HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

David Alexander Lamb (born 17 January 1969) is an English actor, comedian, narrator and presenter. He is best known for his narration work on '' Come Dine with Me'' as well as appearances in British television and radio programmes, especially comedy programmes like '' Goodness Gracious Me''. He also presented the
CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
game show '' Horrible Histories: Gory Games''.


Early life

Lamb attended
the Broxbourne School The Broxbourne School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England. The school began life in 1959 with just under 50 pupils as a grammar school (Broxbourne Grammar Schoo ...
in
Broxbourne Broxbourne is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Hoddesdon, in the Broxbourne district, in Hertfordshire, England, north of London, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 I ...
,
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, and studied philosophy and literature at the
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...
.


Early work

Lamb's first noted credit was in the 1998 British sitcom ''
How Do You Want Me? ''How Do You Want Me?'' is a British television sitcom, produced by Kensington Films & Television, written by Simon Nye, and directed by John Henderson. Plot Dylan Moran starred as boy next door Ian Lyons, who recently eloped with country girl ...
'' He played a homophobic tramp called Buster. His first notable appearances were in the
British Indian British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian origin as well as Indians who have migrated to the UK. Today, Indians comprise about 1.4 mil ...
sketch show '' Goodness Gracious Me'', being the only recurring white person in the cast. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s he also appeared in comedy programmes such as '' People Like Us'', ''
Hippies A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
'', ''
Armstrong and Miller Armstrong and Miller are an English comedy double act consisting of the actor-comedians Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller. They have performed in two eponymous television sketch shows, the satirical ''Timeghost'' podcast, and many individual ...
'', ''
The Smoking Room ''The Smoking Room'' is a British television sitcom written by Brian Dooley, who won a BAFTA for the series in 2005. The first series, consisting of eight episodes, was originally transmitted on BBC Three between 29 June and 17 August 2004. Th ...
'' and ''
Fun at the Funeral Parlour ''Fun at the Funeral Parlour'' was a comedy series broadcast on BBC Choice and BBC Three for two series in 2001 and 2002. It was set in a Welsh funeral directors called "Thomas, Thomas, Thomas and Thomas". It is set around the Swansea area of sou ...
'' as well as having a brief role in a couple of episodes of ''
EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...
''. He also made a brief appearance in ''
DIY SOS "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
''.


Voice-over work

Dave Lamb was one of the main voice-over artists on satirical cartoon '' 2DTV'' alongside
Jan Ravens Janet "Jan" Ravens (born 14 May 1958) is an English actress and impressionist, known for her voice work on ''Spitting Image'' and '' Dead Ringers''. Early life Ravens grew up in Hoylake, then in Cheshire, on the west side of the Wirral with he ...
and Jon Culshaw, but he gained cult status through his sarcastic voice-overs on dinner party show '' Come Dine with Me'' which began in 2005. In an interview, he claimed that in the first series he did do quite a lot of
ad-libbing In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The r ...
but that the show's writers now know how to write for his voice. He also stated that he would never take part in a celebrity edition as he wasn't famous enough to participate. In 2008, Lamb provided a voice for one of the Spade brothers in
Lionhead Studios Lionhead Studios Limited was a British video game developer founded in July 1997 by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson (British game designer), Steve Jackson. The company is best known for the ''Black & White (series), Bl ...
' ''
Fable II ''Fable II'' is a 2008 action role-playing open world video game, developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. The game is the second installment in the ''Fable'' game series, and the sequel to 2004's ''F ...
'' and again in 2010 for ''
Fable III ''Fable III'' is a 2010 action role-playing open world video game, developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The third game in the ''Fable'' series, the story focuses on the pl ...
''. Lamb narrated ''Come Dine with Me''-style sketches for five episodes of ''
Horrible Histories ''Horrible Histories'' is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more. In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corpora ...
'', between 2010 and 2013. In 2011 for the '' Big Brother 2011'' Come Dine with Me task, Lamb took over from usual narrator
Marcus Bentley Marcus Morgan Bentley (born 4 October 1967) is a British actor, broadcaster and voice-over artist. Bentley is most known for narrating the UK version of the Dutch reality television programme '' Big Brother'' since its inception in 2000, until ...
for the feature, the first time that anyone other than Bentley had provided a voice-over for the show. He starred in a voice-over part for a character in the 2011 MMORPG '' Star Wars: The Old Republic''. He also narrates ''Come Dine with Me Ireland'' and ''Come Dine with Me South Africa'' and provides the voice-over on the
CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...
animated shows '' Big Barn Farm'' and ''
Waybuloo ''Waybuloo'' is a CGI television series created by Dan Good and Absolutely Cuckoo. It was commissioned by Michael Carrington at the BBC, and first aired on CBeebies in May 2009. The 100-episode show was head-written by Marc Seal (who worked on ...
''. He narrated a special section of ''
Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...
'' on 25 October 2011. The section was a spoof of ''Come Dine with Me'' at a zoo where the guests were animals. In May 2012, he did a voice over for UK band ''Jackdaw4'' on their
PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...
page, to promote their pledge campaign to record their fourth album. In November 2013, Lamb provided a voice over for
Bedford Modern School Bedford Modern School (often called BMS) is a Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference independent school in Bedford, England. The school has its origins in Bedford Charity, The Harpur Trust, born from the financial endowment, endowments le ...
's production of "The Only Way", a play commemorating 10 years of co-education. He narrates the 2015 reboot of ''Danger Mouse''. He also voices Stiletto Mafiosa in the series. He also narrates the live stage show of Danger Mouse at
Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...
in 2017–2018. In 2018 Lamb was the commentator on BBC One's Saturday evening game show '' And They're Off ... for Sport Relief'', presented by
Ore Oduba Ore Oduba (born 17 November 1986) is a British television and radio presenter who has also worked as an actor. He is best known for winning the fourteenth series of BBC One's ''Strictly Come Dancing'' in 2016. He presented the CBBC news program ...
.


