Richard Hurst is a British writer and director of comedy, theatre and television.

Biography

Born Richard Turner in Surrey, he attended

Boston Grammar School The Boston Grammar School is a selective grammar school and sixth form college for boys aged 11 to 18 and girls attending the sixth form aged 16–18 located in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. A recent 2021 Ofsted report assessed the school ov ...

and

Oakham School (Like runners, they pass on the torch of life) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president ...

before studying at

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accep ...

, and training as a director at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

Studio.

Early career

He was a founding member of the sketch group The Four Horsemen, whose series '' This Is Pop!'' was broadcast on

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first United Kingdom, British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in Digital television, digital format, as well as t ...

. His Edinburgh work has included work with Pegabovine and Girl and Dean, '' Moon The Loon'' (a play about

Keith Moon Keith John Moon (23 August 19467 September 1978) was an English drummer for the rock band the Who. He was noted for his unique style of playing and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour and addiction to drugs and alcohol. Moon grew ...

), the sell-out children's shows '' Potted Potter'', '' Potted Pirates'', which he co-wrote, and '' Silly Billy Bum Breath''. ''Potted Potter'', which condenses all the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students a ...

'' novels into 80 minutes, has had two

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

runs for a total of 30 weeks, and five

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

runs. In 2004 he directed '' Bill Hicks: Slight Return'', which he co-wrote with

Chas Early Chas Early is a British actor and playwright. He has appeared on TV shows such as ''Casualty'', ''EastEnders'', '' Skins'', ''Mayo'' and ''Call the Midwife''. He is probably best known for portraying the late comedian Bill Hicks in his one-man sh ...

. The play suggests what would happen if

Bill Hicks William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material—encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy—wa ...

returned to Earth for one final show. The show toured extensively in the UK, including four West End runs, and also appeared in Éire, Belgium and Australia. In 2010 he co-wrote and directed '' Potted Panto'', which opened at the

Pleasance Theatre The Pleasance is a theatre, bar, sports and recreation complex in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on a street of the same name. It is owned by the University of Edinburgh, and for nine months of the year it serves the Edinburgh University ...

, Edinburgh, and subsequently transferred to the

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each ...

, London, where it was nominated for an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

for Best Entertainment. It has also run for five seasons at the

Southwark Playhouse Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London, located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations. History The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They identified the need for a h ...

, most recently in 2019–20.

Cooperative work

He has also worked extensively with

Miranda Hart Miranda Katherine Hart Dyke (born 14 December 1972) is an English actress and writer. Following drama training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Hart began writing material for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and making appearances in va ...

as a writer, director and script editor. He co-wrote seventeen episodes of the multi-award-winning '' Miranda'' for BBC2, having script edited the first episode. In 2010 he was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for his work on ''Miranda.'' Other television work includes writing three episodes of

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'' is a British drama television series that aired from 27 September 2007 to 22 March 2011 on ITV2, based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous Belle de Jour. It stars Billie Piper as Belle, a high-end London ...

for Tiger Aspect for ITV2 / Showtime. In March 2013 Bluestone 42, which he co-wrote and co-created with James Cary, was broadcast by the BBC. It was subsequently renewed for its second (2014) and third (2015) seasons. He also co-wrote three episodes of the second series of '' The Rebel'' on

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

in 2017.

Drama festival

He has been involved in the National Student Drama Festival in various capacities, since winning the Sunday Times’ Harold Hobson Student Drama Critic Award in 1994 and the RSC Buzz Goodbody Award in 1995.

References

External links

*
Richard Hurst homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurst, Richard English theatre directors English comedy writers Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Alumni of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Living people People from Surrey People educated at Boston Grammar School Year of birth missing (living people)