Paul Whitehouse

Paul Julian Whitehouse (born 17 May 1958) is a Welsh actor, writer, presenter and comedian. He was one of the main stars of the BBC sketch comedy series ''The Fast Show'' and has starred with Harry Enfield in the shows '' Harry & Paul'' and '' Harry Enfield & Chums''. He has appeared with Bob Mortimer in the BBC series '' Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing'' and has also acted in films including '' Corpse Bride'' (2005), ''Alice in Wonderland'' (2010) and '' The Death of Stalin'' (2017).

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was in the top 50 comedy acts voted for by comedians and comedy insiders.

Early life

Whitehouse was born on 17 May 1958, in Stanleytown, Glamorgan, Wales.Comic Paul tells of talent change
WalesonSunday.co.uk. 28 October 2007 His father, Harry, worked for the National Coal Board and his mother, Anita ( Jones), was a singer with the Welsh National Opera. The family moved to Enfield, Middlesex, when he was four years old, which led to his discovering his talent for mimicry:

Career

Whitehouse attended the University of East Anglia reading for a degree in Development Studies from autumn 1976, where he became friends with Charlie Higson. The pair spent little of their first year studying, instead playing guitar and performing with their punk rock combo, the Right Hand Lovers. Whitehouse dropped out and squatted in a council flat in Hackney, east London and occasionally worked as a plasterer. After Higson graduated in 1980, he moved in with Whitehouse, working by day as a decorator and performing at night and the weekends with his new punk-funk group the Higsons''.''On the move: Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson
''The Times'', 2 December 2007

The pair began working as tradesmen on a house shared by comedians Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, which inspired them to start writing comedy. They moved to an estate where in a pub they met Harry Enfield, a neighbour with a stage act, and after he gained a place on Channel 4's '' Saturday Live'', the pair were invited to write for him. Whitehouse created Enfield's character ''Stavros'' (a London-based Greek kebab shop owner), and then Loadsamoney (an archetypal Essex boy made good in Margaret Thatcher's 1980s); he also appeared as Enfield's sidekick Lance on ''Saturday Live''. This success turned Whitehouse and Higson's career, and they began to appear on '' Vic Reeves Big Night Out'' and extensively for the BBC, with Whitehouse appearing on ''A Bit of Fry and Laurie'' as a man with a clinical need to have his bottom fondled, and '' Paul Merton: The Series'', then on ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'', where he developed numerous characters including DJ Mike Smash of Smashie and Nicey, alongside Enfield as Dave Nice.

TV career

While watching a preview tape of highlights from Enfield's programme, Whitehouse and Higson were inspired to create a rapid-fire delivery comedy series which would evolve into ''The Fast Show'' (when shown in the United States on BBC America, the show was titled ''Brilliant''). Whitehouse's characters included Rowley Birkin QC, Unlucky Alf, Arthur Atkinson, Ron Manager and Ted.

An online series of ''The Fast Show'' commissioned by Fosters led to six weekly episodes launched on 10 November 2011.

In 2001 and 2002, Whitehouse and ''Fast Show'' collaborator Dave Cummings co-wrote two series of the BBC comedy drama ''Happiness;'' Whitehouse also performed the lead role as a voice-over actor with a mid-life crisis.

Whitehouse wrote, produced and appeared with Chris Langham in the 2005 comedy drama ''Help'', also for the BBC. In this series he took 25 roles, all patients of Langham's psychotherapist (except one, who is Langham's psychotherapist's psychotherapist). The pair's collaboration resulted in Whitehouse taking the witness stand on 24 July 2007 in the trial of Langham, in regard to the charge of holding explicit images and videos of minors. Langham claimed he downloaded this material as research for a character in the second series of ''Help'', but Whitehouse's testimony only partially corroborated this explanation.

He appeared in the BBC sketch series '' Harry & Paul'' (formerly ''Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul''), starring alongside Harry Enfield. Whitehouse starred alongside Charlie Higson in the BBC2 comedy series '' Bellamy's People'', with the first episode broadcast on 21 January 2010. The comedy evolved from the BBC Radio 4 program '' Down the Line''. The show originally had the working title of ''Bellamy's Kingdom''.

In October 2014, Harry Enfield and Whitehouse revived the classic characters Frank and George (" The Self-Righteous Brothers") from Harry Enfield and Chums, in a sketch for Channel 4's testicular cancer awareness comedy series ''The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night''.

