Helen Monks (born 2 October 1992) is an English writer, actress and comedian. She is best known for her roles in '' Raised by Wolves'', ''

Upstart Crow Upstart or upstarts may refer to: * HMS ''Upstart'', a Royal Navy U-class submarine *Upstart (company), an online lending marketplace *Upstart (software), a process management daemon used in several operating systems. *Upstart (sculpture), a public ...

'', ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural sett ...

'', '' Holby City'', ''

The Last Kingdom ''The Last Kingdom'' is the first historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2004. This story introduces Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Saxon noble who is kidnapped by Danish Vikings as a young child and is assimilated ...

'', ''

Genius Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabili ...

'', and ''

Inside No. 9 ''Inside No. 9'' is a British black comedy anthology television programme that first aired in 2014. It is written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and produced by the BBC. Each 30-minute episode is a self-contained story with new chara ...

''.

Early life

Monks was born and raised in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

. Both her parents work in theatre. Her brother is a theatre lighting designer. When she was nine years old, Monks successfully auditioned for the Carlton Junior TV Workshop run by Colin Edwards and remained there until she left school.

Career

In 2005, Monks became Birmingham's first Young

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

, aged 13. That same year she was cast in the radio

soap-opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored b ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, taking on the role of Pip Archer. She left the series in 2014. Monks co-founded the Barnsley-based touring theatre company

LUNG Theatre LUNG is a national touring, Verbatim theatre company. Founded in Barnsley, England, in 2012, LUNG is campaign-led and uses real life stories to shine a light on political issues in the UK. All of LUNG's plays are published with Bloomsbury The comp ...

in 2012. Lung is "a political documentary theatre company that makes theatre with communities, by communities and for communities." In 2015, Monks came third in the finals of the

Funny Women Funny Women is an online and in-person workshop community dedicated to the support of female comedians. It was founded by Lynne Parker in 2002 as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter. Funny Women helps women find their voice, ...

Awards. Together with actress and writer Tilly Steele, Monks has been a co-host of the ''Bitchin podcast since 2018. Monks also appears in

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on the sitcoms '' The Young Ones'' and ''Bla ...

's BBC One sitcom ''

'', Monks played the role of Susannah Shakespeare, daughter to David Mitchell's

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. She plays Charlotte opposite

Miriam Margolyes Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The ...

in the

sitcom ''Charlotte and Lillian''.

Writing

Monks' radio plays include ''One Day'', which won the BBC young writer's competition Radio Online in 2007 and ''The Chicken Salad of a Troubled Mind'', which was made by the Wireless Theatre Company in 2013. Her stage play ''The Piano Man'' was performed at the Birmingham Rep as part of their Transmissions Festival 2008. Monks won the Taunton Young Writer's Award in 2014 and again in 2015 with her stage plays ''Pillow Talk'' and ''No Fishing''. In 2015 she co-wrote ''E15'' with Matt Woodhead about the

Focus E15 Focus E15 is a campaign group formed in London in 2013 by a group of mothers threatened with eviction from their emergency accommodation in a hostel for young homeless people in Newham. The group squatted empty flats on the Carpenters Estate i ...

campaign group. After winning a student drama award and being shortlisted for the Amnesty International Award, E15 went on a national tour with the Battersea Arts Centre. It has since been published by

Oberon Books Oberon Books is a London-based independent publisher of drama texts and books on theatre. The company publishes around 100 titles per year, many of them plays by new writers. In addition, the list contains a range of titles on theatre studies, act ...

. Her one-woman play ''Dolly Wants to Die'' premiered at the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in 2016. In 2018, Monks co-wrote ''Trojan Horse'' with Matt Woodhead. The play explores the impact of the Trojan Horse inquiry into an alleged Islamist takeover of a number of inner city schools in the east of Birmingham on the city and the people affected by the inquiry. It premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018 and has won the 2018 Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award and a

Fringe First The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

Personal life

Monks earned a degree in English Literature and Theatre Studies from the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

in 2014. She admires the work of Caitlin Moran and David Mitchell, citing Mitchell as the reason that she got into comedy.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Monks, Helen Living people English dramatists and playwrights English radio actresses English television actresses English comedians 21st-century English actresses 1992 births