Graham Linehan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Graham Linehan
Born	22 May 1968 (1968-05-22) (age 41)

Graham Linehan (pronounced /ˈlɪnəhæn/; born 22 May 1968) is an Irish television writer, actor and director who, often in partnership with Arthur Mathews, has written or co-written a number of popular television comedies. He is most noted for his involvement in Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd.

Contents 1 Personal life 2 Career 2.1 Books 2.2 Directing 2.3 Television appearances 3 Other work 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Personal life

Linehan attended Plunkett's School in Whitehall, followed by Colaiste Dhulaigh in Coolock, before joining Hot Press. He also had a column with the magazine In Dublin before moving to London. Linehan's wife Helen is the sister of Peter Serafinowicz.

[edit] Career

Linehan hooked up with Mathews, whom he had worked alongside at Irish Rock Music magazine Hot Press. In their early collaborations they were responsible for segments in many high profile sketch shows including Alas Smith and Jones, Harry Enfield and Chums, The All New Alexei Sayle Show and the Ted and Ralph characters in The Fast Show (the characters were created by Linehan and Mathews and played by Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse).

However, it was with Father Ted (three series, 1995-1998) that Linehan and Mathews made their biggest splash on the public imagination.^[1][2][3]

They then wrote the first series of the sketch show Big Train, but Linehan bowed out for the second series.

They also wrote the "Dearth of A Salesman" episode for the series "Coogan's Run", which featured the character Gareth Cheeseman. In late 2003, they were named one of the 50 funniest acts to work in television by The Observer.^[4]

Linehan has since written for other shows, including Brass Eye. With Dylan Moran, he co-wrote the first series of Black Books, a series to which Mathews also contributed. Linehan has also contributed material to Blue Jam, and its television adaptation Jam.

Most recently, Linehan wrote and directed the 2006 Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd, in which he sought to move away from the recent British trend towards mock-documentary comedies, and to return to an old-fashioned style of sitcom, filmed before a studio audience.^[5][6] In November 2008, he was awarded with an International Emmy for The IT Crowd.^[7]

[edit] Books

Linehan and Mathews have had one book published:

• "Father Ted": The Complete Scripts—Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews. (Paperback - Boxtree - October 20, 2000) ISBN 0-7522-7235-7

They have also contributed to various magazines and written surreal liner notes for the popular "Volume" series of alternative music compilations.

[edit] Directing

Linehan has directed the following television shows:

• Eighteen episodes of The IT Crowd, 2006-8
• One episode of Little Britain, 2003
• Six episodes of Black Books, 2000
• Six episodes of Big Train, 1998
• Eight episodes of Father Ted, 1997

Linehan made his debut in directing films with the comedy horror short Hello Friend, which he also co-wrote. This film appears an extra on The IT Crowd: Version 1.0 DVD.^[8]

He was also an executive producer of the first series of The IT Crowd, and an associate producer of one episode of Father Ted.

[edit] Television appearances

Both Linehan and Mathews have made cameo appearances in programmes they have written. They also made an appearance in the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge as two Irish men considering Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) for a contract.

Linehan has also appeared in The Day Today and in two episodes of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, and has had cameos in Black Books (Season One Episode 2, as "I love books" Guy, and 5 as Fast Food Customer), the Flight Into Terror, Entertaining Father Stone, Cigarettes, Alcohol and Rollerblading and Good Luck Father Ted episodes of Father Ted. He had cameos in three episodes of The IT Crowd as Messy Joe's Restaurant Musician in Season One, Episode 3, the blind sorcerer in Season Two, Episode 6 and as an audience member of Jen's speech in Season 3, episode 4. He appeared in the Identity Parade round of Never Mind The Buzzcocks. He has also appeared in the pilot of Little Britain, as well as in Series 1 Episode 4, as a bystander who gets in the way of character Kenny Craig when he is attempting to hypnotise a man, from a distance, whose car he has crashed into. Linehan was one of the writers interviewed by Charlie Brooker in an interview special episode of the fifth series of Brooker's Screenwipe program.

[edit] Other work

On Friday 13 February 2009, Graham Linehan hosted the first BadMovieClub^[9] on Twitter. At 9pm exactly, over 2,000 Twitter users simultaneously pressed 'Play' on the film 'The Happening' (dir. M. Night Shyamalan 2008) and continued to 'tweet' whilst watching, creating a collective viewing experience which generated 40,000 'tweets' in under 2 hours. The BadMovieClub was repeated at 12 midnight on Saturday 14 February, hosted by Phill Jupitus.

In August 2009, when the National Health Service was being attacked by the Republican Party of the United States during an attempt by President Barack Obama to reform the heathcare system there, Linehan created the #welovetheNHS campaign on Twitter in an attempt to fight back in defence of the NHS.^[10][11]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The I.T. Crowd Official Channel 4 minisite.
• Why, That's Delightful Graham Linehan's blog.
• Graham's Twitter profile
• Graham Linehan at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Graham Linehan at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Father Ted Main characters: Father Ted Crilly • Father Dougal McGuire • Father Jack Hackett • Mrs. Doyle Supporting characters: Bishop Leonard Brennan • Father Noel Furlong • Father Larry Duff • Minor characters Episodes : Series 1: Good Luck, Father Ted • Entertaining Father Stone • The Passion of St Tibulus • Competition Time • And God Created Woman • Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest Series 2: Hell • Think Fast, Father Ted • Tentacles of Doom • The Old Grey Whistle Theft • Song for Europe • The Plague • Rock-a-Hula Ted • Cigarettes and Alcohol and Rollerblading • New Jack City • Flight Into Terror Christmas special: A Christmassy Ted Series 3: Are You Right There, Father Ted? • Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep • Speed 3 • The Mainland • Escape from Victory • Kicking Bishop Brennan up the Arse • Night of the Nearly Dead • Going to America Crew Graham Linehan • Arthur Mathews • Andy DeEmmony • Declan Lowney • Geoffrey Perkins Other & Related Pages Craggy Island • Rugged Island • "My Lovely Horse" • Feck • Ted Fest • Hat Trick Productions

v • d • e The Fast Show Performers Paul Whitehouse · Charlie Higson · Caroline Aherne · John Thomson · Simon Day · Arabella Weir · Mark Williams Felix Dexter · Louise Brill · Donna Ewin · Jeff Harding · Maria McErlane · Colin McFarlane · Eryl Maynard · Paul Shearer · Rhys Thomas Writers Jane Bussmann · Craig Cash · Dave Gorman · Graham Linehan · Arthur Mathews · Lise Mayer · Bob Mortimer · Henry Normal · David Quantick Characters Characters with spin-off shows: Ted and Ralph · Swiss Toni · Ron Manager Other Characters: Brilliant Kid · Bob Fleming · Johnny Nice Painter · The Offroaders