Graeme Garden
Encyclopedia
David Graeme Garden OBE
(born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish
author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies
.
, Scotland, he grew up in Preston. Garden was educated at Repton School
, and studied medicine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge
, where he joined the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club
(of which he became President in 1964), and performed with the 1964 Footlights revue, Stuff What Dreams Are Made Of at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Garden qualified in medicine at King's College London
, but has never practised. Asked how he justified making jokes rather than saving lives, he answered:
Garden and Bill Oddie
co-wrote many episodes of the television comedy series Doctor in the House
, including most of the first season episodes of the series and all of the second season episodes, as well as co-writing episodes of the subsequent Doctor at Large and Doctor in Charge
series. Later, Garden also wrote for Surgical Spirit
(1994). Graeme Garden has also presented three series of the BBC
's health magazine Bodymatters.
Garden was co-writer and performer in the classic BBC radio comedy
show, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
(ISIRTA) (1965–1970, and 1973). Garden was studying medicine during the early seasons of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, and this commitment made it difficult for him to be a member of the cast during the third season because of a midwifery medical course in Plymouth
. However, he kept on sending scripts for the radio show by mail – and rejoined the cast of ISIRTA upon his return to his medical studies in London. On several occasions his medical qualifications are lampooned; in the 25th Anniversary Show, David Hatch asks him if he's still a writer. Garden: "Here's something I wrote this morning". Hatch: "It's a prescription". "Yes," says Garden, "but it's a funny one...".
On television Graeme Garden was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Twice a Fortnight
with Bill Oddie
, Terry Jones
, Michael Palin
and Jonathan Lynn
.
Later, he was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Broaden Your Mind
with Tim Brooke-Taylor
(Bill Oddie
joined the series for the second season).
and Bill Oddie
, became a co-writer and performer in the comedy series The Goodies
(1970–1982). Later, he was the voice of the title character of "Bananaman", as well as "General Blight" and "Maurice of the Heavy Mob" in the children's animated television comedy series called Bananaman
(1983), which also featured his fellow Goodies, Tim and Bill, and which parodied comic book super-heroes.
Graeme appeared, with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie, in the Amnesty International show A Poke In The Eye (With A Sharp Stick)
(during which they sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon"). The trio also appeared on "Top of the Pops
" with the song.
In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a 6-part science fiction sitcom called Astronauts for Central
and ITV
. The show was set in an international space station
in the near future.
(ISIHAC) in a cast which includes Tim Brooke-Taylor. He also stars in and co-writes You'll Have Had Your Tea
, a direct spin-off of ISIHAC, and has contributed to several books from the series including guides to the game Mornington Crescent
.
productions, as well as London's West End
. He has also acted in several BBC Radio 4
comedy drama series, and television drama including Peak Practice and Holby City
. He appeared in Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
, a spin off audio drama based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who
by Big Finish Productions
. Garden appeared with Tim Brooke-Taylor in the theatre production The Unvarnished Truth
.
Garden wrote a play called The Pocket Orchestra
which ran in London from 26 April 2006 till 20 May 2006.
in the role of Commander Forrest of the Special Branch in the episode The Death List, as well as appearing as a Television Presenter in the Doctor in the House
episode, Doctor on the Box.
He was a regular team captain on the political satire game show If I Ruled the World
. Brooke-Taylor appeared as a guest in one episode, and during the game "I Couldn't Disagree More" he proposed that it was high time The Goodies episodes were repeated. Garden was obliged by the rules of the game to refute this statement, and replied, "I couldn't disagree more... it was time to repeat them ten, fifteen years ago."
Garden wrote for and appeared with Barry Cryer
and Alison Steadman
in the 1989 BBC radio comedy sketch show The Long Hot Satsuma
. In 2001 and 2002, Garden wrote for and appeared in the BBC radio comedy sketch show The Right Time, along with Eleanor Bron
, Paula Wilcox
, Clive Swift
, Roger Blake, and Neil Innes
. He was also script editor for The Hudson and Pepperdine Show
.
In 2004, Garden and Brooke-Taylor were co-presenters of Channel 4
's daytime game show Beat the Nation
, in which they indulged in usual game show "banter", but took the quiz itself seriously. It was notable for its use of a "laugh track" instead of a studio audience, unusual for a quiz show.
