Alan Davies

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Alan Davies
Alan Davies in 2007
Born	6 March 1966 (1966-03-06) (age 43) Loughton, Essex, England
Nationality	British
Years active	1988–present
Genres	Stand-up, television, radio
Spouse	Katie Maskell (2007-present)
Notable works and roles	Jonathan Creek QI

Alan Davies (born 6 March 1966) is an English comedian, writer, and actor, best known for starring in mystery series Jonathan Creek, and as a permanent panelist on QI.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Stand-up 2.2 Radio and television 2.3 Film and theatre 2.4 QI 3 Personal life 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Early life

Davies was born in Loughton, Essex in 1966. His childhood years were spent in Chingford.^[1] Alan's mother died when he was six; he was subsequently raised along with an older brother and younger sister by his father, an accountant.

Davies attended Bancroft's School in Woodford Green, where he gained eight O-Levels. He then moved on to Loughton College of Further Education where he got four more O-Levels and two A-Levels (Communications & Theatre Studies). He graduated in Drama from the University of Kent in 1988 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University in 2003.

[edit] Career

[edit] Stand-up

Davies began performing stand-up comedy in 1988 at the Whitstable Labour Club, and was named Time Out's Best Young Comic in 1991. He continued touring and performing in the UK and Canada, winning the Edinburgh Festival Critics Award for Comedy in 1994. That show was released on video and audio cassette in 1995 as Alan Davies Live at the Lyric recorded at the Lyric Theatre as part of the Perrier Pick of the Fringe season in October 1994.

A DVD of Davies's stand up has been released entitled Urban Trauma. A version of that show, which ran in the West End at the Duchess Theatre and toured the UK and New Zealand, was shown on BBC1 in 1998.

[edit] Radio and television

In 1994 and 1995, Davies hosted Alan's Big One for three series on Radio 1 before appearing in Channel 4's spoof travel show One for the Road (made by Channel X in 1994/5). He later played the title role in Jonathan Creek, as a trick-deviser for a stage magician with a side interest in solving crimes, between 1997 and 2004. Jonathan Creek won a BAFTA for Best Drama and was the show which brought Davies to mainstream attention. On New Year's Day, 2009, a special episode of Jonathan Creek, "The Grinning Man", was broadcast on the BBC. Davies co-wrote and starred in his own radio sitcom, The Alan Davies Show, in 1998. Cassettes of the show were produced and released by the BBC, with episodes broadcast on the digital radio station BBC7. He played Russell Boyd in the BBC comedy A Many Splintered Thing, also in 1998 and 2000.^[2] In 2001 Davies played Robert Gossage in Bob and Rose, a comedy drama about a gay man falling for a woman. He won the Best Actor award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival for his performance. He also played Jack the dog in the radio sitcom About a Dog. In 2003, Alan was the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car on Top Gear. He posted a time of 1:54 in wet conditions. He returned in Series 8 and did a 1:50.3 in dry conditions.

Davies took on a less comedic role in 2004, starring as Henry Farmer, a maverick barrister, in the ITV Sunday night drama The Brief, but quit after two series. Subsequent drama roles include Superintendent Mallard in Marple (ITV, 2008), as well as appearances in The Good Housekeeping Guide (BBC One, 2006), Roman Road (ITV 2004) and Hotel Babylon (BBC One, 2008).

He was invited to champion the case for John Lennon to be the greatest Briton of all time on the BBC's Great Britons series in 2002. In 2007, Davies starred in the second episode of ITV1's You Don't Know You're Born. He also recently became a semi-regular on The Unbelievable Truth.

He has appeared in an episode of the BBC science programme Horizon in which Professor Marcus du Sautoy attempts to introduce him to elements of mathematical thought. The episode was broadcast on BBC Two on 31 March 2009. He went on to appear in Horizon for a second time in November 2009, this time leading the episode — Professor Marcus du Sautoy also returns as a guest speaker.

[edit] Film and theatre

Davies made a cameo appearance in the film Dog Eat Dog as a drug-addled pornographer.

