Andy Hamilton

Andrew Neil "Andy" Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, and novelist.^[1]

Early life and education

Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He was educated at Westminster City School which was then a voluntary aided grammar school^[2] and later read English at Downing College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society (CULES).

Career

Hamilton first came to notice while performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the 1970s. In the mid-1970s he sustained himself by taking jobs at Harrods and the Post Office before joining the BBC in 1976.^[3]

His early radio work, mostly on BBC Radio 4 included Week Ending, The News Huddlines and The Million Pound Radio Show (with Nick Revell). He has since appeared regularly in Chelmsford 123, Have I Got News for You, The News Quiz, QI, and If I Ruled the World. Hamilton is frequently invited as a panellist on The News Quiz and as a guest panellist on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

He is the voice of Dr Elephant, the dentist in the children's show Peppa Pig. He was also the original voice of Bob Fish, who is also a dentist, in the cartoon Bob and Margaret. Hamilton is also voice of Captain Squid, the pirate in the children's show Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom.

On 16 March 2007, he co-presented BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour programme alongside usual presenter Martha Kearney as part of that day's Comic Relief fundraising activities, after defeating Richard Hammond and Kelvin MacKenzie in a poll.

Since 1995, Hamilton has written and played the lead role of Satan in the Radio 4 sitcom Old Harry's Game. He toured with his UK stand-up show Hat of Doom in 2008.

In 2009, Hamilton presented the BBC Four series It's Only a Theory with Reginald D. Hunter.

Personal life

Hamilton is 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m) tall.^[4] He has no thumb on his right hand.^[5][6]

He is married to Libby Asher and lives in Wimbledon, south London. The couple have three children, Pip, Robbie and Isobel.^[6]

Writing

Hamilton has written for:

Television

• Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979)
• Shelley (1979)
• Scotch and Wry (1980)
• Who Dares Wins (1983)
• Alas Smith & Jones (1984)
• The Kit Curran Radio Show (1984)
• Kit Curran (1986; with Guy Jenkin)
• Scotch & Wry (1986)
• Drop the Dead Donkey (1990; co-creator with Guy Jenkin)
• Eleven Men Against Eleven (1995)
• Never Mind the Horrocks (1996)
• Underworld (1997)
• Bedtime (2001–2003)
• The Exam (2002; for the National Theatre Connections Anthology)
• Trevor's World of Sport (2003)
• The Armstrong and Miller Show (2007)
• Outnumbered (2007–2014; co-written with Guy Jenkin)
• The Two Ronnies
• It's Only a Theory (2009)
• Ballot Monkeys (2015)
• Power Monkeys (2016)

Radio

• The Million Pound Radio Show (with Nick Revell)
• The News Huddlines
• Old Harry's Game (creator, in which he also stars as Satan)
• Trevor's World of Sport (radio version broadcast years: 2004, 2005 and 2007)
• Revolting People (co-creator with Jay Tarses), in which he also stars as Sergeant McGurk)
• Week Ending

Film

• What We Did on Our Holiday (2014)

Books

• The Thatcher Papers (New English Library, 1980) (with Alistair Beaton)
• Andy Hamilton (1994), Drop the dead donkey 2000, London: Little, Brown, ISBN 0316912360, 0316912360 
• Andy Hamilton (2016), The Star Witness, London, United Kingdom: Unbound, ISBN 978-1783522989, 1783522984 ^[7]

References

External links

• Andy Hamilton at the Internet Movie Database
• Andy Hamilton Biography at bbc.co.uk