In 2015 his sitcom ''Nurse'', based on his Radio 4 series of the same name (see below), debuted on BBC2 on 10 March.

In August 2015, Whitehouse, alongside Enfield, in celebration of their 25-year partnership, presented ''An Evening With Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse''.

In June and July 2018, Whitehouse appeared with his long-time friend and fellow comedian Bob Mortimer in a BBC2 six-part series, '' Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing''. The two friends, who both suffer from heart conditions, share their thoughts and experiences while fishing at a variety of locations around the UK, often with anecdotes about Paul's health and Bob's misadventures. The fourth series of ''Gone Fishing'' began broadcasting in 2021. The fifth series began in September 2022, and returned for a Christmas special in December 2022. The duo returned for a sixth series broadcast on BBC.

Whitehouse will portray Argus Filch in HBO's television adaptation of the Harry Potter series.

Radio

Whitehouse and Charlie Higson produced and appeared in a spoof phone-in show '' Down the Line'' on BBC Radio 4. The first series was broadcast May–June 2006. A second series was broadcast 16 January – 20 February 2007, during which they won a Sony Radio Academy Award. A third series was broadcast in January 2008, a fourth in January 2011 and a fifth in May 2013. In February 2014, Radio 4 broadcast ''Nurse'', written by Whitehouse and David Cummings and starring Esther Coles in the title role, with Whitehouse playing a variety of characters, including Graham Downs who had previously appeared in ''Down the Line''. The show would become the basis for the 2015 BBC Two TV series ''Nurse''.

Theatre

Whitehouse and John Sullivan's son, Jim Sullivan, have written '' Only Fools and Horses The Musical'', which launched on 9 February 2019 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London. Whitehouse stars as Grandad. In October 2022 he temporarily handed the part over to Les Dennis.

Other work

He also starred alongside Eddie Large and Russ Abbot in episode 4 of '' Horne & Corden''. Comic Relief 2011 contained a new parody video of "Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)" directed by MJ Delaney featuring Whitehouse and other Welsh celebrities lip-syncing to the song. It is available to download via iTunes.

Johnny Depp described Whitehouse as "the greatest actor of all time". Depp appeared in the 2000 finale of ''The Fast Show'', and he and Whitehouse have appeared in five films together: '' Finding Neverland'', '' Corpse Bride'', ''Alice in Wonderland'' and its sequel '' Alice Through the Looking Glass'', and '' Mortdecai''. The latter has been noted for alluding to ''Fast Show'' characters.

Influences

Whitehouse's main early influences were the sketches of Les Dennis and Dustin Gee and The Goodies. In 2001, when asked about comedians who had influenced him, Whitehouse said that Monty Python, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were the main influences from when he was young''.'' He also cited his modern influences as Harry Enfield, of whom he said without meeting him, he would not have been doing what he does now, and the approach of Reeves and Mortimer who he described as "far and away the best comedians that we have had in this country for a long while."

Personal life

Whitehouse married Fiona Wightman in 1992, and the couple had two daughters before separating in 2000. The couple divorced three years later. Whitehouse supported his ex-wife in a civil action she has pursued against a national newspaper, for accessing her medical records. The publisher later offered unreserved apologies.

He had a third daughter with costume designer Natalie Rogers.

Whitehouse met Mine Conkbayir, who is of Turkish heritage, when she was aged 23, and 22 years his junior. She was working in a health food shop while studying. The couple have one daughter. As of 2024 they have been together 20 years and married for five, but maintain separate homes.

Whitehouse is a fan of Premier League football team Tottenham Hotspur.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

Notes

External links

BBC – South East Wales – Hall of Fame – Paul Whitehouse

BBC Comedy Guide
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehouse, Paul
1958 births
20th-century squatters
20th-century Welsh male actors
21st-century Welsh male actors
Actors from the London Borough of Enfield
Actors from the London Borough of Islington
Alumni of the University of East Anglia
Best Entertainment Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners
Comedians from the London Borough of Enfield
Comedians from the London Borough of Islington
Living people
People from Glamorgan
People from Islington (district)
Welsh comedy writers
Welsh male comedians
Welsh male film actors
Welsh male radio actors
Welsh male television actors
Welsh male voice actors
Welsh sketch comedians
British television show creators