Paul Whitehouse
Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Paul Julian Whitehouse<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (born 17 May 1958) is a Welsh<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> actor, comedian, presenter, and writer. 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="WoS1">Comic Paul tells of talent change, WalesonSunday.co.uk. 28 October 2007</ref> His father, Harry, worked for the National Coal Board and his mother, Anita (Template:Nee Jones), was a singer with the Welsh National Opera.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Efn The family moved to Enfield, Middlesex, when he was four years old,<ref name=guardian>Template:Cite news</ref> which led to his discovering his talent for mimicry: Template:Blockquote
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.<ref name="BBCBio1">Template:Cite web</ref> The pair spent little of their first year studying, instead playing guitar and performing with their punk rock combo, the Right Hand Lovers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Whitehouse dropped out and squatted in a council flat in Hackney, east London and occasionally worked as a plasterer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="Times1">On the move: Paul Whitehouse and Charlie HigsonTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore, The Times, 2 December 2007</ref>
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,<ref name="Times1" /> and after he gained a place on Channel 4's Saturday Live, the pair were invited to write for him.<ref name="BBCBio1" /> 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.
Television
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=":0" />
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
He appeared in the BBC sketch series Harry & Paul (formerly Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul), starring alongside Harry Enfield.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>"BBC preparing special to mark 25 years of Harry & Paul". British Comedy Guide, 27 January 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2023</ref>
In 2015 his sitcom Nurse, based on his Radio 4 series of the same name (see below), debuted on BBC2 on 10 March.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In August 2015, Whitehouse, alongside Enfield, in celebration of their 25-year partnership, presented An Evening With Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The fifth series began in September 2022, and returned for a Christmas special in December 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Whitehouse stars as Grandad. In October 2022 he temporarily handed the part over to Les Dennis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive</ref> It is available to download via iTunes.
Johnny Depp described Whitehouse as "the greatest actor of all time".<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal life
Whitehouse married Fiona Wightman in 1992, and the couple had two daughters before separating in 2000.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> He had a third daughter with costume designer Natalie Rogers.<ref name=":1" />
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.<ref name="TimesOct23">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Whitehouse is a fan of Premier League football team Tottenham Hotspur.<ref name="guardian" />
Filmography
Film
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Kevin & Perry Go Large | Bouncer | |
| 2004 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Sir Cadogan | Deleted scenes |
| Finding Neverland | Stage Manager | ||
| 2005 | Corpse Bride | William Van Dort, Mayhew, Paul the Head Waiter | Voice only |
| 2010 | Alice in Wonderland | Thackery Earwicket the March Hare | Voice only |
| Burke & Hare | Drunk Gentleman | ||
| 2015 | Mortdecai | Spinoza | |
| 2016 | Alice Through the Looking Glass | Thackery Earwicket the March Hare | Voice only |
| 2017 | The Death of Stalin | Anastas Mikoyan | |
| Ghost Stories | Tony Matthews | ||
| 2018 | Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires | Barney, Gussman | Voice only |
| King of Thieves | Carl Wood | ||
| 2019 | The Personal History of David Copperfield | Mr Peggotty |
Television
| Year | Television | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | A Bit of Fry and Laurie | Man at the Bottom Fondled in Audience | Episode: "Episode #2.3" |
| Vic Reeves Big Night Out | David Rowells Jean-Paul Gaultier Mr. Popkins |
Episodes: "Episode #1.1" "Episode #1.5" "Episode #1.6" | |
| 1990–1992 | Harry Enfield's Television Programme | Fred Git Lance Mike "Smashie" Smash Vincent |
Also screenwriter |
| 1991 | Comic Relief | Mike "Smashie" Smash | TV film |
| Paul Merton: The Series | Carver | Episode: "Episode #1.6" | |
| 1992 | Bunch of Five | Spencer Pendel | Episode: "The Weekenders" |
| 1993–1995 | The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer | Jimmy Lea from Slade Heinrich Himmler |
|
| 1994 | Smashie and Nicey, the End of an Era | Mike "Smashie" Smash | TV film |
| 1994–1997 | Harry Enfield & Chums | Mister Dead George Doberman Julio Geordio Fred Git Lance Michael Paine |
Also screenwriter |
| 1994–2014 | The Fast Show | "Unlucky" Alf Archie Arthur Atkinson Brilliant Kid Poutremos Poutra-Poutremos Chris the Crafty Cockney The 13th Duke of Wymbourne Lindsey Ron Manager Rowley Birkin QC Ted Various roles |
Also co-creator and screenwriter |
| 1998 | Ted & Ralph | Ted Rowley Birkin Kevin Brown |
TV film |
| 1999 | You Ain't Seen All These, Right? | Various roles | |
| David Copperfield | Pawnbroker | ||
| Hooves of Fire | Prancer (voice) | ||
| 2000 | Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) | Sidney Crabbe | Episode: "A Blast from the Past" |
| 2001 | Jumpers for Goalposts | Ron Manager | |
| Comic Relief: Say Pants to Poverty | Ted | TV film | |
| We Know Where You Live | Mike "Smashie" Smash George | ||
| 2001–2002 | Fun at the Funeral Parlour | Harrison Ford The News Agent | Episodes: "Death in the Valleys" "The Heron Incident" "Dead Aid" |
| 2001–2003 | Happiness | Danny Spencer | Also screenwriter |
| 2002 | I Love the 100 Best Top Ten Lists of the Fast Show Ever! | Various characters | |
| Legend of the Lost Tribe | Prancer (voice) | ||
| 2004 | The Ultimate Pop Star | Mike "Smashie" Smash | TV film |
| Swiss Toni | Brickabrack Lennard | Episode: "Fothergill 2000" | |
| 2005 | Help | Various characters | |
| The Catherine Tate Show | Dad | Episode: "Episode #2.5" | |
| 2007 | Close Encounters of the Herd Kind | Prancer (voice) | |
| 2007–2012 | Harry & Paul | Various characters | Also co-creator and screenwriter |
| 2009 | Comic Relief 2009 | Evan Davis Theo Profiterole Duncan Guillotine |
TV film |
| Horne & Corden | Episode: "Episode #1.4" | ||
| 2010 | Bellamy's People | Various characters | Also director and screenwriter |
| 2014 | The Life of Rock with Brian Pern | Pat Quid Mike "Smashie" Smash |
|
| Harry and Paul's Story of the Twos | Various characters | ||
| 2015 | Nurse | Billy | Also screenwriter |
| 2018– present | Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing | Himself | |
| 2020 | Smashie's Christmastastic Playlist | Mike "Smashie" Smash | |
| 2021 | Murder, They Hope | Monty | Episode: "Evil Under the Bun" |
| 2022 | The Lovebox in Your Living Room | Various | |
| 2023 | Paul Whitehouse: Our Troubled Rivers | Himself | Two-part documentary<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Dodger | Royston, Chief of the Yeomen Warders | Episode: "Coronation"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 2023–present | The Change | TV series<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 2027 | Harry Potter | Argus Filch | TV series<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
Awards and nominations
References
Notes
External links
Template:British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance Template:Authority control
- 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