The Penny Dreadfuls are a British sketch comedy troupe consisting of comedians

Humphrey Ker David Humphrey Rivers Ker (; born 11 October 1982) is a British actor, writer and comedian who is a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls. Early life and education Ker was born to David Peter James Ker, a fine art dealer, ...

David Reed David Reed may refer to: Entertainment * David Vern Reed (1924–1989), American comics writer * David E. Reed (1927–1990), ''Reader's Digest'' editor * David Reed (artist) (born 1946), American artist * David Jay Reed (born 1950), artist * Da ...

and

Thom Tuck Thomas Tuck (born 28 March 1982) is a British actor and comedian known for being one third of comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls and as a stand-up comedian. He was nominated for the Best Newcomer award at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Earl ...

, often supported by Margaret Cabourn-Smith. The troupe are best known for writing and performing ''The Brothers Faversham'' and ''The Penny Dreadfuls Present...,'' comic plays 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' ...

History

Early history and Fringe shows (2006-2010)

Ker, Reed and Tuck first met as students at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

through the student comedy troupe The Improverts in 2001. They performed together for the next four years before forming, along with founding member Jamie Anderson, The Penny Dreadfuls. In 2006, they made their debut appearance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with their Victorian-themed sketch show ''Aeneas Faversham''. The show's executive producer was Idil Sukan, while its associate producer and technical director were Steve Greer and Neil E Hobbs respectively. This group would go on to produce each Fringe show for the troupe for the next four years: ''Aeneas Faversham Returns'' in 2007, ''Aeneas Faversham Forever'' in 2008, ''The Never Man'' in 2009, and ''The Penny Dreadfuls'' in 2010.

TV & BBC Radio (2007–present)

The troupe appeared on television in 2007 with a sketch in

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

's ''Comedy Shuffle.'' They then made the transfer onto radio in January 2008 with their own show, ''The Brothers Faversham,'' guest starring

Miles Jupp Miles Hugh Barrett Jupp (born 8 September 1979) is an English actor, singer, and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian before playing the role of the inventor Archie in the children's television series ''Balamory''. He also played ...

and

Ingrid Oliver Ingrid Oliver (born 25 February 1977) is a British actress and comedian, and one half of the comic double act '' Watson & Oliver''. She is known for playing Petronella Osgood, a supporting character in the BBC television series '' Doctor Who'' ...

. The four-part series was a fictional biography following the life and demise of one of the Faversham brothers. A second series, ''More Brothers Faversham'', was broadcast in October 2008 and later broadcast on

. Following on from this shift towards narrative comedy, in 2009 they wrote a comic retelling of the story of

Guy Fawkes Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educated ...

for the

Afternoon Drama ''Drama'' (formerly ''Afternoon Theatre'', ''Afternoon Drama,'' ''Afternoon Play'') is a BBC Radio 4 radio drama, broadcast every weekday at 2.15pm. Generally each play is 45 minutes in duration and approximately 190 new plays are broadcast each ...

slot on Radio 4. While they returned to the sketch format for their 2010 Edinburgh Fringe show. their radio comedy followed in the vein of ''Guy Fawkes'', writing a new historical comedy every year (except 2010 and 2013) for BBC Radio 4. In 2011 Margaret Cabourn-Smith played a supporting role in ''Revolution'', and became a regular fixture in most subsequent ''The Penny Dreadfuls Presents...'' plays. From 2012 onward, each play in ''The Penny Dreadfuls Presents...'' series was credited solely to Reed.

Radio episodes

All episodes star Ker, Reed, and Tuck.

''The Brothers Faversham'' (2008)

''More Brothers Faversham'' (2008)

''The Penny Dreadfuls Present...'' (2009-present)

Awards

References

External links

The Penny Dreadfuls on David Reed's websiteThe Penny Dreadfuls on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penny Dreadfuls, The Edinburgh Festival performers British comedy troupes Comedy collectives BBC Radio 4 programmes