![Alistair McGowan Alistair McGowan](https://cdn.comedy.co.uk/images/library/people/900x450/a/alistair_mcgowan.jpg)
Alistair McGowan is a comedy actor, writer, singer, and impressionist best known across Britain for The Big Impression (formerly Alistair McGowan's Big Impression), which was one of BBC One's highest-rated television programmes in the Noughties, winning a BAFTA in 2003.
Year | Production | Role |
---|---|---|
2024 | Jasper Carrott and Alistair McGowan | Self |
2024 | Ludlow Fringe Festival | Self |
2023 | Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen? - Series 2
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All The Men |
2023 | Mike Yarwood: Thank You For The Laughs | Self |
2022 | Hennikay - Series 1 | Simon |
2022 | Ludlow Fringe Festival | Self |
2022 | Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen? - Series 1
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|
All The Men |
2022 | Cheltenham Comedy Festival | Self |
2021 | Only An Excuse?
|
Writer |
2021 | Only An Excuse?
|
Ensemble Actor |
2020 | Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen? - Pilot | All The Men |
2020 | Alistair McGowan: The Piano Show | Self |
2020 | My Brilliant Life | Writer |
2020 | My Brilliant Life | Harry Pye |
2019 | Wireless Wise - A Celebration Of Radio 4 | Self |
2019 | Gaby's Talking Pictures - Series 2
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|
Ensemble Actor |
2019 | Alistair McGowan: Introductions To Classical Piano | Self |
2018 | Have I Got News For You - Series 56
|
Host / Presenter |
2018 | We Are Most Amused & Amazed | Self |
2018 | The Imitation Game
|
Guest |
2018 | Gaby's Talking Pictures - Series 1 | Ensemble Actor |
2018 | The Week That Wasn't
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|
Consultant Producer |
2018 | The Week That Wasn't
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Writer |
2018 | The Week That Wasn't
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|
Various (Voice) |
2017 | Pygmalion | Henry Higgins |
2017 | The 'B' Word | Writer |
2017 | The 'B' Word | George Bernard Shaw |
2017 | Gaby's Talking Pictures - Pilot | Ensemble Actor |
2016 | Munchausen | Ensemble Actor |
2016 | Erik Satie's - Faction | Self |
2016 | Alistair McGowan: 12th Impressions | Self |
2016 | Tonight At The London Palladium - Series 3
|
Guest |
2016 | Boswell's Lives - Series 2 | Alan Bennett |
2015 | The Football's On - Series 3
|
Guest |
2015 | Boswell's Lives - Boswell's Life Of Johnson | Boris |
2015 | The Football's On - Series 2
|
Guest |
2014 | Memories Of A Cad | Richard Briers |
2014 | What The Future? | Various |
2014 | Arena: Whatever Happened To Spitting Image? | Self (Archive Material) |
2013 | The Two Ronnies Spectacle
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|
Self |
2013 | Mock The Week - Series 12
|
Guest |
2013 | Alistair McGowan: Damn Labels! | Self |
2013 | ElvenQuest - Series 4
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|
Lord Darkness |
2012 | Funny Old Year - Series 1 | Guest |
2012 | You Cannot Be Serious!
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|
Writer |
2012 | You Cannot Be Serious!
