Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer, performer, and panellist. Born in Glasgow to Italian parents, Iannucci studied at the University of Glasgow followed by the University of Oxford. Starting on BBC Scotland and BBC Radio 4, his early work with Chris Morris on the radio series On the Hour transferred to television as The Day Today. A character from this series, Alan Partridge, co-created by Iannucci, went on to feature in a number of Iannucci's television and radio programmes, including Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge and I'm Alan Partridge. Iannucci also fronted the satirical Armistice review shows and in 2001 created his most personal work, The Armando Iannucci Shows, for Channel 4.
Keith Boak is a British film and television director, best known for his work on several popular continuing drama series. He currently resides and works in the United States.
The Mother is a 2003 British drama film directed by Roger Michell and written by Hanif Kureishi. It stars Anne Reid, Daniel Craig, Peter Vaughan, Steven Mackintosh, and Cathryn Bradshaw.
Hanif Kureishi is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent. In 2008, The Times included Kureishi in its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
My Beautiful Laundrette is a 1985 British comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The film was also one of the first films released by Working Title Films.
The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and governed by a board of 15 directors. It was funded from various sources including The National Lottery. John Woodward was the Chief Executive Officer of the UKFC. On 26 July 2010, the government announced that the council would be abolished. Although one of the parties elected into that government had, for some months, promised a bonfire of the Quangos, Woodward said that the decision had been taken with "no notice and no consultation". UKFC closed on 31 March 2011, with many of its functions passing to the British Film Institute.
The Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of British government. Written and directed by Armando Iannucci, it was first broadcast for two short series on BBC Four in 2005, initially with a small cast focusing on a government minister, his advisers and their party's spin-doctor. The cast was significantly expanded for two hour-long specials to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's appointment as prime minister in 2007, which saw new characters forming the opposition party added to the cast. These characters continued when the show switched channels to BBC Two for its third series in 2009. A fourth series about a coalition government was broadcast in 2012, with the last episode transmitted on 27 October 2012.
Ayub Khan Din is a British writer and actor. He wrote the BAFTA, BIFA and London Film Critics Circle award-winning film East Is East (1999), adapted from his 1996 Olivier-nominated play of the same name. His 2008 comedy play Rafta, Rafta... won the Olivier Award. He went on to write the film sequel West Is West (2010). On television, he created the Channel 4 comedy-drama Ackley Bridge (2017–present).
Roger Michell was a South African-born British theatre, television and film director. He was best known for directing films such as Notting Hill and Venus, as well as the 1995 made-for-television film Persuasion.
Edward Mirzoeff CVO, CBE is a prominent British television producer and documentary filmmaker.
Venus is a 2006 British comedy-drama film directed by Roger Michell and produced by Kevin Loader, from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The film stars Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, Jodie Whittaker, Richard Griffiths and Vanessa Redgrave.
Simon Bowles is a British feature film production designer. Bowles has worked with directors Armando Iannucci, Amma Asante, Oliver Parker, Roger Michell, Edgar Wright and Neil Marshall. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Declan Lowney is an Irish television and film director. Known initially for directing musical events such as the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, Lowney is perhaps best known for his work on Irish and British television comedies such as Cold Feet, Little Britain and Father Ted for which he was awarded a BAFTA Award in 1995. He was awarded a second BAFTA Award in 2006 for his work on BBC comedy Help.
Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle is a British comedy series created by and starring Stewart Lee and broadcast on BBC Two. It features stand-up comedy and sketches united by a theme for each episode. It was script-edited by Chris Morris and was initially executive-produced by Armando Iannucci, marking a rare reformation of a creative team formed for On the Hour in 1991. Lee had said that this is exactly the sort of show he wanted to do, saying "I don't want to do any television that I don't have complete control of."
Tessa Sarah Ross CBE is an English film producer and executive. She was appointed Head of Film at Channel 4 in 2000 and ran Film4 and Film4 Productions from 2002 to 2014. Ross was appointed to the Board of the Royal National Theatre in 2011, and became Chief executive in 2014. She resigned in April 2015, citing concerns over the new leadership structure, but remained working with the National Theatre as a consultant. Ross received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award and was named as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour in 2013. She is an honorary fellow of the National Film and Television School. In the 2010 New Year Honours, she was appointed a CBE for services to broadcasting.
Aimée Kelly is an English actress. She is best known for her debut leading role in the feature film Sket, for which she was nominated Best British Newcomer at the London Film Festival Awards. Kelly also starred in CBBC's hit drama Wolfblood as Maddy Smith, for which she was nominated Best Children's performer by BAFTA.
Le Week-End is a 2013 British-French drama film directed by Roger Michell and starring Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan, and Jeff Goldblum. Written by Hanif Kureishi, the film is the fourth collaboration between Michell and Kureishi, who both began developing the story seven years prior during a weekend trip to Montmartre. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
Ian Martin is an English comedy writer. Martin was a writer for the BAFTA-winning BBC series The Thick of It. He was famously hired as "swearing consultant" in 2005 by the show's creator, Armando Iannucci, for Series 1 of the political satire and went on to become a full member of the writing team. He won an Emmy for his writing across five series of Veep and was BAFTA nominated for co-writing The Death of Stalin.
Divian Ladwa is an English actor best known for appearing in the Oscar nominated Best Picture Lion, the BAFTA winning comedy series Detectorists, and the Marvel Studios film Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Deanna Kamiel was a Canadian-born director, documentary film/public TV writer/producer with a career in public broadcasting at the CBC in Toronto and PBS in Minneapolis and professor of film development at SUNY Purchase College and then at The New School, Manhattan, New York City, US. She worked for 26 years (1992–2018) as Head of The New School's Documentary Studies program, Director of Graduate Certificate in Doc Studies Program, and Assistant Professor of Media Studies - School of Media Studies, Manhattan, New York, U.S. Kamiel's documentaries were based on live interviews of the person(s) the film was about. As a student at The University of Toronto in the 1960s, she wrote for The Varsity in Toronto, and The Ubyssey in Vancouver.
