Ulrika! | Various characters | Television film |
| 1998 | Ted & Ralph | Ralph Mayhew Aunt Cecilia Ralph's Father | Television film |
| 1999 | Bang, Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer | Various characters | 6 episodes |
| You Ain't Seen All These, Right? | Various characters | Television film | |
| 2000–2001 | Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) | Various characters | 12 episodes, also writer |
| 2001 | Fun at the Funeral Parlour | Nutkins | 1.04 "The Mountains of Doom" |
| Happiness | Bryan the Counsellor | 1.04 "Desperate Dan" | |
| 2003 | The Fast Show Farewell Tour | Various characters | Television film, also writer |
| 2003–2004 | Swiss Toni | Swiss Toni | 16 episodes, also writer |
| 2004 | Catterick | Pat | Television miniseries |
| 2006 | Dick & Dom in da Bungalow | Himself | Celebrity 'Bungalow Head' |
| 2010 | Bellamy's People | Various characters | 1.01 "Episode One" |
| 2010–2012 | Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul | Bunny | 5 episodes |
| 2011 | The Fast Show Faster | Swiss Toni / Various characters | 3 episodes |
| 2013 | Marple | James Bond | 6.01 "A Caribbean Mystery", also writer |
| 2014 | The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm | The Mayor | Television film, also writer |
| 2015 | Professor Branestawm Returns | Mayor | Television film, also writer |
| Jekyll and Hyde | 10 episodes. Creator, showrunner | ||
| 2017 | Broadchurch | Ian Winterman | 7 episodes |
| Grantchester | Ronnie Maguire | 2 episodes | |
| 2023 | Mog's Christmas | Jolly Uncle (voice) | Animated television film [15] |
The James Bond series focuses on the titular character, a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelisations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, and Anthony Horowitz. The latest novel is With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, published in May 2022. Additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny.
Paul Julian Whitehouse is a Welsh actor, writer, presenter and comedian. He was one of the main stars of the BBC sketch comedy series The Fast Show and has starred with Harry Enfield in the shows Harry & Paul and Harry Enfield & Chums. He has appeared with Bob Mortimer in the BBC series Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing and has also acted in films including Corpse Bride (2005), Alice in Wonderland (2010) and The Death of Stalin (2017).
Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982.
From Russia, with Love is the fifth novel by the English author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the story in early 1956 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica; at the time he thought it might be his final Bond book. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 8 April 1957.
David Cummings is a British musician and scriptwriter. He is best known for writing for British television comedies such as The Fast Show, and for being a guitarist in Del Amitri between 1989 and 1995.
SilverFin is the first novel in the Young Bond series that depicts Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond as a teenager in the 1930s. It was written by Charlie Higson and released in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2005, by Puffin Books in conjunction with a large marketing campaign; a Canadian release of the same edition occurred in late March. The United States edition, which was slightly edited for content, was released on April 27, 2005, by Miramax Books.
Ian Fleming Publications Limited is a production company. In 1952, author Ian Fleming bought it after completing his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale; he assigned most of his rights in Casino Royale, and the works which followed it to Glidrose.
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1982, the title is the first gamebook in the Fighting Fantasy series. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002, and Scholastic Books in 2017. As well as launching the Fighting Fantasy series, the gamebook inspired two direct sequels and five novels, and has been adapted into a board game, an audio drama and a video game.
Young Bond is a series of young adult spy novels featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond as a young teenage boy attending school at Eton College in the 1930s. The series, written by Charlie Higson, was originally planned to include only five novels; however, after the release of the fifth novel, Higson considered the possibility of a second series. In October 2013 it was confirmed that a second series of four novels was in development, with the first novel due for release in Q3 2014, but it would be penned by Steve Cole while Higson continued work on his young adult zombie series, The Enemy.
Kevin Walker is a British comics artist and illustrator, based in Leeds, who worked mainly on 2000 AD and Warhammer comics and the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. He is now working for Marvel Comics.
Hurricane Gold is the fourth novel in the Young Bond series depicting Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond as a teenager in the 1930s. The novel is set in Mexico and the Caribbean. It was first published in the UK in September 2007.
By Royal Command is the fifth novel in the Young Bond series depicting Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond as a teenager in the 1930s. The novel, written by Charlie Higson, takes place in 1934 and see James at the age of fourteen. Locations include The Alps (Kitzbühel), England, France, Lisbon, and Vienna.
Commander James Bond is a character created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games. Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections. His final two books—The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) and Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)—were published posthumously.
Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier is a non-fiction companion to the Young Bond series of novels written by Charlie Higson. The book contains in-depth character profiles to the cars, the weapons and the exotic locations, plus facts, statistics, photographs, maps, and illustrations by Kev Walker. The book also includes an original Young Bond short story by Charlie Higson titled "A Hard Man to Kill". The story is set between the books Hurricane Gold and By Royal Command and involves James Bond travelling back to London aboard the French ocean liner SS Colombie. It is the longest James Bond short story yet written. An extract from the story appeared in the paperback edition of By Royal Command.
The Enemy is a post-apocalyptic young adult horror novel written by Charlie Higson. The book takes place in London, United Kingdom, after a worldwide sickness has infected adults, turning them into something akin to voracious, cannibalistic zombies. Puffin Books released The Enemy in the UK on 3 September 2009, Disney Hyperion in the US on 11 May 2010.
The Dead is a novel written by Charlie Higson. The book, published by Puffin Books in the UK on 16 September 2010, is the second book in a seven-book series, titled The Enemy. The Dead takes place in London, a year before the events in the previous book, two weeks after a worldwide sickness has infected adults turning them into something related to voracious, cannibalistic zombies.
The Fear is a post-apocalyptic young adult horror novel written by Charlie Higson. The book, released by Puffin Books in the UK on 15 September 2011 and by Disney Hyperion is the third book in a planned seven-book series, titled The Enemy. The Fear takes place in London, a year after a worldwide sickness has infected adults, turning them into something akin to voracious, cannibalistic zombies.
The Sacrifice is a post-apocalyptic young adult horror novel written by best-selling author Charlie Higson. The book, released by Puffin Books in the UK and Australia on 20 September 2012, is the fourth book in a seven-book series, titled The Enemy. The Sacrifice takes place in London, a year after a worldwide sickness has infected adults, turning them into something akin to voracious, cannibalistic zombies, and begins five days after the end of The Fear.
Jonathan Green is a freelance writer. He has written for various science fiction and fantasy franchises, including Doctor Who, Fighting Fantasy, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Games Workshop's Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 game universes.
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