Victoria Wood was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades and her live comedy act was interspersed with her own compositions which she performed at the piano. Much of her humour was grounded in everyday life and included references to activities, attitudes and products that are considered to exemplify Britain. She was noted for her skills in observational comedy and in satirising aspects of social class.
The Mary Whitehouse Experience is a British topical sketch comedy show that the BBC produced in association with Spitting Image Productions. It starred two comedy double acts, one being David Baddiel and Rob Newman, the other Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. All four comedians had graduated from Cambridge University. It was broadcast on both radio and television in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Dawn Roma French is a British actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for writing and starring on the BBC sketch comedy series French and Saunders (1987–2007) with her best friend and comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, and playing the lead role of Geraldine Granger in the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2020). French has been nominated for seven British Academy Television Awards and won a BAFTA Fellowship with Saunders in 2009.
Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC sketch comedy show originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998 and later on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. The ensemble cast were four British Indian actors, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. The show explored British Asian culture, and the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life. Some sketches reversed the roles to view the British from an Indian perspective, and others poked fun at Indian and Asian stereotypes. In the television series, most of the white characters were played by Dave Lamb and Fiona Allen; in the radio series those parts were played by the cast themselves. Some of the white characters were also played by Amanda Holden and Emma Kennedy.
Tamsin Morwenna Banks is a British actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy sketch show Absolutely, and wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film The Announcement. She voices Mummy Pig, Madame Gazelle and Dr Hamster in the children's series Peppa Pig. She adapted Nick Hornby's novel Funny Girl for Sky Max and is a writer on Slow Horses for Apple TV+.
Julia Davis is an English actress, comedian, director and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy Nighty Night (2004–2005) and the comedies Hunderby (2012–2015) and Camping (2016), which she also directed.
Noel Fielding is an English comedian and actor. He was part of The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe alongside Julian Barratt in the 2000s, and has been a co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off since 2017. He is known for his dark and surreal comedic style.
Catherine Tate is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show (2004–2007), as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and seven BAFTAs. Tate played Donna Noble in the 2006 Christmas special of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, and reprised her role for the fourth series in 2008, and the 60th anniversary episodes in 2023.
Laura Madalene Solon is an English screenwriter, comedian, actress, and winner of the 2005 Perrier Comedy Award. She was the second woman to win as a solo performer, after Jenny Eclair in 1995.
Alison Steadman is an English actress. She received the 1977 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for Abigail's Party, the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film Life Is Sweet and the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Mari in the original production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. In a 2007 Channel 4 poll, the '50 Greatest Actors' voted for by other actors, she was ranked 42.
Benjamin Thomas Willbond is an English actor and screenwriter best known as a member of the British Them There collective, for which he has written and starred in productions including Horrible Histories, Yonderland, and Ghosts.
Jocelyn Jee Esien is a British comedian, actress and writer of Nigerian origin. She stars in the hidden-camera show 3 Non-Blondes, and her own comedy sketch show, Little Miss Jocelyn.
Ruth Alexandra Elisabeth Jones is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer and producer. She co-wrote and co-starred in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey. She also co-wrote and starred in the Sky One comedy-drama Stella (2012–2017), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance and won the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Screenwriter.
Katherine Parkinson is an English actress. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy series The IT Crowd as Jen Barber, for which she received a British Comedy Best TV Actress Award in 2009 and 2014, and was nominated twice for the BAFTA Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance, winning in 2014.
Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV is a British comedy sketch series written by and starring comedian Victoria Wood, with appearances from Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Susie Blake and Patricia Routledge. The show was televised on BBC2 between 1985 and 1987 and included sketches that became famous in the United Kingdom.
Marek Ryan Larwood is an English comedian, actor and YouTuber. He is best known for the BBC Three sketch show Rush Hour and for being one third of the comedy trio We Are Klang.
Gavin & Stacey is a British sitcom created, written by and starring James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one from Billericay in Essex, and the other from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the eponymous characters Gavin and Stacey, while Corden and Jones star as their respective friends Smithy and Nessa. Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb co-star as Gavin's parents Pam and Mick, Melanie Walters plays Stacey's mother Gwen, and Rob Brydon plays Stacey's uncle Bryn.
Celia Daisy Morna Haggard is a British actress and writer. She is known for her roles in the BBC sitcoms Uncle and Episodes. Haggard stars in BBC Three’s comedy-drama, Back to Life, which she also created and co-wrote with Laura Solon. Since 2020, she has appeared alongside Martin Freeman as Ally in the FX series Breeders, a role for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.
Frank Skinner's Opinionated is a British television comedy talk show hosted by the comedian Frank Skinner and produced by Avalon Television for the BBC. The show focusses on various topics in the previous week's news, with Skinner joined by two celebrity guests, also interacting with the studio audience. Each half-hour episode is filmed in a different location around the country. It was first shown on BBC Two, with a first series of six episodes broadcast from 16 April 2010, and a second of six more beginning on 25 March 2011. The third and final series began broadcasting on 10 November 2011.
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is a sketch comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4. John Finnemore is the sole writer and performs with Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan. The first series was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011, and further series have followed annually. A special edition recorded at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was broadcast in 2012. A 45-minute special containing new material was broadcast on 27th May 2023 and a second was broadcast in 2024.
