Biographie

He worked as Dictionary proofreader for a living before getting into entertainment writing.

Studied History at Peterhouse, Cambridge University.

Was a member of Cambridge Footlights, a contemporary of Robert Webb, Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade.

Father, with Victoria Coren Mitchell, of daughter Barbara Elizabeth June Mitchell, born on May 22, 2015.

He once made Olivia Colman wet herself during a stage production of the "Miser" when the hilarious way he had tied his bow-tie made her lose her control from the laughter. As a revenge she wiped her legs on his costume.

I've only ever bought one album for myself and it was "But Seriously" by Phil Collins, and if there's a better reason never to buy another album then I'd like to hear it.

[on bankers] I think there's a lot of anger at them because I think basically not only have they cost us a lot of money but they've shown very little remorse. I've not heard bankers say sorry. I've heard a lot of bankers say it's time we stopped saying sorry but I've not heard them say sorry.

[on Doctor Who (2005)] It's a children's programme; it's not for me, and I was a fool to think my opinion of it mattered. Though not as much of a fool as I would have been if I was an adult thinking that about the original series, which was proudly and unambiguously a children's show - whereas now, for some reason, we're all encouraged to weigh in. My parents never watched Docteur Who (1963) - it wouldn't have occurred to them to do so. They might have been fond of it, they might have said 'Oh yes, I used to watch that as a child'. What they wouldn't go on to say was '...and I still do now'. Whereas these days, a huge amount of stuff seems to be aimed at children, but with the assumption that adults - and not just parents - will consume it too. No-one in the 1920s surely, was reading Winnie the Pooh unless they had a child to read it to.

[on Downton Abbey (2010)] I think it's terribly written but still enjoy watching it and I don't know why. I'll watch and think: 'No one would say that, why's that happening?' Maybe the enjoyment of the sets and costumes is enough to sustain it.

I've never gone in for one of the Personality Tests, but largely because I think I'm too feeble-minded and I'd probably become a Scientologist. I'd probably go in all "Oh, this is going to be absolute nonsense" and then they'd say something and I'd go "Ah!" So I'm afraid of them, basically.