Geoffrey McGivern | |
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Born | Geoffrey M. McGivern London, England |
Other names | Geoff McGivern |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1974–present |
Geoffrey M. McGivern is a British actor in film, television, radio and stage, as well as a comedian. He is best known for originating the role of Ford Prefect in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .
He played Ford Prefect in the radio series (1978–80) and subsequent LP releases of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams whom he knew from Cambridge University, [1] and reprised the role for the four new series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 2004 and 2018. A more recent radio broadcast was in The Ape That Got Lucky and he has appeared in TV shows such as Noel's House Party , Press Gang , Chef! , Big Train , Blackadder the Third ("Dish and Dishonesty") as Ivor Biggun, Chelmsford 123 , Jonathan Creek , 15 Storeys High , Armstrong and Miller , Toast of London and series three of Peep Show . [2]
McGivern appeared in the first series of the comedy show Big Train in 1998, [3] and later that year for the 1998 radio SciFi drama Paradise Lost in Cyberspace (Colin Swash, BBC) McGivern teamed up with old Hitchhiker's colleague Stephen Moore and Lorelei King (member of cast in the 2005 Hitchhiker's radio show sequel). He later played the Supreme Ruler in BBC2's sci-fi comedy Hyperdrive (2006–2007). In 2007, he appeared in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Peacefully in their Sleeps and in 2008 he appeared as Professor John Mycroft in the BBC2 science sitcom Lab Rats and in the 2008 BBC series Little Dorrit where he played Mr Rugg. He also appeared in episode 5 of series 3 of the TV series A Bit of Fry and Laurie . In 2015, he guest-starred in EastEnders as Dickie Ticker, the crude comic brought in by Mick Carter for Kush Kazemi's stag night. In 2016, he appeared in four episodes of the Disney Channel musical drama The Lodge , as Patrick. McGivern played the narrator Charlie Swinburne in the BBC Radio's 2013 six part dramatisation of G. K. Chesterton's The Club of Queer Trades .
In 2017, he appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom Back , written by Simon Blackwell, alongside David Mitchell and Robert Webb. [4] Later that year, he began portraying the recurring role of Frank in the Netflix series Free Rein .
Since 2019, he has appeared as occasional character Barclay Beg-Chetwynde in the BBC comedy Ghosts . [5] In 2022, he appeared as the main character Russ, in Radio 4 comedy No-Platformed. The show's episode guide contains a humorous note about McGivern's extensive credit list, by starting a list of his credits and then adding "oh, hundreds of things". [6]
In 2024, he appeared as recurring character Lord Rookwood in the Apple TV+ series The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin . [7]
Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, humourist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG). Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy developed into a "trilogy" of five books which sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime. It was further developed into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
Slartibartfast is a character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a comedy/science fiction series created by Douglas Adams. The character appears in the first and third novels, the first and third radio series, the 1981 television series, and the 2005 feature film. The character was modelled after actor John Le Mesurier.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it was later adapted to other formats, including novels, stage shows, comic books, a 1981 TV series, a 1984 text adventure game, and 2005 feature film.
Geoffrey Howard Perkins was a British comedy producer, writer and performer. He was BBC head of comedy between 1995 and 2001, and produced the first two radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He is one of the people credited with creating the panel game Mornington Crescent for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. In December 2008 he posthumously received an Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award.
Michael Fenton Stevens is an English actor and comedian. He was a founder member of The Hee Bee Gee Bees and sang the lead on the Spitting Image 1986 number 1 hit "The Chicken Song". He also starred in KYTV, its Radio 4 predecessor Radio Active, Benidorm, and was an anchor on 3rd & Bird on CBeebies. Stevens also appeared as a diner in an episode of the original series of Mr Bean, entitled ‘Room 426’.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the first book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy of five books" by Douglas Adams, with a sixth book written by Eoin Colfer. The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name, centering on the adventures of the only man to survive the destruction of Earth; while roaming outer space, he comes to learn the truth behind Earth's existence. The novel was first published in London on 12 October 1979. It sold 250,000 copies in the first three months.
John Docherty is a Scottish writer, actor, presenter and producer.
David Dixon is an English actor and screenwriter. His credits include A Family at War (1970), Escort Girls (1974), The Sweeney, The Legend of Robin Hood (1975), Rock Follies (1976), A Horseman Riding By (1978), Lillie (1978), The Tempest (1980), The Missionary (1982), Cold Warrior (1984), Tutti Frutti (1987), Circles of Deceit: Dark Secret (1995), A Touch of Frost: Fun Times for Swingers (1996), and Original Sin (1996). However, his most notable role was starring as Ford Prefect in the 1981 BBC TV series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981).
Stephen Vincent Moore was an English actor, known for his work on British television since the mid-1970s.
Christopher David Addison is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist on Mock the Week. He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4.
Mark Heap is a British actor and comedian. He is known for his roles in television comedies, including Brass Eye, Big Train, Spaced, Jam, Green Wing, Friday Night Dinner, Upstart Crow, and Benidorm.
David James Stuart Mitchell is a British comedian, actor and writer.
Mitchell and Webb are a British comedy double act composed of David Mitchell and Robert Webb. They are best known for starring in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show and their radio and TV sketch shows That Mitchell and Webb Sound and That Mitchell and Webb Look. The duo first met at the Footlights in 1993 and collaborated on the 1995 revue while at Cambridge.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series primarily written by Douglas Adams. It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the US and CBC Radio in Canada. The series was the first radio comedy programme to be produced in stereo, and was innovative in its use of music and sound effects, winning a number of awards.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which aired between 5 January and 9 February 1981 on BBC2 in the United Kingdom. The adaptation follows the original radio series in 1978 and 1980, the first novel and double LP, in 1979, and the stage shows, in 1979 and 1980, making it the fifth iteration of the guide.
The terms Primary Phase and Secondary Phase describe the first two radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, first broadcast in 1978. These were the first incarnations of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise. Both were written by Douglas Adams and consist of six episodes each.
The Tertiary Phase, Quandary Phase, Quintessential Phase and Hexagonal Phase are respectively the third, fourth, fifth and sixth series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series. Produced in 2003, 2004 and 2018 by Above the Title Productions for BBC Radio 4, they are radio adaptations of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth books in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series: Life, the Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish; Mostly Harmless and And Another Thing....
Douglas Adams's Guide to The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a BBC Radio production sold as an audio book on two cassette tapes. The programme was partially broadcast by BBC Radio 4 as a 40-minute feature titled The Guide to 20 Years' Hitch-Hiking on 5 March 1998, marking the 20th anniversary of the first radio programme in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
Up the Women is a BBC television sitcom created, written by and starring Jessica Hynes. It was first broadcast on BBC Four on 30 May 2013. The sitcom is about a group of women in 1910 who form a Women's Suffrage movement. Hynes originally planned to write a comedy film about a suffragette plot to assassinate H. H. Asquith, but after realising the plot had turned quite dark, she decided to write a sitcom instead. Christine Gernon directed the three-part series, which became the last sitcom to be filmed before a live audience at BBC Television Centre and the first to be commissioned for BBC Four. A second series was commissioned in June 2013 and aired on BBC Two from 21 January 2015. Up the Women was not renewed for a third series.
Back is a British sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. It was filmed and is set in and around Stroud, Gloucestershire. The Channel 4 series was created by Simon Blackwell, and its first series was broadcast from 6 September – 11 October 2017.