Graeme Garden also writes and directs for the corporate video company Video Arts
, famous for its training films starring John Cleese
.
Garden is chair of the spoof radio game show Beat The Kids
. He has also appeared on the UK version of the television series Whose Line Is It Anyway?
, which has a similar format. He was a co-writer of the BBC Radio 4 comedy Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off.
.
Graeme Garden's voice was featured in the irreverent animated comedy series about a horrifically bad London comprehensive high school, Bromwell High
beginning in 2006.
In June 2006, Garden became a panellist on the new BBC Radio 4
comedy quiz show, The Unbelievable Truth
(which he co-devised), starring, among others, Jeremy Hardy
and Andy Hamilton
.
In August 2006, Garden and Brooke-Taylor joined up to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe
in a show which looked back with some nostalgia to their work with the Goodies and in light entertainment.
He also appeared on the comedy quiz show QI
in November 2006.
In 2003, Garden wrote the Radio 4 series About a Dog
, based on an original idea by Debbie Barham
, with a second series in 2007.
Garden has also played a minor role in the 2007 television adaptation of Agatha Christie
's 'Nemesis'.
Garden has appeared in two of Big Finish
's Doctor Who
audio dramas playing a parodic character. In Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
he plays Professor Fassbinder, a parody of Victor Bergman
in Space: 1999
. In Max Warp
he plays TV presenter Geoffrey Vantage, parodying Top Gear
presenter Jeremy Clarkson
(this episode broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on 26 October 2008). He also plays Abbot Thelonious in the Eighth Doctor
audio play The Book of Kells
in 2010, and subsequently returns as a recurring antagonist to the Eighth Doctor.
Graeme Garden lives in Oxfordshire with his family; his leisure interests include painting and playing the banjo
. He played the banjo in the Goodies episodes, "Gender Education
" and "Bunfight at the O.K. Tea Rooms".
Garden was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
for services to light entertainment.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies
The Goodies
The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
.
Early life and beginnings in comedy
Born in AberdeenAberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Scotland, he grew up in Preston. Garden was educated at Repton School
Repton School
Repton School, founded in 1557, is a co-educational English independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the British public school tradition, located in the village of Repton, in Derbyshire, in the Midlands area of England...
, and studied medicine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...
, where he joined the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club
Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University....
(of which he became President in 1964), and performed with the 1964 Footlights revue, Stuff What Dreams Are Made Of at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Garden qualified in medicine at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, but has never practised. Asked how he justified making jokes rather than saving lives, he answered:
Garden and Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
co-wrote many episodes of the television comedy series Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House (TV series)
Doctor in the House is the syndicated title given, by the United States, to a British television comedy series , based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of medical students — and their later misadventures as doctors.The first...
, including most of the first season episodes of the series and all of the second season episodes, as well as co-writing episodes of the subsequent Doctor at Large and Doctor in Charge
Doctor in Charge
Doctor in Charge is a British television comedy series based on a set of books by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of Doctors...
series. Later, Garden also wrote for Surgical Spirit
Surgical Spirit
Surgical Spirit is a British situation-comedy television series starring Nichola McAuliffe and Duncan Preston that was broadcast from 1989 through 1995. It was written by Peter Learmouth, Graeme Garden, Raymond Dixon, Annie Bruce, Annie Wood and Paul McKenzie...
(1994). Graeme Garden has also presented three series of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's health magazine Bodymatters.
Garden was co-writer and performer in the classic BBC radio comedy
Radio comedy
Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...
show, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus...
(ISIRTA) (1965–1970, and 1973). Garden was studying medicine during the early seasons of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, and this commitment made it difficult for him to be a member of the cast during the third season because of a midwifery medical course in Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
. However, he kept on sending scripts for the radio show by mail – and rejoined the cast of ISIRTA upon his return to his medical studies in London. On several occasions his medical qualifications are lampooned; in the 25th Anniversary Show, David Hatch asks him if he's still a writer. Garden: "Here's something I wrote this morning". Hatch: "It's a prescription". "Yes," says Garden, "but it's a funny one...".
