Paul King (born 1978) is a British writer and director. He works in television, film and theatre, and specialises in comedy. His work on the family comedy films ''

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

'' (2014) and its 2017 sequel both earned him BAFTA nominations for

Best British Film Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

and

Best Adapted Screenplay This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

Career

King graduated from

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

with first-class honours in English in 1999. While at Cambridge he met

Richard Ayoade Richard Ellef Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British actor, comedian, broadcaster and filmmaker. He is best known for his role as socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he ...

Matthew Holness Matthew James Holness (born 1975) is an English comedian, writer, director, and actor. He is best known for creating and playing the fictional horror author Garth Marenghi. Early life and education Born in Whitstable, Kent, Holness became a f ...

and

Alice Lowe Alice Eva Lowe (born 3 April 1977)England & Wales births 1837 – 2006 is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She is best known for her roles as Dr. Haynes in '' Black Mirror: Bandersnatch'' and Madeleine Wool/Liz Asher in ''Garth Mareng ...

, and went on to direct them at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

in "

Garth Marenghi Garth Marenghi is a fictional horror author created by English comedians Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade and portrayed by Holness. He is depicted as a conceited hack writer, who remains blissfully (or even wilfully) unaware of his lack of tal ...

's FrightKnight" (nominated for the

Perrier Award Perrier ( , also , ) is a French brand of natural bottled mineral water obtained at its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard ''département''. Perrier is known for its carbonation and its distinctive green bottle. Perrier was part of the ...

in 2000), and "Netherhead" (

winner 2001). King worked as associate director on the subsequent TV transfer, ''

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'' is a British horror parody television series created by Richard Ayoade and Matthew Holness for Channel 4. The show focuses on fictional horror author Garth Marenghi (played by Holness) and his publisher Dean Le ...

'', a six-part series for Channel 4. In 2002, King garnered another

nomination for directing

Noel Fielding Noel Fielding (; (born 21 May 1973) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe alongside Julian Barratt in the 2000s, and more recently as a co-presenter of ''The Great British Bake Off'' ...

's Edinburgh Festival show, "Voodoo Hedgehog". King is also the director of BBC's ''

The Mighty Boosh The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six-episode radio series, it has since spanned a total of 20 television episodes for BBC Three which aire ...

''. He has directed all three series (earning a BAFTA nomination as Best New Director in 2005), as well as their live tour shows in 2006 and 2008. King was originally brought in after the director of the pilot,

Steve Bendelack Steve Bendelack is an English filmmaker and television director who has worked primarily on comedy programmes. Originally an assistant to Peter Fluck and Roger Law on satirical TV puppet show ''Spitting Image'', Bendelack went on to direct the s ...

, was unavailable to direct the first series. He also directed

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little Britain'' (2003–2006, 2020) and '' Come Fly ...

and

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little B ...

' 2011 airport

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 ...

'' Come Fly With Me''. ''

Bunny and the Bull ''Bunny and the Bull'' is a 2009 British comedy film from writer-director Paul King. It stars Edward Hogg and Simon Farnaby in a surreal recreation of a road trip. King has previously worked on British television comedies ''The Mighty Boosh'' a ...

'', which King wrote and directed, was released in 2009. The film stars

Simon Farnaby Simon Farnaby (born 2 April 1973) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is a member of the British Horrible Histories troupe in which he starred in the television series ''Horrible Histories'', ''Yonderland'' and ''Ghosts''. He has writte ...

and

Edward Hogg Edward Hogg (born 26 January 1979) is an English actor, known for portraying Jesco White in ''White Lightnin, Stephen Turnbull in ''Bunny and the Bull,'' Eugene Mathers in ''Indian Summers,'' Segundus in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (miniser ...

, with cameos from

, Richard Ayoade and

Julian Barratt Julian Barratt Pettifer (born 4 May 1968) is an English comedian, actor and musician. As a comedian and comic actor, he is known for his use of surreal humour and black comedy. During the 2000s he was part of The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe alongs ...

. King's follow-up feature was the book-to-screen adaptation ''

'' (2014), which he directed and co-wrote with

Hamish McColl Hamish McColl (born 28 January 1962) is a British comedian, writer and actor. He trained at the École Philippe Gaulier, Paris and the University of Cambridge. With Sean Foley, he formed the double act ''The Right Size'' in 1988, creating com ...

. The film was a critical and commercial success, earning King nominations for both the

BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Adapted Screenplay has been presented to its winners since 1968, when the original category (BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay) was split into two awards, the other being the BAF ...

and the

BAFTA Award for Best British Film The BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 1st British Academy Film Awards, first recognising the ...

(shared with the film's producer

David Heyman David Jonathan Heyman (born 26 July 1961) is a British film producer and the founder of Heyday Films. Heyman secured the rights to the ''Harry Potter'' film series in 1999 and went on to produce all eight installments of the franchise. He als ...

). The positive reception for ''Paddington'' resulted in the green-lighting of a sequel. King returned to direct and write ''

Paddington 2 ''Paddington 2'' is a 2017 live-action animated comedy film directed by Paul King and written by King and Simon Farnaby. Based on the stories of Paddington Bear, created by Michael Bond (to whom the film is also dedicated, Bond having died th ...

'' (2017). The film received a theatrical release on 10 November 2017 in the U.K. and 12 January 2018 in the U.S. King's upcoming projects include a film about the origins of

Willy Wonka Willy Wonka is a fictional character appearing in British author Roald Dahl's 1964 children's novel ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' and its 1972 sequel ''Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator''. He is the eccentric founder and proprietor ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Paul British theatre directors Living people Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge British film directors British television directors 1978 births