Kay Stonham is a British actress, writer and academic.

Background

Stonham attended William Morris Senior High School in Walthamstow, East London, leaving in 1974. She then graduated from

Rose Bruford College Rose Bruford College (formerly Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance) is a drama school in the south London suburb of Sidcup. The college has degree programmes in acting, actor musicianship, directing, theatre arts and various discipli ...

in 1977. Stonham has a master's degree in Screenwriting for Film and Television from

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

. She was a member of the regular cast of

Jasper Carrott Robert Norman Davis (born 14 March 1945), best known by his stage name, Jasper Carrott, is an English comedian, actor and television presenter. Early life Born in Shaftmoor Lane, Acocks Green, in Birmingham, Carrott was educated at Acocks G ...

's BBC TV comedy sketch show ''

Carrott's Lib ''Carrott's Lib'' is a British satirical comedy series broadcast between 2 October 1982 and 30 December 1983. It starred Jasper Carrott and a cast of many comedians. The show was a satirical comedy and sketch show, featuring many comedians who wen ...

'' in 1982. She co-created and co-wrote series one and two of the

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' ...

series '' Robin and Wendy's Wet Weekends'', and was sole writer on series three and four. She took the part of Wendy Mayfield opposite collaborator on the first two series

Simon Greenall Simon James Greenall (born 3 January 1958) is an English actor, producer, writer and voice artist. He has portrayed Michael in the BBC television series '' I'm Alan Partridge'', as well as in '' Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa,'' the Caretaker in ...

as Robin Mayfield.

Career

She created the series '' Audio Diaries'' for Radio 4 which ran for three series from 1998 to 2001. This innovative

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

was ahead of its time in style and content. As a performer she appeared in another mock documentary series '' People Like Us'' both in its Radio 4 and

BBC 2 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 ...

incarnations. She was also a contributor to other Radio 4 comedy shows including ''

The Sunday Format ''The Sunday Format'', "BBC Radio 4's first high-quality weekend broadsheet newspaper", is a British satirical radio comedy. The programme is a parody of British middle class newspapers, in particular the lifestyle supplements and glossy celeb ...

'', '' Dead Ringers'' and ''

Week Ending ''Week Ending'' was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1970 and 1998. It was devised by writer-producers Simon Brett and David Hatch and was originally hosted by '' Nationwide'' presenter Michael Ba ...

''. She won the Radio Light Entertainment Titheridge Award in 1995. In 1995 she shared a

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The un ...

award with her co-writers for the television comedy series ''

Harry Enfield and Chums ''Harry Enfield & Chums'' (originally titled ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'') is a British sketch show starring Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse and Kathy Burke. It first broadcast on BBC2 in 1990 in the 9 pm slot on Thursday night ...

''.

shared the same award. Other TV sketch shows she has written for include ''

Alistair McGowan's Big Impression ''The Big Impression'', known as ''Alistair McGowan's Big Impression'' for the first three series, is a British comedy sketch show. It features Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona impersonating personalities from entertainment and sport. Four series ...

'' for

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

, and ''

Alas Smith and Jones ''Alas Smith and Jones'' is a British comedy sketch television series starring comedy duo and namesake Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones that originally ran for four series and two Christmas specials on BBC2 from 1984 to 1988, and later as ''Smi ...

'' for BBC 2, ''

The Sketch Show ''The Sketch Show'' is a British television sketch comedy programme, featuring many leading British comedians. It aired on ITV between 2001 and 2004. The show was first commissioned in 2001 and was co-produced by a company owned by Steve Cooga ...

'' for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, ''

Comedy Nation ''Comedy Nation'' was a British sketch comedy television programme that premiered at midnight 9 January 1998 on BBC Two. The first series consisted of 13 episodes, each containing 30 sketches. Each episode of the first series cost £29,000 to prod ...

'' for BBC 2 and ''

TV to Go ''TV to Go'' is a British television sketch show that aired on BBC One during 2001 and 2002. It starred Mackenzie Crook, Hugh Dennis, Mina Anwar and Debra Stephenson. Notes and references''TV to Go''at BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known ...

'' for BBC 1. She was a table writer on

My Family ''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...

in 2006. Her work for children's and young peoples TV includes, ''

Kerching ''Kerching!'' was a children's comedy drama which aired on CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. I ...

'' for

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 ...

, '' Girls in Love'' for

Granada Kids CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

, and ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...

'' for

Mersey Television Lime Pictures, formerly known as Mersey Television, is a British television production company, founded by producer and writer Phil Redmond in the early 1980s. They produce award winning drama, and entertainment shows, for the international mar ...

. ''

Dani's House ''Dani's House'' is a British children's comedy series broadcast on CBBC and starring Dani Harmer. The first series premiered on 26 September 2008, and its fifth series concluded on 19 July 2012. It has received several awards and nominations f ...

'' for CBBC and ''

Shaun the Sheep ''Shaun the Sheep'' is a British stop-motion television series and a spin-off of the ''Wallace and Gromit'' franchise. The title character is Shaun (previously featured as the sheep named "Shaun" in the 1995 short film ''A Close Shave'' and t ...

'' for

Aardman Animation Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay ani ...

Teaching

She is a Teaching Fellow in Screenwriting at

Worcester University , motto_lang = la , mottoeng = ''Aspire to Inspire'' , established = 1946 – Worcester Emergency Teacher Training College 1948 – Worcester Teacher Training College 1976 – Worcester College of Higher Education 1997 – ...

. She also teaches screenwriting at the London Film School.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stonham, Kay Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Screenwriting instructors British women television writers 21st-century British women writers British television writers British women screenwriters English television writers English screenwriters English children's writers 21st-century British screenwriters Academics of the University of Worcester