Tom Allen (comedian)
Thomas Paul Allen (born 14 June 1983) is an English comedian, actor, writer and presenter. In 2005, he won the '' So You Think You're Funny'' contest at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Early life and education Allen attended Coopers School in Chislehurst. He trained with the National Youth Theatre, performing with the company in London and Manchester, in addition to working on outreach projects, films and also forming part of their Company Management Team. Career In 2005, at the age of 22, Allen won the UK comedy newcomer award, '' So You Think You're Funny''. The same year, he won the BBC New Comedy Award. In 2016, he supported Sarah Millican on her sold-out tour of Australia, New Zealand and the UK. He has also supported Josh Widdicombe, Romesh Ranganathan and Michael McIntyre. After a sell-out run of his show ''Indeed'' at the Edinburgh Festival in 2016, he returned to The Pleasance in Edinburgh the following year with his show ''Absolutely''. Allen subsequently embarked ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hay Festival
The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival (), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was described by Bill Clinton in 2001 as "The Woodstock of the mind". Tony Benn said: "In my mind it's replaced Christmas". It has become a prominent festival in British culture, and sessions at the festival have been recorded for television and radio programmes such as ''The Readers' and Writers' Roadshow'' and '' The One Show''. All the BBC's national radio channels apart from BBC Radio 1 have been involved in broadcasting from the festival, and Sky Arts showed highlights of the festival from 2010 until 2013, handing over the main coverage to the BBC for the 2014 event. History The festival was founded in 1988 by Peter Florence and his parents Rhoda and Norman. Hay-on-Wye was already well known for its many bookshops before the festival ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Josh Widdicombe
Joshua Michael Widdicombe (; born 8 April 1983) is an English comedian, presenter and actor. He is best known for his appearances on ''The Last Leg'' (2012–present), '' Fighting Talk'' (2014–2016), '' Insert Name Here'' (2016–2019), ''Mock the Week'' (2012–2016) and his BBC Three sitcom '' Josh'' (2015–2017). Widdicombe also won the first series of '' Taskmaster'' in 2015 and the show's first ''Champion of Champions'' special in 2017. Widdicombe also hosted ''Hypothetical'' with fellow comedian James Acaster (2019–2022). During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, Widdicombe started the ''Parenting Hell'' podcast with fellow comedian Rob Beckett. Early life and education Widdicombe was born on 8 April 1983 in Hammersmith, London, but grew up in Haytor Vale, near Widecombe in the Moor on Dartmoor in Devon. He attended Ilsington Church of England Primary School and South Dartmoor Community College, later studying sociology and linguistics at the University of Manchester. A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Cut (British TV Series)
''The Cut'' is a BBC television teen drama, first broadcast in September 2009. The series was developed by '' Geoffrey Goodwin'' and ''Holby City'' writer, Al Smith in collaboration with '' KateModern'' producer Pete Gibbons and ''Hollyoaks'' director, Sarah Walker. ''The Cut'' is broadcast in 25-minute episodes on BBC Two, with each episode being broadcast in daily five-minute chunks on the website throughout the week before. The BBC describe it as reflecting the way many young people want to consume content which a critic has more cynically interpreted as for those with even the shortest of attention spans. The first series was broadcast from September to December 2009. The second series was broadcast from April through to August 2010, and the third series started two months later, and ran from October to December 2010. In March 2011, it was officially announced that ''The Cut'' had been cancelled and would not return for a fourth series. Series A second season and open audi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sensitive Skin (British TV Series)
''Sensitive Skin'' is a BBC television comedy-drama series, produced by Baby Cow Productions for BBC Two. It stars Joanna Lumley and was first broadcast in 2005, with a second series following in 2007. Series 1 and 2 have aired on CBC Country Canada, while series 1 aired in Australia on ABC TV in 2007. Plot summary Series 1 The first series is about an affluent couple, Al and Davina Jackson, who live in metropolitan London. Along with their friends, Al and Davina struggle with sexual temptation and professional jealousy and try to cope with their fear of the future. Al is a pundit for a broadsheet newspaper and is paid to find imperfection in everything, while Davina works in an art gallery and is paid to make life more beautiful. But being 60 isn't simple: the couple's 30-year-old son, Orlando, refuses to acknowledge adulthood, and Davina's sister, Veronica, and her husband, Roger, intimidate the Jacksons with their confident and controlled grasp of life. Series 2 The second ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tamara Drewe (film)
''Tamara Drewe'' is a 2010 British romantic comedy film directed by Stephen Frears. The screenplay was written by Moira Buffini, based on the newspaper comic strip of the same name (which was then re-published as a graphic novel) written by Posy Simmonds. The comic strip which serves as source material was a modern reworking of Thomas Hardy's 1874 novel '' Far from the Madding Crowd''. The film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in May and was released nationwide in France on 14 July 2010. Momentum Pictures released the film in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2010. Plot In the fictitious Dorset village of Ewedown, Tamara Drewe, a young and beautiful journalist, returns home after living in London, with the intention of selling her deceased mother's house, in which she grew up. Locals are amazed at the improvement in her appearance after she had rhinoplasty while away. Andy had been interested in her when she was a girl, and when he sees her now it is clear that ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. Best known for his acting work on stage and screen as well as for co-creating television shows with Steven Moffat, he has received several awards including two Laurence Olivier Awards, a BAFTA TV Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Peabody Award. Gatiss co-created, co-wrote and acted in BBC comedy series ''The League of Gentlemen'' (1999–2002). He co-created and portrayed Mycroft Holmes in the BBC series ''Sherlock (TV series), Sherlock'' (2010–2017) and Renfield, Frank Renfield in BBC One, BBC / Netflix miniseries ''Dracula (2020 TV series), Dracula'' (2020). He also wrote several episodes of ''Doctor Who'' during Moffat's tenure as showrunner, as well as two episodes during Russell T Davies's earlier tenure. His other TV roles include Tycho Nestoris in ''Game of Thrones'' (2014–2017), Stephen Gardiner in ''Wolf Hall (miniseries), Wolf Hall'' (2015), and Pete ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James McAvoy
