Jack Docherty
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| Jack Docherty | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Docherty Edinburgh |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Known for | Writer, Actor, Presenter, Producer |
Jack Docherty (born 1962, Edinburgh) is a Scottish writer, actor, presenter and producer.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Early career
He first performed at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the comedy sketch group The Bodgers which he formed with George Watson's College schoolfriends Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and Pete Baikie. They performed each year from 1980 to 1985. Arfington, Arfington their 1984 show and Mr Hargreaves Did It their 1985 show were both shortlisted for The Perrier Award but lost out to The Brass Band and Theatre de Complicite respectively. They performed the shows at the Perrier Pick of the Fringe in London at the Donmar Warehouse. In 1982 he dropped out of Aberdeen University where he was studying law, after he and Moray Hunter were offered a contract to write for Saturday Stayback, the Chris Tarrant late night follow-up to O.T.T.. He then, again with Hunter, became a staff writer in the BBC radio comedy department contributing to various shows including Radio Active, In One Ear, Weekending and The News Huddlines. He also recorded one series with The Bodgers for Radio 4 called In Other Words...The Bodgers. For the second series, producer Alan Nixon teamed them with John Sparkes and Morwenna Banks for Bodgers, Banks and Sparkes, forming the cast that would go on to make the sketch show Absolutely for Channel 4.
[edit] Writing
In addition to his radio work, he wrote for Spitting Image for four series between 1984 and 1987. During the same period he also contributed to various other comedy shows including Alas Smith and Jones, The World According to Smith and Jones, The Lenny Henry Show, Max Headroom and The Robbie Coltrane Special. He was also script editor for the first series of Vic Reeves Big Night Out. He wrote four series of Absolutely (1989–1992) and with Hunter the spin-off Channel 4 sitcom mr don and mr george (1993). He wrote the BBC pilots Mac (1995) starring himself, Gordon Kennedy and Nick Hancock, Welcome to Strathmuir (2007) starring John Gordon Sinclair and Me And All The Other Mothers (2008) starring Katherine Parkinson and Justin Edwards. With Morwenna Banks he co-wrote the C4 Comedy Lab Model, Actress, Whatever... directed by Rankin[disambiguation needed 
] and, again with Moray Hunter, two series of the BBC2 sitcom The Creatives starring Hunter and Docherty and Roger Allam. In 2008 he and Hunter wrote the BBC2 series The Cup starring Steve Edge. This was an adaptation of the Canadian sitcom The Tournament.[1]
[edit] Acting
After The Bodgers disbanded in 1985 he concentrated on writing, but returned to performing with Moray Hunter in The Couch at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1988. This led to an offer to follow Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie as the resident double act on Friday Night Live. As an actor Docherty is best known for his work on the Channel 4 cult comedy sketch show Absolutely. Premiered in 1989 the show marked a shift away from the political satirical orthodoxy of the 1980s to the surreal, character based comedy of the 1990s. The recurring characters he portrayed included MacGlashan, Donald MacDiarmid, Peter Wells, Mr Nice and one of the Stoneybridge councillors. The sketch featuring the Stoneybridge council bidding for the Olympics was voted the 30th best of all time in The Top 50 Comedy Sketches on Channel 4. He also starred with Moray Hunter in the Absolutely spin off sitcom mr don and mr george and the BBC Scotland sitcom pilot Mac. He played the lead role of Ben Gray in two series of the advertising sitcom The Creatives (1999 and 2000) on BBC2. Also in 2000 he co-starred with Mark Williams in The Strangerers, the Rob Grant penned sci-fi series for Sky One. This was Sky's first homegrown comedy production and is also notable for featuring one of the first television appearances of David Walliams. Docherty provided one of the voices for the aardman Oscar nominated short Humdrum. He has also made guest appearances in The Comic Strip Presents, Sardines, Atletico Partick, The Morwenna Banks Show, Monarch of the Glen, Welcome to Strathmuir, Red Dwarf V and The Old Guys. He has also featured in the Radio 4 comedies Baggage and Mordrin MacDonald - 21st Century Wizard and has appeared on various comedy panel shows including Have I Got News For You and It's Only TV But I Like It.
[edit] Presenting
Docherty presented two series of The Ken Fine Show for STV (1994 and 1995), a documentary about the Scots language, and two series (1995 and 1996) of Edinburgh Nights with Emma Freud, the BBC2 arts round up of the Edinburgh Festival. In 1997 he was part of the launch of Channel 5 becoming Britain's first five nights a week chat show host on The Jack Docherty Show. The show is also notable for featuring some of the first television work of writers Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, and writer/performers David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Not The Jack Docherty Show, broadcast when Docherty was on holiday, featured guest hosts including Phil Jupitus, Rich Hall, Melinda Messenger and most notably Graham Norton who was signed by Channel 4 after his stint to host So Graham Norton. Docherty quit the show in 1999 and Channel 5 did not replace him, ending their production of late night talk shows. In 2000, he hosted the BAFTA film awards in London. Notoriously, he began the night by revealing the twist ending to The Sixth Sense, a move that did not go down well with the audience. In 2001 to 2002 he hosted the Radio 2 show Saturday Night Jack which reunited him with his Absolutely colleague Pete Baikie. He was also an occasional host of Radio 2's Friday night arts show.
[edit] Producing
He produced the pilots Mac, Model, Actress, Whatever, Welcome to Strathmuir and Me And All The Other Mothers, the BBC Scotland film No Holds Bard (2008) starring Ashley Jensen, Bill Paterson and Ford Kiernan, and two series (2009 and 2010) of the BBC1 sitcom The Old Guys written by Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain and Simon Blackwell and starring Roger Lloyd Pack, Clive Swift, Jane Asher and Katherine Parkinson.
[edit] Absolutely Productions
He is a co-founder of Absolutely Productions. The company was formed in 1989 to produce the eponymous sketch show for Channel 4 and has since gone on to produce various comedy shows including mr don and mr george, The Creatives, Trigger Happy TV, The Armstrong and Miller Show, The Strangerers, Stressed Eric, The Jack Docherty Show and Meg and Mog.