On television Graeme Garden was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Twice a Fortnight
Twice a Fortnight
Twice a Fortnight, which was made in 1967, was a British sketch comedy television series with Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Jonathan Lynn and Tony Buffery....
with Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
, Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
, Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
and Jonathan Lynn
Jonathan Lynn
Jonathan Lynn is an English actor, comedy writer and director. He is best known for being the co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Personal life:...
.
Later, he was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Broaden Your Mind
Broaden Your Mind
Broaden Your Mind is a British television comedy series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, joined by Bill Oddie for the second series...
with Tim Brooke-Taylor
Tim Brooke-Taylor
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...
(Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
joined the series for the second season).
1970s and The Goodies
Garden, along with Tim Brooke-TaylorTim Brooke-Taylor
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...
and Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
, became a co-writer and performer in the comedy series The Goodies
The Goodies (TV series)
The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...
(1970–1982). Later, he was the voice of the title character of "Bananaman", as well as "General Blight" and "Maurice of the Heavy Mob" in the children's animated television comedy series called Bananaman
Bananaman
Bananaman is a British comic book fictional character. He originally appeared in Nutty as the backpage strip in Issue 1, dated 16 February 1980 drawn by John Geering.-Original strip:...
(1983), which also featured his fellow Goodies, Tim and Bill, and which parodied comic book super-heroes.
Graeme appeared, with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie, in the Amnesty International show A Poke In The Eye (With A Sharp Stick)
A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)
A Poke In The Eye is the title of the first show in what became the iconic Secret Policeman's Ball series of benefit shows for human rights organization Amnesty International...
(during which they sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon"). The trio also appeared on "Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
" with the song.
In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a 6-part science fiction sitcom called Astronauts for Central
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. The show was set in an international space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
in the near future.
"I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue"
Graeme Garden is a permanent panellist on the long-running BBC Radio improvisation show I'm Sorry I Haven't a ClueI'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
(ISIHAC) in a cast which includes Tim Brooke-Taylor. He also stars in and co-writes You'll Have Had Your Tea
Hamish and Dougal
Hamish and Dougal are two characters from the long-running BBC Radio 4 "antidote to panel games", I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue played by Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden, who later went on to have their own Radio 4 series, You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Doings of Hamish and Dougal.-History:One of the...
, a direct spin-off of ISIHAC, and has contributed to several books from the series including guides to the game Mornington Crescent
Mornington Crescent (game)
Mornington Crescent is a spoof game, featured in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, which satirises complicated strategy games....
.
Stage appearances
Garden has a successful stage career, and has acted in several National TheatreRoyal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
productions, as well as London's West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
. He has also acted in several BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
comedy drama series, and television drama including Peak Practice and Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
. He appeared in Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
Bang-Bang-a-Boom! is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, a spin off audio drama based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
by Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
. Garden appeared with Tim Brooke-Taylor in the theatre production The Unvarnished Truth
The Unvarnished Truth
The Unvarnished Truth is a 1978 play by British author Royce Ryton.A comedy drama, The Unvarnished Truth opened in London's West End at the Phoenix Theatre in 1978, starring Royce Ryton, Jo Kendall, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor. It later went on a national tour...
.
Garden wrote a play called The Pocket Orchestra
The Pocket Orchestra
The Pocket Orchestra is a play written by Graeme Garden, with the music scored by Callum McLeod. It ran in London at Trafalgar Studios 2 from the 26th of April 2006 until the 20th of May 2006. The idea was devised by Callum McLeod after putting together a concert of his fathers' favourite pieces of...
which ran in London from 26 April 2006 till 20 May 2006.
Other roles
Garden appeared in the political sitcom, Yes MinisterYes Minister
Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...
in the role of Commander Forrest of the Special Branch in the episode The Death List, as well as appearing as a Television Presenter in the Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House (TV series)
Doctor in the House is the syndicated title given, by the United States, to a British television comedy series , based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of medical students — and their later misadventures as doctors.The first...
episode, Doctor on the Box.
He was a regular team captain on the political satire game show If I Ruled the World
If I Ruled the World (game show)
If I Ruled the World is a television show aired in the United Kingdom in 1998 and 1999. It was a comedy panel game show, similar to Have I Got News For You but focused on parodying the behaviour of politicians...