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|
Host / Presenter |
2012 | Kind Hearts And Coronets: Like Father, Like Daughter | The Gascoyne Family |
2012 | Room 101 - Series 1 | Guest |
2012 | Playing The Moldovans At Tennis | Commentator |
2011 | Ben Elton: Laughing At The 80s | Self |
2011 | The Comedy Annual | Self |
2011 | Arthur Christmas | Various (Voice) |
2011 | ElvenQuest - Series 3
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Lord Darkness |
2011 | The Grumpy Guide To... - 2011 Specials
|
Self |
2011 | Jennifer Saunders: Laughing At The 90s | Self |
2011 | My Favourite Joke
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Self |
2011 | Comedy Rocks With Jason Manford - Series 1
|
Self |
2010 | Little Crackers - Little Crackers 2010 | Norris McWhirter |
2010 | ElvenQuest - Series 2
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Lord Darkness |
2010 | Craig Brown's Lost Diaries
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Various |
2010 | Sports Mash - Taking The Mic | Various (Voice) |
2010 | Continuity
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Announcer |
2010 | Pete And Dud: The Lost Sketches | Ensemble Actor |
2010 | Look Away Now - Series 4
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Writer |
2010 | Look Away Now - Series 4
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Ensemble Actor |
2010 | The Sharp End | Anthony Sharp |
2010 | The Alex Lowe Double Act | Writer |
2010 | The Alex Lowe Double Act | Various |
2010 | The Grumpy Guide To... - 2010 Specials
|
Self |
2010 | Live At The Apollo - Series 5 | Host / Presenter |
2009 | The Grumpy Guide To... - Grumpy Guide To Christmas | Self |
2009 | One - Series 3
|
Ensemble Actor |
2009 | Chain Reaction - Series 5 | Host / Presenter |
2009 | Chain Reaction - Series 5 | Guest |
2009 | 4 At The Fringe - Series 4
|
Guest |
2009 | MacAulay And Co - Edinburgh 2009
|
Guest |
2009 | What The Dickens? - Series 3
|
Guest |
2009 | The Graham Norton Show - Series 5
|
Guest |
2009 | ElvenQuest - Series 1
View episodes
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Lord Darkness |
2008 | We Are Most Amused | Newsreader |
2007 | Ronni Ancona & Co. (as Gowan McAllister)
|
Writer (Additional Material) |
2007 | Ronni Ancona & Co.
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Ensemble Actor |
2006 | Have I Got News For You - Series 32
|
Host / Presenter |
2006 | Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive - Series 1
|
Self |
2006 | Mayo | Gil Mayo |
2005 | 29 Minutes Of Fame
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|
Team Captain |
2005 | Monkey Trousers
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Stanley |
2004 | Churchill: The Hollywood Years | Football Commentators (Voice) |
2004 | The Problem With Adam Bloom - Series 2 | Ensemble Actor |
2004 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Euro 2004 Special | Writer |
2004 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Euro 2004 Special | Various |
2003 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Series 4 | Writer |
2003 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Series 4 | Various |
2003 | Friday Night With Jonathan Ross - Series 4 | Guest |
2003 | Comedians' Comedians - Series 2
|
Self |
2002 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Series 3 | Writer |
2002 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Series 3 | Various |
2002 | Friday Night With Jonathan Ross - Series 2 | Guest |
2001 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Series 2 | Writer |
2001 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Series 2 | Various |
2000 | The Fitz
|
John Motson voice over (Voice) |
2000 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Series 1 | Writer |
2000 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Series 1 | Various |
2000 | Dead Ringers - Series 1
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Various |
1999 | Harry Hill - Christmas Special
|
Michael Perkisson |
1999 | Dark Ages
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Thane Redwald |
1999 | The Very World Of Milton Jones - Series 2
|
Ensemble Actor |
1999 | Life, Death And Sex With Mike And Sue - Series 4
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|
Ensemble Actor |
1999 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Pilot | Writer |
1999 | Alistair McGowan's Big Impression - Pilot | Various |
1999 | World Of Pub - Series 2
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|
Garry |
1998 | Life, Death And Sex With Mike And Sue - Series 3
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Ensemble Actor |
1998 | Our Man At Wembley
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Eric Halliday |
1998 | The Alan Davies Show
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Ensemble Actor |
1997 | Spark
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Mike Parkerwell |
1997 | All Quiet On The Preston Front - Series 3 | Spock |
1997 | Life, Death And Sex With Mike And Sue - Series 2
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Ensemble Actor |
1997 | The Peter Principle - Series 1 | Radio DJ (Voice) |
1997 | The Peter Principle - Series 1
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Commentator |
1997 | Jonathan Creek - Series 1
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Trevor |
1997 | The House Of The Spirit Levels
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The Narrator |
1997 | Week Ending - Series 81
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Ensemble Actor |
1997 | Klinik! | Actor |
1996 | Week Ending - Series 80
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Ensemble Actor |
1996 | The Elephant Man
|
