Alan Davies
| Alan Davies | |
|---|---|
| File:QI Davies.jpg | |
| Born | March 6, 1966 Loughton, Essex, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Spouse | Kate Maskell |
| Notable works and roles | Jonathan Creek in Jonathan Creek Himself in QI |
Alan Davies (born 6 March 1966) is an English comedian and actor best known for starring as Jonathan Creek on the popular TV mystery series of the same name. More recently he has been a permanent panellist on the TV quiz show QI.
Biography
Davies was born 6 March, 1966 in Chingford, England. His childhood years were spent in Chingford and Loughton, attending Bancroft's School in Woodford Green and Loughton College of Further Education (where he met Theatre Studies teacher Piers Gladhill who was instrumental in encouraging him to act and try comedy). He graduated from the University of Kent in 1988 and was awarded a Honorary Doctorate by the University in 2003 - none of his Kent Drama lecturers attended the ceremony..
Comedy career
After first trying stand-up at the Whitstable Labour Club in 1988 Davies was named Time Out's Best Young Comic in 1991 and won the Edinburgh Festival Critics Award for Comedy in 1994. In 1989 he travelled across Canada appearing at Fringe Festivals in Winnipeg,Edmonton,Vancouver and Victoria. He returned to Edmonton in 1990,91,92,93 & 2001. He also appeared in Adelaide at the 1992 and 1994 Fringe Festivals and in 1995 at the Adelaide and Melbourne Comedy festivals. In 1995 he was the first overseas comic to play the Auckland Comedy Festival and subsequently toured New Zealand in 1998. He performed solo shows at the Edinburgh Festival in 1992,94,95,98 & 2001. Other Festival appearances included four straight years in Kilkenny in the 90s as well as the famous Just For laughs in Montreal in 1995. He toured the UK in 1995 and 1999 and those shows are available on Video/audio as Live at the Lyric (1994) and on DVD as Urban Trauma (1998). Live at the Lyric is a recording of Davies' performance as part of the Perrier Pick of the Fringe 1994. A version of Urban Trauma was shown on BBC1 in 1998 (hence no swearing...).
Radio & Television
In 1994/95 Davies hosted Alan's Big 1FM 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 Jonathan Creek, a trick-deviser for a stage magician with a side interest in solving crimes, between 1996 and 2003. Jonathan Creek won a BAFTA for Best Drama. Davies co-wrote and starred in his own radio sitcom The Alan Davies Show in 1998. He played Russell Boyd in the BBC comedy, A Many Splintered Thing, also in 1998 & 2000.[1] In 2001 he 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 "Bob". After returning to "Jonathan Creek" in 2001 alongside Julia Sawalha & Adrian Edmondson (Caroline Quentin having decided to leave the show), he went on to make a fourth series in 2002/3. David Renwick, the show's brilliant creator and writer then turned his attention to "Love Soup" and Davies starred 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 2007), as well as appearances in "The Good Housekeeing Guide" (BBC1 2006), "Roman Road" (ITV 2004) and "Hotel Babylon" (BBC1 2008).
QI
Davies currently appears as a permanent panellist on the BBC quiz game QI hosted by Stephen Fry. He also wrote in the QI book, called The Book of General Ignorance. However he was only asked to contribute four words (which appear after Stephen Fry's foreword), "Will this do, Stephen?". His initial response "Stephen Fry is a ___(reader to fill in blank)" was rejected
BBC's Great Britons
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, Alan starred in the second episode of ITV1's You Don't Know You're Born.
Personal life
- Davies married stunning writer and former literary agent Katie Maskell in January 2007[2].
- He is a Pesco vegetarian. His vegetarianism has been mentioned on several editions of QI but on You Don't Know You're Born it was revealed that he does eat fish.
- Davies is recorded as being a regular scuba diver, a fact also mentioned on several editions of QI.
- He's a renowned Arsenal fan. He wrote a weekly football column for The Times for two years, and has been occasionally featured in vignettes for Match of the Day 2.
- He is good friends with Bill Bailey. He chose him to be his best man at his wedding in January 2007. He has commented that his speech was very funny with particular mention going to a fine Puff Daddy gag..