. Brooke-Taylor appeared as a guest in one episode, and during the game "I Couldn't Disagree More" he proposed that it was high time The Goodies episodes were repeated. Garden was obliged by the rules of the game to refute this statement, and replied, "I couldn't disagree more... it was time to repeat them ten, fifteen years ago."
Garden wrote for and appeared with Barry Cryer
Barry Cryer
Barry Charles Cryer OBE is a British writer and comedian. Cryer has written for many noted performers, including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsyth, David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie...
and Alison Steadman
Alison Steadman
Alison Steadman OBE is an English actress. She established her career with roles such as Beverley in Abigail's Party and Candice Marie in Nuts in May for the director Mike Leigh, to whom she was once married. In addition to her stage and radio work, she has had lead roles in The Singing Detective,...
in the 1989 BBC radio comedy sketch show The Long Hot Satsuma
The Long Hot Satsuma
The Long Hot Satsuma is a radio comedy sketch show from 1989 featuring Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer, Alison Steadman, Paul B. Davies and Julia Hills...
. In 2001 and 2002, Garden wrote for and appeared in the BBC radio comedy sketch show The Right Time, along with Eleanor Bron
Eleanor Bron
Eleanor Bron is an English stage, film and television actress and author.-Early life and family:Bron was born in 1938 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a Jewish family of Eastern European origin...
, Paula Wilcox
Paula Wilcox
Paula Wilcox is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Chrissy in the British comedy Man About the House .-Early sitcom fame:...
, Clive Swift
Clive Swift
Clive Walter Swift is an English character comedy actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as character Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances. He is less known for his role as character Roy in the British television series The Old Guys...
, Roger Blake, and Neil Innes
Neil Innes
Neil James Innes is an English writer and performer of comic songs, best known for his collaborative work with Monty Python, and for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later The Rutles.-Personal life:...
. He was also script editor for The Hudson and Pepperdine Show
The Hudson and Pepperdine Show
The Hudson and Pepperdine show is a comedy sketch show vehicle on BBC Radio 4 for the duo Melanie Hudson and Vicki Pepperdine. Four series have been broadcast, in 2000 , 2001 , 2003 and 2005 . They also did a single Afternoon Play in 2008 titled Hudson and Pepperdine Save the Planet...
.
In 2004, Garden and Brooke-Taylor were co-presenters of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's daytime game show Beat the Nation
Beat the Nation
Beat The Nation was a quiz show on the UK commercial channel Channel 4 that ran for just one series and 120 episodes from 5 January to 2 July 2004...
, in which they indulged in usual game show "banter", but took the quiz itself seriously. It was notable for its use of a "laugh track" instead of a studio audience, unusual for a quiz show.
Graeme Garden also writes and directs for the corporate video company Video Arts
Video Arts
Video Arts is a British based video production company which produces training videos for companies. It was founded in 1972 by John Cleese, Sir Antony Jay, and a group of other television professionals. The videos feature well known British actors, and humorously explain business concepts...
, famous for its training films starring John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
.
Garden is chair of the spoof radio game show Beat The Kids
Beat The Kids
Beat the Kids is a spoof game show produced by BBC Radio 4. The show is hosted by comedian Graeme Garden, as "Dr G" the parentologist , and features a different cast of comedians, usually familiar from other Radio 4 comedies, each week...
. He has also appeared on the UK version of the television series Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Whose Line Is It Anyway? is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a British radio programme, it moved to television in 1988 as a series made for the UK's Channel 4, for a 10 series run...
, which has a similar format. He was a co-writer of the BBC Radio 4 comedy Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off.
Recent appearances
Garden has hosted the quiz game Tell the Truth and presented a series of history programmes, A Sense of the Past for Yorkshire TelevisionYorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
.
Graeme Garden's voice was featured in the irreverent animated comedy series about a horrifically bad London comprehensive high school, Bromwell High
Bromwell High
Bromwell High is an animated series about a British high school in South London. It first aired on Teletoon in Canada and Channel 4 in the UK . It is a co-production between Hat Trick Productions in the UK and DHX Media in Canada. According to the Website , it was originally to be entitled...
beginning in 2006.
