Richard Curtis - British Comedy Guide (original) (raw)

Born in New Zealand of Australian parents, and raised in several continents across the globe, Richard Curtis was educated at Harrow and Oxford, where he was awarded a first-class BA in English Language and Litreature. It was here that he met and began a fruitful collaboration with Rowan Atkinson, after they both joined the scriptwriting team of the Etceteras revue, part of the Experimental Theatre Club. Shortly after graduating, he began writing, together with Atkinson, on TV's Not The Nine O'Clock News, co-creating many of the show's famous songs with composer Howard Goodall. In 1984 and 1985, he contributed material for ITV's satirical puppet show Spitting Image.

Atkinson and Curtis co-wrote the well-loved Blackadder from 1983 to 1989, and although Atkinson played the lead, Curtis is credited as having written every single episode. After the success of this show, they turned their attention to another comedy series, creating Mr. Bean, which ran from 1990 to 1995. In 1994 he also created and co-wrote The Vicar of Dibley for comedian Dawn French.

By now Curtis had begun writing feature films, releasing The Tall Guy in 1989, the TV movie Bernard And The Genie in 1991, and Four Weddings And A Funeral in 1994. The latter would become the highest-grossing British film in history at that time, turning Hugh Grant into an international superstar. Later came romantic comedies Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary (and its 2004 sequel), and Love Actually, cementing Richard Curtis's place in the upper echelons of British romcom royalty.

Next he would co-write, with Anthony Minghella, an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's novel The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, premiering on the BBC in 2008, following this up with the feature film The Boat That Rocked, set in 1966 in the era of British pirate radio and based around a radio station run from a boat in the North Sea. Despite a stellar cast including Bill Nighy and Nick Frost, the film was a critical and commercial flop. After making the feature film War Horse, Curtis made two more romantic comedies: About Time, a story about time travel and family love featuring British actors Bill Nighy and Domhnall Gleeson, and Yesterday, directed by Danny Boyle, which imagines a world in which the Beatles had never existed.

The winner of an Emmy for the made-for-television drama The Girl In The Café and a BAFTA for Academy Fellowship, Richard Curtis is responsible for some of the most cherished comedies in modern British history.

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