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Chris England (born 20 January 1961) is an English writer and actor. He is best known for the comedy playAn Evening with Gary Lineker, which he wrote withArthur Smith, and the bookBalham to Bollywood.
Chris England was educated atValley Comprehensive School, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, and atPembroke College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge he was a member of theFootlights, and toured the UK and Australia with them.[1]
Chris is a supporter ofOldham Athletic and has talked about the club previously on his podcast which he named after the Boundary Park pitch.
After graduating, England formed Bad Lib Theatre Company with fellow ex-FootlightsMorwenna Banks,Robert Harley,Neil Mullarkey, Paul Simpkin andDavid Tyler, co-writing, performing and directing a number of comedy plays and shows. These includedFeeling The Benefit,Get Your Coat, Dear, We’re Leaving...,The Preventers andThe Return of the New Preventers. The latter two shows subsequently formed part of the BBC radio seriesFab TV, and a one-off comedy,The Preventers, for ITV.
With Morwenna Banks, England co-wrote and appeared in two children's television storytelling series,Revolting Animals andJellyneck, and devised and wroteAll Change, which featuredFrankie Howerd,Maggie Steed andTony Haygarth.
In 1991, England co-wrote (with Arthur Smith) and acted inAn Evening With Gary Lineker, which transferred from the Edinburgh Fringe to theDuchess Theatre in the West End, and was nominated for anOlivier Award for Comedy of the Year. The play was made into a television film by Granada, produced byAndy Harries, and starringClive Owen,Caroline Quentin andMartin Clunes. This led to further television writing, including an episode ofMurder Most Horrid, the sitcomBlind Men, and the comedy dramaBostock's Cup.[citation needed]
In 2000, England spent twelve weeks inBhuj, India, working on the Oscar-nominated Bollywood cricket epicLagaan, in which he played a "heavily-bewhiskered bodyline bowler",[2] an experience which he described in a best-selling book,Balham to Bollywood,[3] aBBC Radio 4Book of the Week.
England returned to theatre writing and acting in 2006 withBreakfast With Jonny Wilkinson, which enjoyed runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and at theMenier Chocolate Factory. The play has been made into a feature film, released in 2013, starringGeorge MacKay,Norman Pace,Nigel Lindsay,Beth Cordingly,Michael Beckley, Gina Varela and the author.
England has also collaborated with the comedianAl Murray on three series ofAl Murray's Happy Hour, one series ofAl Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder, and two comedy books, as well as theBBC Radio 5 Live show7 Day Sunday, which Murray hosted.[citation needed]
He has completed a trilogy of historical novels set in the years leading up to and during the First World War.The Fun Factory is set in the world of the Edwardian music hall, when the youngCharlie Chaplin andStan Laurel were working for theFred Karno comedy company along with the novels' narrator Arthur Dandoe.The Boxcar of Fun follows the same characters into the golden heyday of American vaudeville, while the third volume,Chaplinoia, sees them breaking into the silent movies.
His play,Twitstorm, had its world premiere at thePark Theatre in May 2017.[citation needed] His latest play,Eh Up Me Old Flowers!, about the 1970s comedianCharlie Williams, appeared at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe.
He co-hosts, withNick Hancock, the football-comedy-chat podcastThe Famous Sloping Pitch, and its football-nostalgia spin offThe Famous Sloping Pitch: Back Pass.
On The Game - Old Street.ISBN 978-1-910400-74-6
Twitstorm - Josef Weinberger plays.ISBN 978-0-85676-371-7
Chaplinoia - Old Street.ISBN 978-1-910400-71-5
The Boxcar of Fun - Old Street.ISBN 978-1-910400-27-2
The Fun Factory - Old Street.ISBN 978-1-908699-86-2
How to Enjoy the World Cup - Old Street.ISBN 978-1-908699-91-6
Breakfast With Jonny Wilkinson - Josef Weinberger plays.ISBN 0856762962
No More Buddha, Only Football - Hodder and Stoughton.ISBN 0340825480
Balham to Bollywood - Hodder and Stoughton.ISBN 034081988X
What Didn’t Happen Next (with Nick Hancock) - Andre Deutsch.ISBN 023399291X
An Evening with Gary Lineker (with Arthur Smith) - Josef Weinberger plays.ISBN 085676129X
Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson
Lagaan, in the role of Yardley, a fast bowler.
Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder
The Preventers
Dare to Believe- series 1 and 2 ITV
The Back End of Next Week
Fab TV
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