David Attenborough |
1996 | The Elephant Man
|
Barry Norman |
1996 | Doon Your Way
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Writer |
1996 | Doon Your Way
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Ensemble Actor |
1996 | Murder Most Horrid - Series 3
|
Marcos |
1996 | Fist Of Fun - Series 2
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Ensemble Actor |
1996 | Spitting Image - Series 20
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Various (Voice) |
1996 | Jo Brand Through The Cakehole - Series 2
|
Ensemble Actor |
1995 | Eleven Men Against Eleven | Voice-Over Artiste (Voice) |
1995 | Agony Again
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Valentino |
1995 | The Imaginatively-Titled Punt & Dennis Show - Series 2
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Voice (Voice) |
1995 | Hair In The Gate - Series 2
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Ensemble Actor |
1995 | All Quiet On The Preston Front - Series 2 | Spock |
1995 | Week Ending - Series 76
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Ensemble Actor |
1995 | Fist Of Fun - Series 1
|
Ensemble Actor |
1995 | Fist Of Fun - Series 1
|
Vicar 4 |
1995 | Fist Of Fun - Series 1 (as Alastair McGowan)
|
Adam |
1995 | Fist Of Fun - Series 1
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Jesus |
1994 | Jo Brand Through The Cakehole - Series 1
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Ensemble Actor |
1994 | The Vicar Of Dibley - Series 1
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DJ (Voice) |
1994 | Spitting Image - Series 19
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Writer |
1994 | Spitting Image - Series 19
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Various (Voice) |
1994 | Harry Enfield & Chums - Series 1
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Ensemble Actor |
1994 | The Older Woman - Series 2
|
Ian McGaskell |
1994 | The Older Woman - Series 2
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Jeeves |
1994 | The Older Woman - Series 2
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Alien |
1994 | The Older Woman - Series 2
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God |
1994 | The Older Woman - Series 2
|
Michael Buerk |
1994 | The Imaginatively-Titled Punt & Dennis Show - Series 1
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Ensemble Actor |
1994 | Spitting Image - Series 18
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Writer |
1994 | Spitting Image - Series 18
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Various (Voice) |
1993 | Spitting Image - Series 17
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Various (Voice) |
1993 | The Full Monty
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Ensemble Actor |
1993 | The Full Monty
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Guest |
1993 | Fist Of Fun
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Ensemble Actor |
1993 | Hair In The Gate - Series 1
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Ensemble Actor |
1993 | The Nick Revell Show - Series 2
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|
Craig |
1993 | It's A Mad World, World, World, World | Various |
1993 | Spitting Image - Series 16
|
Writer |
1993 | Spitting Image - Series 16
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Various (Voice) |
1993 | Week Ending - Series 72
|
Writer |
1993 | Week Ending - Series 72
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Ensemble Actor |
1993 | Week Ending - Series 71
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Ensemble Actor |
1992 | Spitting Image - Series 15
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Various (Voice) |
1992 | Stand Up - Series 3
|
Self |
1992 | Week Ending - Series 70
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Ensemble Actor |
1992 | When Harry Met Ally - Series 1 | Host / Presenter |
1992 | Me, You And Him
|
Jehovah's Witness |
1992 | Spitting Image - Series 14
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Various (Voice) |
1992 | Spitting Image - 1992 Election Special | Various (Voice) |
1992 | Week Ending - Series 69
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Writer |
1992 | The Pall Bearer's Revue
|
Ensemble Actor |
1992 | Week Ending - Series 69
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|
Ensemble Actor |
1992 | The Nick Revell Show - Series 1
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|
Craig |
1991 | Spitting Image - Series 13
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Various (Voice) |
1991 | Week Ending - Series 68
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Ensemble Actor |
1991 | Week Ending - Series 67
|
Writer |
1991 | Week Ending - Series 67
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|
Ensemble Actor |
1990 | Week Ending - Series 66
|
Ensemble Actor |
1989 | Week Ending - Series 63
|
Ensemble Actor |
Non-comedy TV and film credits may be found here:
Alistair McGowan on IMDb
- Born
- Tuesday 24th November 1964 (59 years-old)
- Nationality
- English
Alongside a distinguished career in the West End (in plays such as Art, Cabaret, The Mikado, and Little Shop of Horrors, for which he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award),
In 2012, McGowan wrote and hosted the comedy sports show You Cannot Be Serious, broadcast on ITV[c]. Here McGowan mixed the funniest and most bizarre clips from that week's sporting news, providing impressions of famous figures such as Louie Spence and Roy Hodgson. Later he appeared on the Scottish comedy sketch show Only An Excuse? from 1996 to 1998, as well as his own sporting impressions show on [c]BBC Radio 5 Live, entitled The Game's Up.
