Paul Whitehouse
Whitehouse,Waterstones, London, 2023
Born	Paul Julian Whitehouse (1958-05-20)20 May 1958 (age 66) Stanleytown,Glamorgan, Wales
Alma mater	University of East Anglia
Occupations	Actor comedian screenwriter television producer presenter
Years active	1987–present
Children	4

Paul Julian Whitehouse^[1] (born 20 May 1958) is a Welsh actor, writer, presenter and comedian. He was one of the main stars of theBBC sketch comedy seriesThe Fast Show and has starred withHarry Enfield in the showsHarry & Paul andHarry Enfield & Chums. He has appeared withBob Mortimer in the BBC seriesMortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing and has also acted in films includingCorpse Bride (2005),Alice in Wonderland (2010) andThe Death of Stalin (2017).

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was in the top 50 comedy acts voted for by comedians and comedy insiders.

Whitehouse was born on 20 May 1958, inStanleytown,Glamorgan, Wales.^[2] His father, Harry, worked for theNational Coal Board and his mother, Anita (née Jones), was a singer with theWelsh National Opera.^[3][a] The family moved toEnfield,Middlesex, when he was four years old,^[5] which led to his discovering his talent formimicry:

At school I didn't say a word for the first four weeks – I called it my Silent Month. I think it was because everyone was speaking so differently from how it had been in Wales. Then, after four weeks, I came home one day and said, 'Muumm, I wanna go to Sarfend!' For her that was the end because I had lost my lovely Welsh lilt. So I became very conscious of speech and the effects it can have. But when I went back to Wales I would start talking all Welsh, 'like that, you see' before going allAlf Garnett while coming back the other way.^[2]

Whitehouse attended theUniversity of East Anglia reading for a degree in Development Studies from autumn 1976, where he became friends withCharlie Higson.^[6] The pair spent little of their first year studying, instead playing guitar and performing with theirpunk rock combo, the Right Hand Lovers.^[7] Whitehouse dropped out andsquatted in a council flat inHackney, east London and occasionally worked as aplasterer.^[8] After Higson graduated in 1980, he moved in with Whitehouse, working by day as adecorator and performing at night and the weekends with his newpunk-funk groupthe Higsons.^[9]

The pair began working as tradesmen on a house shared by comediansStephen Fry andHugh Laurie, which inspired them to start writing comedy. They moved to an estate where in a pub they metHarry Enfield, a neighbour with a stage act,^[9] and after he gained a place onChannel 4'sSaturday Live, the pair were invited to write for him.^[6] Whitehouse created Enfield's characterStavros (a London-based Greekkebab shop owner), and thenLoadsamoney (an archetypal Essex boy made good inMargaret Thatcher's 1980s); he also appeared as Enfield's sidekick Lance onSaturday Live. This success turned Whitehouse and Higson's career, and they began to appear onVic Reeves Big Night Out and extensively for theBBC, with Whitehouse appearing onA Bit of Fry and Laurie as a man with a clinical need to have his bottom fondled, andPaul Merton: The Series, then onHarry Enfield's Television Programme, where he developed numerous characters including DJ Mike Smash ofSmashie and Nicey, alongside Enfield as Dave Nice.

While watching a preview tape of highlights from Enfield's programme, Whitehouse and Higson were inspired to create a rapid-fire delivery comedy series which would evolve intoThe Fast Show (when shown in the United States onBBC America, the show was titledBrilliant). Whitehouse's characters included Rowley Birkin QC, Unlucky Alf, Arthur Atkinson, Ron Manager andTed.

An online series ofThe Fast Show commissioned by Fosters led to six weekly episodes launched on 10 November 2011.^[10]

In 2001 and 2002, Whitehouse andFast Show collaboratorDave Cummings co-wrote two series of the BBC comedy dramaHappiness; Whitehouse also performed the lead role as a voice-over actor with amid-life crisis.^[11]

Whitehouse wrote, produced and appeared withChris Langham in the 2005 comedy dramaHelp, also for the BBC. In this series he took 25 roles, all patients of Langham'spsychotherapist (except one, who is Langham's psychotherapist's psychotherapist). The pair's collaboration resulted in Whitehouse taking the witness stand on 24 July 2007 in the trial of Langham, in regard to the charge of holding explicit images and videos of minors. Langham claimed he downloaded this material as research for a character in the second series ofHelp, but Whitehouse's testimony only partially corroborated this explanation.^[12]

He appeared in the BBC sketch seriesHarry & Paul (formerlyRuddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul), starring alongside Harry Enfield.^[13] Whitehouse starred alongside Charlie Higson in theBBC2 comedy seriesBellamy's People, with the first episode broadcast on 21 January 2010. The comedy evolved from theBBC Radio 4 programDown the Line.^[14] The show originally had the working title ofBellamy's Kingdom.

