Dr Stuart Clive Ashen (born 16 December 1976), commonly known by his online

alias Alias may refer to: * Pseudonym * Pen name * Nickname Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film * ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006 * ''Alias the J ...

Ashens ( ), is a British comedian, critic and

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

known for reviewing various products; his reviews usually include toys, video games and food. , his main YouTube channel has garnered over 1.56 million subscribers.

Early life and education

Stuart Clive Ashen grew up on the Heartsease Estate, Norwich and attended Heartsease High School. He previously worked for

PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...

and

Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva ...

. His mother, Pauline, died of cancer when he was eight years old.

YouTube

Ashen has been reviewing food and various products in a distinctive style on YouTube since 2006. The items he humorously reviews are often low quality and procured from various

variety stores A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, automotive parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, home furnishings, and a selection of groceries. It u ...

(notably UK's

Poundland Poundland is a British variety store chain founded in 1990. It once sold most items at the single price of £1, including clearance items and proprietary brands. The first pilot store opened in December 1990 following numerous rejections b ...

), or are poor

knockoff Counterfeit consumer goods (or counterfeit and fraudulent, suspect items - CFSI) are goods, often of inferior quality, made or sold under another's brand name without the brand owner's authorization. Sellers of such goods may infringe on eith ...

s of well-received or well-known products, which he refers to as "". Featured products are typically personally sourced by Ashen in the UK or during holiday abroad or submitted by viewers. He frequently collaborated with his friend and fellow YouTube vlogger Barry Lewis, and in the mid-2010s had a podcast and YouTube channel with him, both called Barshens. , Ashen has produced 905 videos, has 1.56 million subscribers to his primary YouTube channel ''Ashens'' and over 530 million video views. His secondary channel, used mainly for DVD extra-style clips, along with an annual look with Daniel Hardcastle at a series of

Advent calendar An Advent calendar is used to count the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Since the date of the First Sunday of Advent varies, falling between November 27 and December 3 inclusive, many reusable Advent calendars made of paper or wood ...

s throughout December, has over 322,000 subscribers and over 54 million video views. In addition to his own channels he has also produced videos for other YouTube channels, which included "The Multiverse", a geek-themed channel controlled by ''ChannelFlip''. In 2013, Ashen, along with

Emma Blackery Emma Louise Blackery (born 11 November 1991) is an English musician, singer, YouTube vlogger, record producer, and author. Active since 2012, Blackery has released EPs, singles, and Vevo music videos. She has toured with Busted, and headl ...

Dan Howell Daniel James Howell (born 11 June 1991) is an English YouTuber, presenter, comedian and author. He gained prominence through his YouTube channels ''Daniel Howell'' (formerly known as ''danisnotonfire''), which reached over six million subscrib ...

(Daniel Howell) and Phil Lester (AmazingPhil), starred as a contestant in a remake of the 1980s TV show ''

Knightmare ''Knightmare'' is a British children's adventure game show, created by Tim Child, and broadcast over eight series on CITV from 7 September 1987 to 11 November 1994. The general format of the show is of a team of four children – one who tak ...

'' during the YouTube Geek Week event.

Television

Ashen made his first television appearance on a 2008 episode of ''

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe ''Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe'' is a British television review comedy programme created and presented by Charlie Brooker and broadcast on BBC Four. The programme contains reviews of current shows, as well as stories and commentary on how tele ...

'', where he played a cameo role as Mr. Noseybonk, a character from the 80s BBC children's show '' Jigsaw''. Ashen guest starred on '' The Armstrong & Miller Show'' for their "The Node" segment in October 2009. In early 2009, Ashen also released a very limited edition DVD anthology dubbed Ashenthology, containing a selection of his early videos, as well as some unseen videos and animations, some of these videos were later released on his second YouTube Account; extraashens. In 2010, Ashen created the series ''Ashen's Tech Dump'' for BBC Online Comedy. In 2011, Ashen co-starred alongside

Karen Hayley Karen Hayley is a British actress and writer. She has performed with the writers John Cooper Clarke and Suede vocalist Brett Anderson. As a writer, her work has been showcased at The Rotterdam International Poetry Festival (representing Great ...

in another BBC Online Comedy series ''Back Space''. The next year, he starred as himself in ''The Proxy'', a sci-fi webseries produced by

ChannelFlip ChannelFlip Media Ltd was a London-based Multi Channel Network which works with both traditional and online celebrities to create brand friendly content. Shows and talent ChannelFlip works with UK-based comedic TV and online talent. * Robert Lle ...

in partnership with

Dell Alienware Alienware is an American computer hardware subsidiary of Dell. Their product range is dedicated to gaming computers which can be identified by their alien-themed designs. Alienware was founded in 1996 by Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila, and is ...