Subsequent TV appearances

Lamb has had two main-cast roles in television sitcoms, firstly as producer Des in BBC's ''
The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle ''The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle'' is a British sitcom that was originally aired on BBC Two in 2007. The programme was written and created by Jennifer Saunders and Tanya Byron. The show stars Saunders as the title character of the talk show ...
'' (broadcast October 2007) and then in early 2008 he played put-upon television writer Carl Morris in ITV's ''
Moving Wallpaper ''Moving Wallpaper'' is a British satirical comedy-drama television series set in a TV production unit. It ran on ITV for two series in 2008–09. The subject of the first series was the production of a soap called ''Echo Beach'', each episode ...
''. He also played Sergeant Foster in two episodes of ''
Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until t ...
'' prequel ''
Rock & Chips ''Rock & Chips'' is a British television comedy-drama miniseries and a prequel to the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses''. The show is set in Peckham, southeast London, during the early 1960s, focusing primarily on the lives of Del Trotter, Freddie ...
'', including the special shown on BBC One on New Year's Day 2011. He now co-presents a CBBC show '' Horrible Histories: Gory Games'', a children's game show, and was a regular on the first series of '' Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask''. In 2009, he appeared in '' Miranda'', in the episode in which Miranda pretends to go to Thailand. In 2014, he appeared alongside the rest of the original cast of ''Goodness Gracious Me'' in a reunion special that was produced for
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
's 50th Anniversary. In 2016, Lamb presented ''Come Dine with Me: Champion of Champions'', the first time in the 11-year history of the show that he had appeared on screen rather than just narrating.


Radio

Lamb was a member of radio comedy troupe
The Cheese Shop The Cheese Shop were a troupe of six comedy writer-performers from the revue circuit of University of Warwick. Between 1997 and 1999, Gerard Foster, Dave Lamb, Gordon Southern, Tim Verrinder, Ben Ward and Richie Webb appeared in three series o ...
and has also featured on radio recording three series of '' The Bigger Issues'' as well as featuring on ''
15 Minute Musical ''15 Minute Musical'' is a comedy series on BBC Radio 4 written by Richie Webb, David Quantick and Dave Cohen. Each episode is in a different musical style with a story featuring current celebrities and politicians. The show won the 2009 Writers' ...
'', ''
The Alan Davies Show ''The Alan Davies Show'' was a short-lived radio program that aired from May – June 1998. The show revolved around Alan Davies playing himself as a struggling actor, and the relationship with his best friends Kate (Ronni Ancona) and Murray ( Al ...
'', ''
ElvenQuest ''ElvenQuest'' is a comic fantasy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto, and starring Stephen Mangan, Alistair McGowan, Darren Boyd, Kevin Eldon, Sophie Winkleman and Dave Lamb. The series takes place in the world of Lower ...
'', ''No Future in Eternity'', ''The Big Town All Stars'', ''The Very World of Milton Jones'', ''Artists'' and ''
The Way It Is The Way It Is may refer to: Music * ''The Way It Is'' (Bruce Hornsby album), by Bruce Hornsby and the Range ** "The Way It Is" (Bruce Hornsby song), the title song * ''The Way It Is'' (Glenn Hughes album), or the title song * ''The Way It Is' ...
''. He has also recorded two series of a radio drama entitled ''London, Europe'' for Radio 4, which he also wrote. Radio 4 aired his sitcom, ''Hobby Bobbies'' during Summer 2013.


Film


Stage work

Lamb made his stage debut alongside
Russ Abbot Russ Abbot (born Russell Allan Roberts; 18 September 1947) is an English musician, comedian and actor. Born in Chester, he first came to public notice during the 1970s as the singer and drummer with British comedy showband the Black Abbots, la ...
and
Eric Sykes Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...
in 2003 in a production of
Ray Cooney Raymond George Alfred Cooney, OBE (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director. His biggest success, '' Run for Your Wife'' (1983), ran for nine years in London's West End and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 ...
's ''Caught in the Net'' at the
Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each ...
.


Personal life

Lamb lives in
Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...
and is a regular at
the Dripping Pan The Dripping Pan is a football stadium in Lewes, England. It has been home to Lewes F.C. since their foundation in 1885. It had previously been used by Lewes Priory Cricket Club, though the ground itself had been used by the people of Lewes a ...
, home of Lewes FC. He is a shareholder in the club.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamb, Dave 1969 births English male voice actors English male actors English male comedians English television presenters Living people Male actors from London People from Westminster 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians