The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents..., which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane, Alexei Sayle and others.
Amanda Louise Holden is an English media personality, actress and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent show competition Britain's Got Talent on ITV. She also co-hosts the national Heart Breakfast radio show with Jamie Theakston on weekday mornings.
Peter Richardson is an English director, screenwriter, actor and comedian. He founded the Comic Strip troupe of performers, which showcased his double act with Nigel Planer and boosted the careers of French and Saunders, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, and Alexei Sayle. Richardson approached Channel 4 to make a series of short, self-contained one-off comedy films with this group, which led to The Comic Strip Presents..., the majority of which featured Richardson in acting, writing and directing roles.
Sally Elizabeth Phillips is an English actress, comedian, and television presenter. She co-created and was one of the writers of the sketch comedy show Smack the Pony. She is also known for her roles in Jam & Jerusalem as Natasha "Tash" Vine, Miranda as Tilly, I'm Alan Partridge as Sophie, Parents as Jenny Pope, Set the Thames on Fire as Colette in 2015, Zapped as Slasher Morgan, and her guest appearances as the fictional Prime Minister of Finland Minna Häkkinen in the US TV series Veep. Phillips also co-starred in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as Mrs Bennet and in the role of Shazza in all three films of the Bridget Jones franchise.
Elastic Planet is a six-part radio comedy series, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995, taking the form of a surreal documentary reminiscent of Connections. It was written by Ben Moor, narrated by Oliver Postgate and produced by Jon Naismith.
Doon Mackichan (; is a British actress, comedian and writer. She co-created, wrote and performed in the double-Emmy-award-winning Smack the Pony. She frequently collaborates with Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan, having played multiple characters in The Day Today, Brass Eye and Alan Partridge, and has also appeared in Toast of London and Two Doors Down. Mackichan was nominated for Best Female Comedy Performance at the 2014 British Academy Television Awards for her performance in Plebs and won critical praise for her performance alongside John Malkovich in Bitter Wheat in 2019.
Smack the Pony is a British sketch comedy show that was originally broadcast between 1999 and 2003 on Channel 4. The main performers on the show were Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips. There were also regular appearances from Sarah Alexander, Darren Boyd and Cavan Clerkin. The show's theme tune was a version of the Dusty Springfield song "In the Middle of Nowhere", sung by Jackie Clune. In addition to the three principal cast members, the show was written by many writers, the core of whom went on to write Green Wing and Campus.
Fiona Phillips is an English journalist, broadcaster and television presenter. She is best known for presenting the ITV Breakfast programme GMTV Today.
Comedy Connections is a BBC One documentary series produced by BBC Scotland that aired from 2003 to 2008. The show looked at the stories behind the production of some of Britain's comedy television programmes, showing how they tied in with the production of other comedy shows. The show featured interviews with some of the cast and crew of the subject programme, as well as footage from the series.
Carry On Columbus is a 1992 British comedy film, the 31st and final release in the Carry On film series (1958–1992). The film was a belated entry to the series, following 1978's Carry On Emmannuelle. It was produced to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas.
Sally Cecilia Hawkins is an English actress who began her career on stage and then moved into film. She has received several awards including a Golden Globe Award in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and two British Academy Film Awards.
Taking the Flak is a comedy drama which aired on BBC Two in summer 2009. It is set in a fictional Central African country that is the middle of a civil war. A team of BBC journalists arrive from London, to the annoyance of the local BBC stringer Harry Chambers, and send reports back to BBC News in London. The series has been described as "a bit like Drop the Dead Donkey meets The Constant Gardener".
Worzel Gummidge is a British television fantasy comedy series, produced by Southern Television for ITV, based on the Worzel Gummidge books by English author Barbara Euphan Todd. The programme starred Jon Pertwee as the titular scarecrow and Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally. It ran for four series in the UK from 1979 to 1981. On a countdown of the greatest British children's programmes, this series was number 50 in the 50 Greatest Kids TV Shows on Channel 5 on 8 November 2013. Channel 4 reprised the show in 1987 as Worzel Gummidge Down Under, which was set in New Zealand.
Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge is a BBC Television comedy series of six episodes, and a Christmas special Knowing Me, Knowing Yule on 29 December 1995. It is named after the song "Knowing Me, Knowing You" by ABBA, a rendition of which was used as the show's title music. Steve Coogan plays the incompetent but self-satisfied Norwich-based talk show host Alan Partridge, who often insults his guests and humiliates himself in the process. Alan was a spin-off character from the spoof radio show On the Hour. Knowing Me, Knowing You was written by Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Patrick Marber, with contributions from the regular supporting cast of Doon Mackichan, Rebecca Front and David Schneider, who played Alan's weekly guests. Steve Brown provided the show's music and arrangements, and also appeared as Glenn Ponder, the man in charge of the house band.
Offender is a 2012 British action film which follows a hard grafting, 20-year-old working-class man, Tommy Nix, who while avoiding getting mixed up in the wrong crowd sees his girlfriend fall victim to a brutal attack. It stars Kimberley Nixon, Joe Cole, Shaun Dooley and Vas Blackwood. It is written by Paul Van Carter and directed by Ron Scalpello.
Toast of… is a British television sitcom, known either as Toast of London or Toast of Tinseltown. It was created by Arthur Mathews and Matt Berry and stars Berry as Steven Toast, an eccentric, middle-aged actor with a chequered past who spends more time dealing with his problems offstage than performing on it.
Red Nose Day 2015 was a fund-raising event organised by Comic Relief. It was broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Two from the evening of Friday 13th March 2015 in to the early hours of Saturday 14th March 2015 and it was part of the "Face the Funny" campaign.
Two Doors Down is a Scottish television sitcom, produced by BBC Studios. It was created by Simon Carlyle and Gregor Sharp, and stars Arabella Weir, Alex Norton, Doon Mackichan, Jonathan Watson and Elaine C. Smith as neighbours in a suburban street in Scotland.
Red Nose Day 2017 was a fund-raising event organised by Comic Relief, broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Two from the evening of 24 March 2017 to early the following morning. This 2017 edition of Red Nose Day was part of the "Make Your Laugh Matter" campaign. It was held on Friday 24 March till Saturday 25 March 2017 from 7:00 pm to 2:30 am on BBC One.
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead is a 2018 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Ben Wheatley and featuring Neil Maskell as the title character, with Hayley Squires, Sam Riley, Doon Mackichan, Joe Cole, and Charles Dance also starring. It tells the story of a man who rents a country house for his extended family to celebrate the New Year. The film premiered at the 62nd BFI London Film Festival on 11 October 2018, and was distributed by BBC Films, airing on BBC Two on 30 December 2018.
