Hugh Dennis

Peter Hugh Dennis (born 13 February 1962) is an English comedian, presenter, actor, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist who has appeared in the comedy double act Punt and Dennis with partner Steve Punt. He played Dr Piers Crispin in the sitcom '' My Hero'' from 2000 to 2006, Pete Brockman, the father in the sitcom '' Outnumbered'', and since 2014 has played Toby in the long-running sitcom ''Not Going Out'', all for BBC One. From 2020 he has indulged his long-standing love of geography and social history by presenting the light-hearted community archaeology television show ''The Great British Dig'' on Channel 4.

From 2005 to 2022, Dennis appeared as a regular panellist on the BBC Two satirical comedy show ''Mock the Week'', appearing in every episode in the show’s run.

Early life

Dennis was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, the younger son of school teacher Dorothy Mary (Hinnels) and John Dennis, an Anglican priest. His brother, also named John, was the British Ambassador to Angola from 2014 to 2018. He grew up in Mill Hill in North London as his father was appointed as vicar of John Keble Church, Mill Hill soon after his birth. His father later became the Bishop of Knaresborough and then of Saint Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

Dennis was educated at independent University College School in London. During his time at UCS, he played rugby with Will Self and was head boy in his final year.

Subsequently, Dennis went on to read for the Geographical Tripos as an exhibitioner at St John's College, Cambridge. His dissertation was titled "The Spatial Distribution of Elementary Education in 19th-century Wakefield". He also joined the Footlights, where he first met Steve Punt and club president Nick Hancock and the trio collaborated on a number of projects besides the annual revue.

In a 2016 interview with ITV's '' This Morning'' programme, Dennis said that he was approached by Britain's domestic intelligence service, MI5, whilst at Cambridge University and attended a preliminary interview; however, he eventually decided that he did not want to take the matter any further, particularly due to being told during the interview that the job would require him to "do people over".

After graduating with a first (his nickname was "Desk"), Dennis worked for Unilever for six years in the marketing department while performing comedy with Punt at venues including The Comedy Store in London at weekends. Whilst at Unilever, Dennis became a brand manager of Lynx deodorant. His time at Unilever came to an end when he and Punt had their BBC Radio 1 show (alongside David Baddiel & Rob Newman) ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' commissioned for BBC Two. Dennis was put on sabbatical by Unilever, as rehearsals for the show were to take place on a weekday, but he never returned to the company and instead chose to pursue comedy full-time as a result of the show's success.

Dennis uses his middle name Hugh as his stage name because the actor Peter Dennis was already a member of the performing arts union Equity.

Radio and television career

While an impressionist, Dennis did voices for ''Spitting Image'' and appeared with Punt as resident support comics on two TV series hosted on the BBC
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