Gregory Daniel Davies ( ; born 14 May 1968) is a Welsh comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known for his roles as Mr Gilbert in ''

The Inbetweeners ''The Inbetweeners'' is a British coming-of-age television sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 to 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager Willi ...

'' (2008–2010), Ken Thompson in ''

Cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

'' (2012–2019), Dan Davies in '' Man Down'' (2013–2017) and Paul "Wicky" Wickstead in '' The Cleaner'' (from 2021). Since 2015, he has hosted the comedy panel game show '' Taskmaster'' and he has also appeared on '' Mock the Week'', '' Fast and Loose'', '' Live at the Apollo'' and '' Would I Lie to You?'' For his performance in ''Cuckoo'', Davies was nominated for the BAFTA Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2013.

Early life

Davies was born in

St Asaph St Asaph (; "church on the Elwy") is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and community (Wales), community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population ...

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

, Wales, on 14 May 1968. His Welsh parents, Bob and Pauline, lived in England at the time, but his father drove his mother across the border to make sure he was born in Wales. He grew up in Wem,

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, which he regards as his home. His father's origins lie in

Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...

. In a 2017 edition of BBC's '' Who Do You Think You Are?'' he discovered that he is descended from Owain the Great. Davies was educated at Thomas Adams School in Wem, before studying drama and English at Brunel University, graduating in 1990. Prior to embarking on a career in comedy, he taught drama for 13 years at three secondary schools.

Career

Television

In 2003, Davies made an appearance on the children's TV show '' Dick & Dom in da Bungalow'', playing a caricatured version of himself named "Massive Greg". In 2005, Davies played a caricature of cricketer W. G. Grace in a series of adverts for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's television coverage of

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

. From 2008 to 2014, Davies played the head of

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

Mr Gilbert in the E4

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

'', and in the two follow-up films '' The Inbetweeners Movie'' (2011) and '' The Inbetweeners 2'' (2014). From 2012 to 2019, he starred alongside Helen Baxendale in

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

sitcom ''

'' for five series. From October 2013, Davies starred in

's sitcom '' Man Down'', playing a teacher, Dan, who dislikes his job. Rik Mayall played Dan's father. Channel 4 also commissioned a Christmas special, and subsequently renewed for a second series. Rik Mayall's death in June 2014 slowed progress but the second series was announced in 2015. The classroom used in the show is the same classroom in which Davies taught at Sandhurst School. Since July 2015, Davies has been the host of the panel game show '' Taskmaster''. In December 2015, he starred in

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

's comedy drama '' A Gert Lush Christmas'' where he played Tony, the uncle of Russell and Kerry Howard's characters. On Christmas Day he played King Hydroflax in the 2015 ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' special " The Husbands of River Song". Since 2021, Davies has written and starred in the BBC One comedy series '' The Cleaner'', as well as serving as the host of the music panel show '' Never Mind the Buzzcocks''.

Stand up

Davies began his stand up career in 2005, working the independent club circuit. In 2007, he was nominated three times in the Chortle Awards, in the categories "Breakthrough Act" (for his solo stand-up act), "Best Sketch, Variety or Character Act", and "Best Full-Length Show" (both as part of sketch team We Are Klang). In 2010, Davies' first solo stand-up show, ''Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog'', was nominated for the Fosters

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Establ ...

at the Edinburgh Festival. The show was subsequently taken on his first ever tour the following autumn. He was also nominated for the Edinburgh Fringe's

Malcolm Hardee Malcolm Hardee (5 January 1950 – 31 January 2005) was an English comedian and comedy club proprietor. His high reputation among his peers rests on his outrageous publicity stunts and on the help and advice he gave to successful British Alte ...

"Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid" Award. In 2013, he toured his second stand up show, ''The Back of My Mum's Head'', across the UK. In November 2017, Davies recorded a

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

stand-up comedy special at the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

during his Magnificent Beast UK tour. It was released as ''You Magnificent Beast'' in 2018.

Stand-up shows

Personal life

Davies is noted for his height, standing tall. He lives in the Kennington area of London. He was in a relationship with Labour Party politician Liz Kendall from 2007 to 2015, which ended prior to the general election that year. In 2022, Davies was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from his alma mater,

Brunel University London Brunel University of London (BUL) is a Public university, public Research universities, research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian era, Victorian engineer and pione ...

. In May 2024, Davies was the guest for BBC Radio 4's '' Desert Island Discs'', where his musical choices included " Baggy Trousers" by Madness and "

Wichita Lineman "Wichita Lineman" is a 1968 song written by Jimmy Webb for American country music artist Glen Campbell, who recorded it backed by members of the Wrecking Crew. Widely covered by other artists, it has been called "the first existential country ...

" by

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Greg 1968 births Living people 21st-century Welsh male actors Male actors from Shropshire Alumni of Brunel University London Welsh male film actors Welsh male television actors Welsh male voice actors Welsh stand-up comedians Comedians from Shropshire Edinburgh Festival performers People educated at Thomas Adams School Comedians from St Asaph People from Wem 21st-century Welsh comedians Welsh male comedians 20th-century Welsh educators British drama teachers Actors from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Kennington Comedians from the London Borough of Lambeth Male actors from Denbighshire