. The series took eight days to film, consists of 10 episodes and won a

Marketing Week ''Marketing Week'' is a website focused on the marketing industry, based in London, that grew out of what was a weekly, and latterly monthly, print magazine. History and profile ''Marketing Week'' was launched in March 1978. Its co-founders were ...

"Engage Award" in the "Gaming and Entertainment" section.

Film

''Ashens and the Quest for the GameChild''

Ashen wrote and starred in ''Ashens and the Quest for the GameChild'', a feature film released in August 2013, for YouTube's "Geek Week". The film also stars Warwick Davis and

Robert Llewellyn Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956) is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He plays the mechanoid Kryten in the sci-fi television sitcom '' Red Dwarf'' and formerly presented the engineering gameshow '' Scrapheap Challenge'' ...

, and was produced by the

multi-channel network A multi-channel network (MCN) is an organization that works with video platforms to offer assistance to a channel owner in areas such as "product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner management, digital rights management, monetizat ...

, in association with The Multiverse. The film was partially paid for through

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by cro ...

website Indiegogo with contributions totalling at the end of the month, which comprised 41% of the budget. it has been viewed over a million times on YouTube. A remastered and slightly extended edition of the movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 14 July 2014. On 2 July 2018, the full film was released on his YouTube channel.

''Ashens and the Polybius Heist''

In 2016, Ashen confirmed a sequel to ''Ashens and the Quest for the GameChild'' at a fan screening. In July 2018 Ashen created another Indiegogo campaign for the sequel titled, ''Ashens and the

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

Heist''. By the time funding was closed, the project earned over from over 4,000 backers. On 9 May 2019 Ashen announced the principal photography was wrapped. On 5 May 2020 it was announced on the official Twitter account for the film, that The Gaming Muso; a fellow YouTuber, and musician would be performing the opening theme tune for the film. On 9 October 2020 Ashen announced on Twitter that the film is available for preorder, and was released on 19 November 2020 on iTunes, YouTube Movies, Amazon and Vimeo. The reveal trailer/teaser was uploaded on his YouTube channel on 14 October 2020.

Published works

In November 2015 Ashen released the book ''Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of'', a collection of textual reviews of poor retro games, released through the Unbound

platform. The book reached its funding target in 12 hours. On 24 February 2017 Ashen announced a sequel to ''Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of'', titled ''Attack of the Flickering Skeletons: More Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of'', again through Unbound, was released on 2 November 2017. Ashen released the book ''Fifty-Thousand Shades of Grey'' on 23 September 2012; it parodies the popular erotic novel ''

Fifty Shades of Grey ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' is a 2011 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It became the first instalment in the ''Fifty Shades'' novel series that follows the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, ...

''. The title is literal, as the book simply consists of the phrase "Shades of Grey" repeated 50,000 times. A 25-part audiobook of the parody was recorded and released on YouTube.

Personal life

, Ashen lives in his hometown of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

. He has a doctorate in

psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

, but claims to have never professionally worked in the field. In addition to his YouTube channel, Ashen has maintained an active public Twitter presence for years, where he posts about various subjects ranging from his announcements for his YouTube channel to personal thoughts, while his personal website has been inactive since 2016. Ashen has criticized the veracity of his

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

article and the site in general, saying that it has listed untrue statements about him; he wrote in 2017, " y articleused to claim I was a spokesman for the British Egg Council".

Bibliography

Filmography

Web series

Television

Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashen, Stuart 1976 births 21st-century British comedians 21st-century English male actors Actors from Norwich British Internet celebrities British animated film directors Comedy YouTubers Comedy-related YouTube channels English YouTubers English animators English critics English male comedians Entertainment-related YouTube channels Living people Media personalities from Norwich