Arthur Mathews
Writing
Biography
Mathews has contributed to many sketch shows, including Harry Enfield and Chums, The All New Alexei Sayle Show and the Ted & Ralph segments of The Fast Show. However, it was with Father Ted (three series, 1995–1998) that he and Graham Linehan made their biggest impression. It debuted on Channel 4.[1][2][3] The writing partnership had previously co-written the comedy Paris[4] (one series, 1994), also for Channel 4. Both Linehan and Mathews worked on the first series of sketch show Big Train, but Linehan dropped out for the second series. Mathews has also contributed to other British comedies such as Brass Eye, Jam, Black Books and later Toast of London. He later contributed sketches for Kevin Eldon, including the Amish Sex Pistols.[5] In 1999, Linehan and Mathews created the sixties-set sitcom Hippies, but the six-part series (which starred Simon Pegg and Sally Phillips) was written by Mathews alone.[6] In late 2003, the two men were named one of the 50 funniest acts to work in television by The Observer.[7]
Known For
Black Books centres around the foul tempered and wildly eccentric bookshop owner Bernard Black. Bernard’s devotion to the twin pleasures of drunkenness and wilful antagonism deepens and enriches both his life and that of Manny, his assistant. Bearded, sweet and good, Manny is everything that Bernard isn’t and is punished by Bernard relentlessly just for the crime of existing. They depend on each other for meaning as Fran, their oldest friend, depends on them for distraction. Black Books is a haven of books, wine and conversation, the only threat to the group’s peace and prosperity is their own limitless stupidity.
Black Books
A crazy comedy about three rather strange parish priests exiled to Craggy Island, a remote island off the Irish west coast.
Father Ted
The Fast Show is a multi BAFTA award winning sketch comedy show written and produced by Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson.
The Fast Show
Steven Toast, an eccentric middle-aged actor with a chequered past, spends more time dealing with his problems off stage than performing on it.
Toast of London
The fortunes of a former chat show host who is reduced to a lowly slot on Radio Norwich. Alan Partridge is divorced, living in a travel tavern, and desperate for a return to television.
I'm Alan Partridge
Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles.
Brass Eye
Harry Enfield, Kathy Burke, Paul Whitehouse and others take on an array of oddball characters and old-time favorites in this sketch comedy show.
Harry Enfield and Chums
Comedy Showcase is a series of one-off comedy specials featuring some of Britain's fledgling comedy talent. Its format is reminiscent of the much earlier Comedy Playhouse. The format was replaced in 2012 by 4Funnies.
Comedy Showcase
Tortured thespian Steven Toast relocates to the ultimate actor's playground - Hollywood. Surely this time he will get the adulation he so richly deserves.
Toast of Tinseltown
Adapted from Blue Jam, a late night radio show, Jam consists of six shows featuring dark humour and unsettling sketches unfolding over an ambient soundtrack. From the mind of Chris Morris.
Jam
Comedy legend Catherine Tate plays all her best-loved characters in this riotous sketch show. Expect sulky teens, offensive nans and the most tactless women in the world.
The Catherine Tate Show
Coogan's Run is a 1995 British anthology comedy programme created by and starring Steve Coogan as a series of odd characters residing in the fictional town of Ottle. The series consists of six self-contained stories, although Coogan's characters from the other episodes make occasional cameo appearances.
Coogan's Run
Twisted and original sketch show from the minds of Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, starring Simon Pegg, Kevin Eldon and Mark Heap.
Big Train
I Am Not An Animal is an animated comedy series about the only six talking animals in the world, whose cosseted existence in a vivisection unit is turned upside down when they are liberated by animal rights activists.
I Am Not an Animal
Hippies is a 1999 BBC Two comedy miniseries created by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, and written by Mathews. The six-episode series stars Simon Pegg, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Sally Phillips, and Darren Boyd as four wannabe hippies in 1969 swinging London, who run a counterculture magazine and strive to be as trendy as society will allow... even if they fail at every turn.
Hippies
Val Falvey, TD is an Irish comedy television programme starring Ardal O'Hanlon and Owen Roe. The show began airing on RTÉ Two in November 2009. The show is about Val Falvey, a TD in the fictional town of Kilmehill.
Val Falvey, TD
Have you ever had a best friend you couldn't stand? Myles has one - Austin - only he's too much of a slacker to do anything about it. In fact, each one of these layabouts is as useless as the other: a pair of thirty-somethings who laze around watching their lives flutter past. Fate, however, has plans to remedy their lack of motivation. Up to their necks in debt, they decide to help a dodgy entrepreneur, Gerard, to create a new landmark in Irish tourism: a Famine Theme Park.
Wide Open Spaces
On the 15th anniversary of its launch, this documentary follows Father Ted creators Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews on a return trip to Craggy Island to take in its location and discuss how the series was made with cast and crew.
Small, Far Away: The World of Father Ted
Cult favourite Matt Berry offers his unique take on Brexit, in this one-off comedy special to mark the passing of the Article 50 deadline. Reuniting with collaborator Arthur Matthews for the first time since Toast Of London, Berry plays rogue historian Michael Squeamish, who’s on a mission to discover the origins of Brexit and offer some interesting opinions on Britain’s current plight along the way. Through creative use of archive footage and filmed interviews, The Road To Brexit unashamedly plays fast and loose with the facts to create a joyously surreal whistle stop tour of Britain’s relationship with Europe, from the 1950s right up to Brexit.
The Road to Brexit
A look at how the Fast Show developed into one of TV's most successful series, with contributions from the creators, writers, cast and some famous fans.