James McAvoy (; born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor and director. He made his acting debut as a teen in '' The Near Room'' (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his film career began. His notable television work includes the thriller '' State of Play'' (2003), the science fiction miniseries '' Frank Herbert's Children of Dune'' (2003), and the drama series '' Shameless'' (2004–2005). McAvoy gained recognition for playing Mr. Tumnus in the fantasy film '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (2005) and an assassin in the action film '' Wanted'' (2008). After winning the inaugural BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2006, his performances in the period dramas '' The Last King of Scotland'' (2006) and '' Atonement'' (2007) gained him BAFTA Award nominations. In 2011 he voiced the title characters in '' Arthur Christmas'' and '' Gnomeo & Juliet'', and portrayed Charles Xavier in the superhero film '' X-Men: First Class'', a role he ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Starter For 10 (film)
''Starter for 10'' is a 2006 British comedy-drama film directed by Tom Vaughan from a screenplay by David Nicholls, adapted from his 2003 novel '' Starter for Ten''. The film stars James McAvoy as a university student who wins a place on a ''University Challenge'' quiz team. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2006, and was released in the UK and Ireland on 10 November 2006, and in Canada and the US on 23 February 2007. The film's title is taken from the ''University Challenge'' catchphrase, "Your starter for 10 ..." (i.e. the question asked to one contestant at the beginning of a round, which is worth ten points). Plot In 1985, Brian Jackson is a first-year university student in English Literature and an information sponge. Since his working-class childhood in Southend-on-Sea, Brian has loved the TV quiz show ''University Challenge''. After arriving at Bristol University, Brian attends a party where he meets left-wing Jewish student Rebecca. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Malkovich started his career as a charter member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago in 1976. He moved to New York City, acting in a Steppenwolf production of the Sam Shepard play '' True West'' (1980). He made his Broadway debut as Biff in the revival of the Arthur Miller play ''Death of a Salesman'' (1984). He directed the Harold Pinter play '' The Caretaker'' (1986), and acted in Lanford Wilson's '' Burn This'' (1987). Malkovich has received two Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations for his performances in '' Places in the Heart'' (1984) and '' In the Line of Fire'' (1993). Other films include '' The Killing Fields'' (1984), '' Empire of the Sun'' (1987), '' Dangerous Liaisons'' (19 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Colour Me Kubrick
''Colour Me Kubrick: A True...ish Story'' (U.S. title: ''Color Me Kubrick'') is a 2005 comedy-drama film directed by Brian W. Cook and written by Anthony Frewin. It stars John Malkovich as Alan Conway, a British con-man who impersonated director Stanley Kubrick for several years in the 1990s. The film follows a fictionalized version of Conway as he goes from person to person, convincing them to give out money, liquor, and sexual favours for the promise of a job on "Kubrick's" next film. In real life, Frewin was Kubrick's long-time personal assistant, and Cook was assistant director on three of Kubrick's films. Plot Two thugs come to collect a bar bill that conman Alan Conway has generated while impersonating the reclusive film director Stanley Kubrick, but Conway is nowhere to be found, as he provided the address of a wealthy elderly couple as Kubrick's home address. The thugs cause a ruckus outside the house and are arrested. Conway scams many people by saying he is Kub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The theatre has established itself as a vital launchpad for new artists and offers commissions, attachments and residencies for both emerging and established writers. It has launched the careers of numerous screenwriters and comedians in theatre, film, TV and radio. The theatre's programme is a mix of comedy, cabaret and theatre, with a particular focus on new writing and alternative comedy. The central London institution champions new talent, amplifies LGBTQ+ voices and always takes risks. With a new outpost opening in Walthamstow, artists discuss how the West End venue is not just a place – it’s a philosophy Soho Theatre Company The Soho Theatre Company was formed in 1969 by Verity Bargate and Fred Proud, and i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Pleasance
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 Students' Association as a societies centre, sports complex, student union bar and entertainment venue. Every August, it is converted into one of the main venues for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Pleasance Theatre Trust operate the venue during this time, and in this guise the complex is sometimes referred to as Pleasance Edinburgh to distinguish it from a sister venue, also called The Pleasance, that the trust opened in Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ... in London in 1995. Facilities The Pleasance complex c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |