Matthew Holness
Birthday: Born in in Whitstable, Kent, England
Deathday: Alive
Born in Whitstable, Kent in 1975, Matthew Holness is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is best known for his comic creation, the fictional horror novelist Garth Marenghi. He read English at Trinity College, Cambridge and was vice-president of the Cambridge Footlights. His contemporaries included Footlights president, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Olivia Colman and his Marenghi co-writer Richard Ayoade. Holness first appeared on television as a cast-member of the 2000 BBC Choice TV series Bruiser, which starred Mitchell, Webb, Colman and Martin Freeman. In that same year he won the Perrier at the Edinburgh Fringe for Garty Marenghi's Fright Night, which was transferred to UK television in the guise of the 2004 Channel 4 horror comedy Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Other credits include 2006's Man to Man with Dean Learner, several productions with Ricky Gervais such as The Office, Life's Too Short and Cemetery Junction, and the 2017 Channel 4 sitcom Back which starred Mitchell and Webb. In 2018 he made his feature length directorial debut with the film Possum, having previously helmed short films The Snipist and A Gun For George.
TV Credits
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Character: Garth Marenghi / Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.
When the Hellmouth opens beneath Darkplace Hospital in downtown Romford, kiddy doctor, Vietnam veteran and ex-warlock Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. is the only man who can close it. Joined by best buddy Dr. Lucien Sanchez, fiery hospital boss Thornton Reed, and woman Liz Asher, Dagless must fight the forces of Darkness while dealing with the burden of day-to-day admin. From the chilling pen of best-selling horror writer Garth Marenghi comes this lost masterpiece of televisual terror. Dare you enter Gart...
Time Trumpet
Character:
Set in the year 2031, this mockumentary looks back at events that ostensibly happened during the first 30 years of the 21st century. The series follows a format that co-creator Armando Iannucci previously used in his satirical year-in-review programme '2004: The Stupid Version'....
Man to Man with Dean Learner
Character:
Man to Man with Dean Learner is a British comedy chat show that was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 20 October 2006 and released on DVD on 3 September 2007. It features comedians Richard Ayoade and Matthew Holness. Originally called Deano's After Dark, the show features Dean Learner chatting to a range of guests including Merriman Weir and Garth Marenghi....
The Office
Character: Simon
Nightmare boss. Tedious colleagues. Pointless tasks. Welcome to Wernham Hogg. Fancy a tea break with David Brent? Classic comedy from the archive....
Bruiser
Character:
Bruiser is a TV comedy sketch show produced for BBC Two....
Free Agents
Character:
Free Agents is a romantic black comedy starring Stephen Mangan, Sharon Horgan and Anthony Head. Originally a pilot for Channel 4 in November 2007, the series began on 13 February 2009. It spawned a short lived US remake, which was cancelled after just 4 episodes aired, although 4 more were later released on Hulu....
We Are Lady Parts
Character: Gameshow host
An anarchic, laugh-out-loud music comedy following a Muslim female punk band called Lady Parts, tracking the highs and lows of the band members as seen through the eyes of Amina Hussein — a geeky doctorate student who is recruited to be their unlikely lead guitarist....
The Mighty Boosh
Character: Bob Fossil
A British comic fantasy containing humour and pop-culture references. Episodes often featured elaborate musical numbers in different genres, such as electro, heavy metal, funk, and rap. The show has been known for popularising a style called "crimping"; short acappella songs which are present throughout all three series....
Toast of Tinseltown
Character: Richard Chickentoss
Tortured thespian Steven Toast relocates to the ultimate actor's playground - Hollywood. Surely this time he will get the adulation he so richly deserves....
Friday Night Dinner
Character: Chris Parker
Two siblings share their Friday night dinners at their parents home and, somehow, something always goes wrong....
Back
Character: Laurie
Estranged foster-brothers Stephen and Andrew vie to take over the family business following the death of their father....
The Russell Howard Hour
Character: Garth Marenghi
Russell Howard offers his unique take on the week's news and current affairs, picking through the biggest UK and international stories, and offering a wise and worldly view on the globe's news. Along the way, he'll welcome celebrity guests and leading experts, as well as hear from fledgling global correspondents. Plus, there will be stand-up, too, as Russell showcases some of the comedy scene's finest and most exciting stars....
Toast of London
Character: Max Gland
Steven Toast, an eccentric middle-aged actor with a chequered past, spends more time dealing with his problems off stage than performing on it....
Life's Too Short
Character: Ian
Life's Too Short is a British sitcom mockumentary created and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant from an idea by Warwick Davis, and is as described by Gervais, about "the life of a showbiz dwarf"....
Year of the Rabbit
Character: Hector, Crown Prince of Bulgaria
Set in the dark heart of Victorian London, Detective Inspector Rabbit is a hardened booze-hound who's seen it all. Rabbit's been chasing bad guys for as long as he can remember, but these days his heart keeps stopping at inopportune moments....
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Character: Dominic Wingrave
After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave hires a young American nanny to care for his orphaned niece and nephew who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen, groundskeeper Jamie and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this chilling tale....
Movie Credits
Cemetery Junction
Character: Band Leader
In 1970s England, three blue-collar friends spend their days joking, drinking, fighting and chasing girls. Freddie wants to leave their working-class world but cool, charismatic Bruce and lovable loser Snork are happy with life the way it is. When Freddie gets a new job as a door-to-door salesman and bumps into his old school sweetheart Julie, the gang are forced to make choices that will change their lives for ever....
A Gun for George
Character: Terry / George / The Reprisalizer
Author Terry Finch struggles to find an outlet that will stock or reprint his violent pulp crime series "The Reprisalizer"...
Dodger Special: Bad Egg
Character: Sir Denholm Havers
When a heist goes wrong, Dodger is given his harshest punishment yet - school!...
Friday Night Dinner: 10 Years and a Lovely Bit of Squirrel
Character: Himself
With exclusive interviews and outtakes, this anniversary special celebrates a decade of Robert Popper's iconic comedy, from celebrity fans to Paul Ritter's infamous squirrel-based catchphrase...
Festival
Character: Roger - Lighting Man
'Festival' is a black comedy set during the annual Edinburgh Fringe festival. The film is based around both the judging of a major comedy award and the performers at one of the smaller venues. Various plot strands interweave, including the bitter relationship between a famous self-obsessed British comic and his ever-suffering assistant, an actress debuting at the festival with a one-woman show about Dorothy Wordsworth and a depressed, rich housewife who spies on the stoned Canadian theatre troup...