Niall Ashdown is an English comedian, actor, improvisor and writer. He has previously improvised in such television shows as Lifegame,

Animo ''Animo'' is a Latin legal term meaning 'with intention' or 'with purpose'. ''Animo'' can be neutral or negative, "a double edged sword," but is more often negative - and rarely positive. It was formerly used only in criminal law, but later in ...

, Improbable Tales at the

Nottingham Playhouse Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in 1948 when it operated from a former cinema in Goldsmith Street. Directors during this period included Val May and F ...

, Impropera and with the Comedy Store Players. He has written and performed two acclaimed solo shows, Hungarian Bird Festival and The Man Who Would Be Sting and is in Note to Tale, a work with the improvising classical quintet Between the Notes. He is also part of Impropera - a group who improvise operas based on suggestions from the audience - they are currently developing a show for a younger audience. Ashdown was the creator of the 'Robbo' Robson character who blogged on the BBC Sport website for nine years, finishing in 2010, although the Robbo blog is still alive and well, along with the odd podcast. Ashdown has also appeared in Chambers,

Swiss Toni Swiss Toni is a British television comedy character played by Charlie Higson. He is a 50-something car dealer, usually depicted wearing a double-breasted grey suit with a tie, a tie pin and a pocket square and with his hair styled in a platinu ...

, Outnumbered and, as writer/performer, Barking and Confessions. Ashdown was in the original British version of

Whose Line is it Anyway? ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' is a short-form improvisational comedy show created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. The three major versions of the show are the original 1988 British radio programme (from which all subsequent versions are ada ...

, appearing in Series 7 episode 1 and 11 and episodes 5, 9 and 13 of Series 8. His radio work includes that he has co-written and was included in two series of Losers for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

and in the radio play, Tunnel Vision, and has previously written poetry for Radio 3's The Verb. He is also Wilf and Ruby's Dad. He is also the voice of Match of the Day's Thunderbird puppet Alan Hansen. Ashdown played

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...

in Clare Norburn’s ''Burying The Dead'' at the Brighton Early Music Festival. He starred in

Kneehigh Theatre Kneehigh Theatre was an international touring theatre company founded in 1980 by Mike Shepherd and based in Cornwall, England. The company was based in barns on the southern Cornish coast, at Gorran Haven, but the administration was in Truro. ...

's production of ''Ubu! A Singalong Satire'', inspired by ''

Ubu Roi ''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de ...

''.

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* * Living people English male stage actors English male comedians English male television actors Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century English comedians {{UK-comedian-stub