McGowan is a keen football fan and supports Leeds United (and once even claiming that he studied at Leeds University partly because of its promixity to Elland Road) and Coventry City, whose stadium was close to the house in which he lived during his late teens. This interest led to a book that he wrote with former comedy and one-time romantic partner Ronni Ancona, entitled A Matter Of Life And Death Or How To Wean Your Man Off Football.
Born in Evesham, Worcestershire, McGowan was educated at Simon de Montfort Middle School, Evesham (where he took lead roles in school plays), Evesham High School, the University of Leeds (BA English), and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
McGowan's earliest experiences in comedy came with providing voices for some characters in the ITV political comedy show Spitting Image. Some of the sporting impressions here were showcased on the BBC Two football magazine programme Sick As A Parrot. Soon after, he replaced Stephen Tompkinson as Spock in the Tim Firth comedy drama All Quiet On The Preston Front, and starred in the first series of the long-running comedy impressions show Dead Ringers.
McGowan is best known for collaborating with Jan Ravens and Ronni Ancona on the BBC One impressions show The Big Impression (2000-2004), formerly known as Alistair McGowan's Big Impression for its first three series. McGowan and Ancona would impersonate personalities from the worlds of entertainment, sport, and politics, the most popular and recurring figures being David Beckham, Gary Lineker, Tony Blair, Terry Wogan, and Ross Geller (the character from NBC sitcom Friends).
McGowan's own play, Timing (2012), was nominated for Best New Comedy at the whatsonstage.com awards. In 2013 he toured the UK with live show Not Just A Pretty Voice, and also performed with Eddie Izzard in the first ever stand-up show by two English comics performed totally in French.
From 2009 to 2013 he starred in BBC Radio 4 sitcom ElvenQuest, a show bout a fantasy novelist who is whisked away to a parallel universe.
Although by this point the pair were no longer in a relationship, in 2018 McGowan and Ancona began working with each other once more on the Sky One sketch show The Week That Wasn't, a show that involved rejoicing topical video clips from the political and cultural worlds.
Alongside these interests in comedy and the theatre, McGowan has also maintained a keen passion for music. In 2014 he narrated, in the guise of Erik Satie, one of his idols a concert of surrealist ballet music from 1920s Paris, broadcast on BBC Radio 3. In 2016 he took a live comedy show to Edinburgh entitled Erik Satie's - Faction. In 2017 he also released a debut album on Sony Classical.
McGowan is a keen environmentalist, a patron of the urban tree-planting charity Trees for Cities and an ambassador to WWF-UK.
- BAFTA Television Awards 2003
- Best Comedy (Winner)
- National Television Awards, The 2003
- Comedy Performer (Nominee)
- National Television Awards, The 2002
- Comedy Performer (Nominee)
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