Greg Davies

Greg Davies
Born	14 May 1968 St Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales
Medium	Stand-up comedy, television and film
Years active	2002–present
Website	gregdavies.co.uk

Greg Davies (born 14 May 1968) is a British stand-up comedian and actor known for his roles as Greg in We Are Klang, Mr Phil Gilbert in The Inbetweeners and Ken Thompson in Cuckoo, as well as for his guest appearances in Mock the Week, Would I Lie to You? and Fast and Loose. He has performed on the BBC's Live at the Apollo series.

Early life

Davies was born in St Asaph, Denbighshire. His parents lived in England at the time, but his Welsh father drove his mother Pauline across the border to make sure he was born in Wales.^[1] He grew up in Wem, a small market town in the north of Shropshire, the county which he regards as his home.^[2][3] Davies was educated at Thomas Adams School and Brunel University, where he studied English and drama.^[4] Prior to embarking on a career in comedy, he had taught secondary school drama and English for 13 years at Langleywood School in Berkshire, Orleans Park School in Twickenham, London, and Sandhurst School in Berkshire.^[5]

Career

In 2005 Davies played a caricature of cricketer W.G. Grace in a series of adverts for Channel 4's television coverage of The Ashes.^[6]

In 2007 Davies was nominated three times in the Chortle Awards, in the categories "Breakthrough Act" (for his solo stand-up act), "Best Sketch, Variety or Character Act", and "Best Full-Length Show" (both as part of sketch team We Are Klang).^[7]

In 2010 Davies' first solo stand-up show Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog was nominated for the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Festival.^[8] The show was subsequently taken on his first ever tour the following autumn.^[9] He was also nominated for the Edinburgh Fringe's Malcolm Hardee "Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid" Award.^[10]

From October 2013 Davies starred in the UK Channel 4 sitcom Man Down,^[11] as Dan, a man who hates his job as a teacher,^[12] with Rik Mayall as his father. Channel 4 commissioned an additional 25-minute Christmas special before the first series aired,^[13] and a second series was announced during Davies's live tour "The Back of My Mum's Head", although this was before Rik Mayall's death in June 2014. Following Mayall's death, Davies met with Channel 4 to discuss the future of the show. Mayall had been intended to have a more a prominent role in the second series.^[14] Channel 4 later announced that Man Down would return for a second series in 2015.^[15] The classroom used in the show is the same classroom in which Davies taught at Sandhurst School.^[16]

In December 2015 Davies starred in BBC Two's comedy drama A Gert Lush Christmas where he played Tony, the uncle of Russell and Kerry Howard's characters. On Christmas Day he played King Hydroflax in the 2015 Doctor Who Special "The Husbands of River Song"'^[17]

Personal life

Davies is noted for his stature, standing at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall and having size 14 feet.^[18][19]

He was previously in a relationship with Liz Kendall, a Labour politician who in 2015 was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Leicester West.^[20] However the couple split up just a few months before the 2015 General Election.^[21][22]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
2006	Girls? Eugh!
2007	The Musical Storytellers Ginger & Black	Mr Hopkirk
2007	Saxondale	Dunc
2008	The Wall	Various Characters
2008–2010	The Inbetweeners	Mr Gilbert
2009	We Are Klang	Greg
2011	Fast and Loose	Himself
2011	The Inbetweeners Movie	Mr Gilbert
2011	Greg Davies Live – Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog	Himself
2012–present	Cuckoo	Ken
2013	Greg Davies Live – The Back of My Mum's Head	Himself
2013–present	Man Down	Dan
2014	This is Jinsy	Jennitta Bishard
2014	The Inbetweeners 2	Mr Gilbert
2015-present	Taskmaster	Himself
2015	A Gert Lush Christmas	Uncle Tony
2015	Doctor Who	King Hydroflax

References

1. Wales, South (2012-10-11). "Greg still top of the class". South Wales Evening Post. Retrieved 2015-05-10.
2. "My life in travel: Greg Davies, actor and comedian". The Independent. 9 April 2011.
3. "Wem's Greg Davies makes it big". Great British Life. 13 April 2011.
4. Greg Davies Radio Times interview. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
5. "Tall tales with king of comedy Greg Davies". Birmingham Post. 8 April 2011.
6. "Breaking Ads – Channel 4 – Ashes coverage". Newspaper Marketing Agency. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
7. Chortle Awards 2007 nominations
8. Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award 2010 nominations
9. "Greg Davies sends fans home laughing". Perthshire Advertiser. 27 May 2011.
10. "British Comedy Guide, August 2009". Retrieved 22 September 2010.
11. "Man Down". British Comedy Guide. 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-30.
12. Jeffery, Morgan (2 November 2012). "'Inbetweeners' actor Greg Davies to star in Channel 4's 'Man Down'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
13. "Channel 4 orders Christmas special of Man Down". British Comedy Guide. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-30.
14. https://web.archive.org/20140904091039/https://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-down-without-mayall-110336920.html. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
15. "Man Down".
16. "Man Down - Interviews with Greg Davies & Rik Mayall - Channel 4 - Info - Press". Channel 4. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
17. "Doctor Who: Matt Lucas and Greg Davies join Christmas special". BBC News.
18. Wilson, Chris (15 June 2013). "Heights of success". The Stage. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
19. "Chris Blumer Interviews Greg Davies". NME. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
20. Watt, Nicholas. "Voters believe politicians don't understand them, warns leading MP". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
21. Donald MacIntyre (22 May 2015). "Liz Kendall: Is Labour's smart, articulate rising star the heir to Tony Blair?". The Independent. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
22. "Labour leadership contender Liz Kendall reveals her relationship with Inbetweeners star Greg Davies is over". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 16 May 2015.