In June 2006, Garden became a panellist on the new BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
comedy quiz show, The Unbelievable Truth
The Unbelievable Truth
The Unbelievable Truth is a BBC radio comedy panel game made by Random Entertainment, devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith. It is very similar to the occasional I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue game "Lies, All Lies", which was first played in 1985...
(which he co-devised), starring, among others, Jeremy Hardy
Jeremy Hardy
Jeremy James Hardy is a British alternative comedian who is also known for his socialist politics.-Career:Hardy was born in Farnborough, Hampshire. He attended Farnham College and studied Modern History and Politics at the University of Southampton...
and Andy Hamilton
Andy Hamilton
Andrew Neil Hamilton is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter and radio dramatist.-Early life:...
.
In August 2006, Garden and Brooke-Taylor joined up to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe
Edinburgh Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
in a show which looked back with some nostalgia to their work with the Goodies and in light entertainment.
He also appeared on the comedy quiz show QI
QI
QI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
in November 2006.
In 2003, Garden wrote the Radio 4 series About a Dog
About a Dog
About a Dog was Debbie Barham's last comedy proposal before she died in 2003. The programme stars Alan Davies, playing a dog, Jack, with his owner, Sarah, played by Kate Ashfield in the first series and Claire Goose in the second, in a sitcom told through the eyes of a canine.Developed by Above...
, based on an original idea by Debbie Barham
Debbie Barham
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Barham was an English comedy writer who died at the age of 26 of heart failure caused by a long struggle with anorexia....
, with a second series in 2007.
Garden has also played a minor role in the 2007 television adaptation of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's 'Nemesis'.
Garden has appeared in two of Big Finish
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
's Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
audio dramas playing a parodic character. In Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
Bang-Bang-a-Boom! is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
he plays Professor Fassbinder, a parody of Victor Bergman
Victor Bergman
Professor Victor Bergman is the name of a recurring character on the UK science fiction television series Space: 1999. The role was portrayed by actor Barry Morse.-Character Biography:...
in Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
. In Max Warp
Max Warp
Max Warp is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions.-Cast:*The Doctor — Paul McGann*Lucie Miller — Sheridan Smith...
he plays TV presenter Geoffrey Vantage, parodying Top Gear
Top Gear (current format)
Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style...
presenter Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
(this episode broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on 26 October 2008). He also plays Abbot Thelonious in the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
audio play The Book of Kells
The Book of Kells (Doctor Who audio)
The Book of Kells is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions.-Plot:...
in 2010, and subsequently returns as a recurring antagonist to the Eighth Doctor.
Personal life and family
Graeme Garden is married to Emma and they have a son, Tom. Garden also has a daughter, Sally, and a son, John, from his previous marriage to Mary Elizabeth Wheatley Grice. His son John Garden is the keyboardist for the music group Scissor Sisters, and shares songwriting credit on their 2006 album.Graeme Garden lives in Oxfordshire with his family; his leisure interests include painting and playing the banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
. He played the banjo in the Goodies episodes, "Gender Education
Gender Education (Goodies episode)
Gender Education is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies— a BAFTA-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.This episode is also known as "Sex and Violence"....
" and "Bunfight at the O.K. Tea Rooms".
Garden was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
2011 Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced on 7 June 2011 in New Zealand and 11 June 2011 in United Kingdom to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2011.-Privy Councillors:...
for services to light entertainment.
Footlights presidency
External links
- "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" homepage at BBC.co.uk
- Graeme Garden – BBC Guide to Comedy
- Graeme Garden – Comedy Zone
- Graeme Garden interview
- Graeme Garden – The Gazetteer for Scotland
- Graeme Garden – at TV.com
- ISIHAC interviews with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Barry Cryer at BBC.co.uk
- Graeme Garden Interview Web Wombat Theatre
- The Origin of Monty Python – mentions Graeme and ISIRTA
- "Stuff What Dreams Are Made Of" – the 1964 Cambridge Footlights Club revue during the time when Graeme Garden was President of the Footlights, as well as being a member of the revue cast
- OBEs all round - Goodies pair honoured
- Graeme Garden thought that OBE letter was a bill
- Birthday Honours List 2011 in pictures
- Goodies pair "thrilled" with OBEs