In October 2014, Harry Enfield and Whitehouse revived the classic characters Frank and George ("The Self-Righteous Brothers") from Harry Enfield and Chums, in a sketch forChannel 4's testicular cancer awareness comedy seriesThe Feeling Nuts Comedy Night.^[15]

In 2015 his sitcomNurse, based on his Radio 4 series of the same name(see below), debuted on BBC2 on 10 March.^[16]

In August 2015, Whitehouse, alongside Enfield, in celebration of their 25-year partnership, presentedAn Evening With Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.^[17]

In June and July 2018, Whitehouse appeared with his long-time friend and fellow comedianBob Mortimer in a BBC2 six-part series,Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. The two friends, who both suffer from heart conditions, share their thoughts and experiences while fishing at a variety of locations around the UK, often with anecdotes about Paul's health and Bob's misadventures. The fourth series ofGone Fishing began broadcasting in 2021.^[18] The fifth series began in September 2022, and returned for a Christmas special in December 2022.^[19] The duo returned for a sixth series broadcast on BBC.

Whitehouse and Charlie Higson produced and appeared in a spoof phone-in showDown the Line on BBC Radio 4. The first series was broadcast May–June 2006. A second series was broadcast 16 January – 20 February 2007, during which they won aSony Radio Academy Award.^[20] A third series was broadcast in January 2008, a fourth in January 2011 and a fifth in May 2013. In February 2014, Radio 4 broadcastNurse, written by Whitehouse andDavid Cummings and starring Esther Coles in the title role, with Whitehouse playing a variety of characters, including Graham Downs who had previously appeared inDown the Line. The show would become the basis for the 2015 BBC Two TV seriesNurse.^[21]

Whitehouse and John Sullivan's son,Jim Sullivan, have writtenOnly Fools and Horses The Musical, which launched on 9 February 2019 at theTheatre Royal Haymarket, London.^[22] Whitehouse stars as Grandad. In October 2022 he temporarily handed the part over toLes Dennis.^[23]

He also starred alongsideEddie Large andRuss Abbot in episode 4 ofHorne & Corden.Comic Relief 2011 contained a new parody video of "Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)" directed by MJ Delaney featuring Whitehouse and other Welsh celebrities lip-syncing to the song.^[24] It is available to download viaiTunes.

Johnny Depp described Whitehouse as "the greatest actor of all time".^[25] Depp appeared in the 2000 finale ofThe Fast Show, and he and Whitehouse have appeared in five films together:Finding Neverland,Corpse Bride,Alice in Wonderland and its sequelAlice Through the Looking Glass, andMortdecai. The latter has been noted for alluding toFast Show characters.^[26][27]

Whitehouse's main early influences were the sketches ofLes Dennis andDustin Gee andThe Goodies. In 2001, when asked about comedians who had influenced him, Whitehouse said thatMonty Python,Peter Cook andDudley Moore were the main influences from when he was young. He also cited his modern influences asHarry Enfield, of whom he said without meeting him, he would not have been doing what he does now, and the approach ofReeves and Mortimer who he described as "far and away the best comedians that we have had in this country for a long while."^[28]

Whitehouse married Fiona Wightman in 1992, and the couple had two daughters, Molly and Sophie, before separating in 2000.^[11] The couple divorced three years later. Whitehouse supported his ex-wife in a civil action she has pursued against a national newspaper, for accessing her medical records. The publisher later offered unreserved apologies.^[29]

He had a third daughter, Lauren, with costume designer Natalie Rogers.^[29]

Whitehouse met Dr Mine Conkbayir, who is of Turkish heritage, when she was aged 23, and 22 years his junior. She was working in a health food shop while studying. The couple have one daughter, Delilah. As of 2024 they have been together 20 years and married for five, but maintain separate homes.^{[30][31][32][33]}

Whitehouse is a fan ofPremier League football teamTottenham Hotspur.^[5]

• BBC – South East Wales – Hall of Fame – Paul Whitehouse
• BBC Comedy Guide
• Paul Whitehouse atIMDb

• 1958 births
• 20th-century squatters
• 20th-century Welsh male actors
• 21st-century Welsh male actors
• Actors from the London Borough of Enfield
• Actors from the London Borough of Islington
• Alumni of the University of East Anglia
• Best Entertainment Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners
• Comedians from the London Borough of Enfield
• Comedians from the London Borough of Islington
• Living people
• People from Glamorgan
• People from Islington (district)
• Welsh comedy writers
• Welsh male comedians
• Welsh male film actors
• Welsh male radio actors
• Welsh male television actors
• Welsh male voice actors
• Welsh sketch comedians

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