Graham Linehan
Graham Linehan is an Irish comedy writer and director, as well as an
actor and comedian, and creator of highly popular series Father Ted, The
IT Crowd and Black Books.
After an early career as a journalist for the Irish music magazine
Hot Press, Graham began collaborating with writer Arthur Mathews
on many high profile comedy sketch shows including Alas Smith and
Jones, Harry Enfield and Chums, and the Ted and Ralph characters in
The Fast Show.
It was Linehan and Matthews’ creation of Father Ted in 1995 that
brought their greatest success of their early years. The programme won
countless awards, including two BAFTAs for best comedy, and is today
regarded as one of the greatest British sitcoms ever produced.
Linehan and Matthews then wrote the first series of the sketch show
Big Train, which Graham also directed.
Linehan has since written for other shows, including Brass Eye. 2000
saw his next success with his co-creation of Black Books with Dylan
Moran. Graham also co-directed many episodes with Nick Wood.
In 2003 Graham directed the pilot episode of Little Britain.
Linehan went on to create, write and direct the 2006 Channel 4 sitcom
The IT Crowd, starring Chris O’Dowd and Richard Ayoade, which went
on to win multiple awards including the BAFTA TV Award for ‘Best
Situation Comedy’ in 2009, ‘Best TV Sitcom’ at the British Comedy
Awards in 2009, and ‘Best Script for Television’ at the Irish Film and
Television Awards.
Over the last ten years Graham has also directed numerous ad
campaigns with Sneezing Tree Films, including campaigns for ITV
Sports Channel, which were awarded the Silver Arrow at the 2003
BTAA Awards, and four commercials from the award winning QTV
series starring Martin Freeman. He directed the IKEA ‘Van de Poop’
campaign and in 2011 he did the Direct Line campaign starring Chris
Addison, Alexander Armstrong and Amelia Bulmore.
In November 2011, Graham’s stage adaptation of
the Ealing Studio classic The Ladykillers debuted at The Liverpool
Playhouse before moving to The Gielgud Theatre, London starring Peter
Capaldi and Ben Miller, where it broke box-office records and received
rave reviews.