His theatre debut was in Morris Panych's Auntie & Me. The play was previously known as Vigil but the producers of Davies's version decided to change the name. The production was a sell-out success at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival before transferring to the Wyndham's Theatre in the West End for a 16 week run in 2003. Davies returned to the stage, this time alongside Bill Bailey as Felix in The Odd Couple again at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005. In 2008, Davies played Bob Nicolson, the embarrassing father of Georgia Nicolson, in the film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

[edit] QI

Davies currently appears as the permanent panellist on the BBC quiz game QI, which is hosted by Stephen Fry. He has been known, during filming of the show, to record video on his mobile phone, and has uploaded some of these clips on YouTube. He also contributed four words to the QI book The Book of General Ignorance (which appear after Stephen Fry's foreword), "Will this do, Stephen?". Davies has appeared on every episode of the show (including the unbroadcast pilot episode), though in one episode (Episode 10 of season D) he only appeared in the first few minutes, in a pre-recorded scene, due to him opting to watch Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League Final, taking place at the same time as the recording. His chair was empty for the rest of the episode.

[edit] Personal life

On 1 January 2004 it was alleged in the tabloid newspapers that he had married girlfriend Julia Sawalha, his co-star in the television series Jonathan Creek. Both he and Sawalha, who avoided discussing their private lives in public, denied this, and took legal action against the reports. The couple split up after Davies reportedly refused to commit — and was branded "a miserable git" by Sawalha's sister Nadia.

Davies married writer and former literary agent Katie Maskell, who is 10 years younger than him, on 13 January 2007 after a 6 month engagement. Friend and comedy partner Bill Bailey was Davies' best man and delivered a speech at the ceremony.^[3] On 11th September 2009, Davies announced that he and Maskell are expecting their first child together. In November 2009, Davies revealed that he and Maskell are expecting a daughter.^[4] On 9 December 2009, Davies announced on his offical Twitter page that Maskell had given birth.^[5] Stephen Fry revealed the couple had named their daughter, Susie.^[6]

Davies is a pescetarian. His "vegetarianism" has been mentioned on several editions of QI, his stand up "Urban Trauma" and in You Don't Know You're Born.^{[citation needed]} While at university Alan was actively involved in campaigning for animal and abortion rights.^{[citation needed]} He has narrated an anti-vivisection video called Wasted Lives.^[7]

In late 2007 he made UK national news when The Times and Daily Telegraph reported that Davies was involved in an altercation where Davies bit the ear of a homeless man.^[8][9] Davies had just left a wake at the nearby Groucho Club. He told The Times in 2009, "He wasn't a tramp. He was a raging, horrendous a***hole. He called me a c*** several times. Or if it wasn't him, it was his mate. And, yes, I went for him and, yes, I did it in what turned out to be an amusing way." Following the altercation, Davies was banned from the Groucho Club.^[10]

Davies has recently become, like his QI co-star Stephen Fry, an avid user of Twitter, updating his progress writing a new book and discussing events like sitting a few seats away from Michael Jackson at the theatre.^[11]

Alan is a fan of Arsenal F.C. and a season ticket holder. Alan hosts the It's Up For Grabs Now podcast, which takes a light-hearted discussion on goings on at the club.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Alan Davies at the Internet Movie Database
• fansofalandavies.co.uk - Fan site
• Alan Davies on Twitter - Twitter page
• Alan Davies on YouTube - YouTube channel featuring a few behind-the-scenes clips of Q.I., shot on Alan's cameraphone.

v • d • e QI List of episodes · A series · B series · C series · D series · E series · F series · G series People Stephen Fry · Alan Davies · John Lloyd · John Mitchinson · Piers Fletcher · Justin Pollard · Ian Lorimer · Dan Schreiber · Vitali Vitaliev · Adam Jacot de Boinod Books The Book of General Ignorance · The Book of Animal Ignorance · Advanced Banter · The QI Book of the Dead Related projects The Museum of Curiosity · QI News · Quite Interesting Limited

Persondata
NAME	Davies, Alan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Comedian
DATE OF BIRTH	1966-3-6
PLACE OF BIRTH	Chingford England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH