Craig Hill is a Scottish comedian, TV presenter and actor known for his cheeky, irreverent and camp act.

Biography

Hill's first public success came at age ten when he won a local

talent contest A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

in his native

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a raise ...

, impersonating Cleo Laine. In 1991, he moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in order to study drama at

Queen Margaret University College Queen Margaret University is a university, founded in 1875 and located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret. History The university was founded in 1875, as ''The Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic ...

, graduating in 1994. Hill's comedy characters as well as his ability to improvise and write material led him into stand-up. He was still an actor, working in Theatre in Education and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...

s when a friend secretly booked him in for an 'open spot' in 1998. In 1997 and 1998, Hill performed a lead role (Jeremy Weller) in the Grassmarket Project's theatre production "Mad" 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 ...

. Since 2002, Hill has extensively toured with his solo comedy shows throughout Scotland, Ireland and the UK. His international work includes Montreal's Just For Laughs Festival 2008 where he hosted the prestigious Britcom series as well as Bubbling With Laughter and shows in Toronto, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, New York, Singapore, Amsterdam, Brussels, Ghent, Athens, Stockholm and Berlin. He previously hosted Edinburgh's Hogmanay coverage for the BBC and from 2011–2016 has been the host of the Inverness Hogamanay Street Party "Red Hot Highland Fling" on 31 December to bring on the new year. In 2017 he made his Glastonbury Festival debut and 2018 sees his 20th year of performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Selected work

Edinburgh Festival Fringe seasons and touring shows

*1999 ''Three Weird Beards'', (fringe debut as part of Scottish triple bill, Gilded Balloon) *2000 ''Craig Hill’s Alive with the Sound of Music'', (Gilded Balloon) *2001 ''Craig Hill’s Wiz To Oz'', (Gilded Balloon) *2002 ''Craig Hill – The People’s Friend'', (Assembly Rooms) *2003 ''Craig Hill – Live!'', (Assembly Rooms) *2004 ''Craig Hill – One Man & His Kilt!'', (Pod Deco + touring) *2005 ''Craig Hill’s Got the Ballroom'', (Assembly Rooms + touring) *2006 ''Craig Hill – Kilty Pleasures'', (Assembly Rooms + touring) *2007 ''Craig Hill – Makin' A Big Song & Dance'', (Assembly Universal Theatre + touring) *2008 ''Craig Hill Makes Your Whole Week!'', (Gilded Balloon + touring) *2009 ''Craig Hill – 40 Love…?'', (Gilded Balloon + touring) *2010 ''Craig Hill – Why Don’t You Come Down the Front?!'', (Gilded Balloon + touring) *2011 ''Craig Hill – Blown By a Fan'', (Underbelly, Bristo Square + touring) *2012 ''Craig Hill – Jock’s Trap!'', (Underbelly, Bristo Square + touring) *2013 ''Craig Hill – Tartan About!'', (Underbelly, Bristo Square + touring) *2014 ''Craig Hill – Give Him an Inch...'', (Underbelly, Bristo Square + touring) *2015 ''Craig Hill – Playing with My Selfie!'', (EICC Edinburgh International Conference Centre + touring) *2016 ''Craig Hill – Up and Coming!'', (EICC Edinburgh International Conference Centre + touring) *2017 ''Craig Hill – Someone's Gonna Get Kilt!'', (EICC Edinburgh International Conference Centre + touring) *2018 ''Craig Hill – C'Mon the Lads!'', (EICC Edinburgh International Conference Centre + touring)

Radio

* 2002 ''Craig Hill’s Passionate Encounters'' (presenter, BBC Radio Scotland) * 2002 ''Famous for Five Minutes'' (host, comedy quiz, BBC Radio Scotland)

Television

* 1998 – '' Edinburgh or Bust'', (Featured artist, Channel 4) * 2001 – '' Ralf Little's Edinburgh Nights'', (guest, BBC Scotland) * 2001 – ''

T IN THE PARK T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...

'', (roving reporter & anchor, BBC Scotland & BBC2 coverage of the live music festival) * 2002 – 2003 series I, II & III'' Live Floor Show'', (featured weekly artist, BBC Scotland comedy programme) * 2002 – ''

Music Live Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect o ...

'', (festival for Queen's jubilee celebrations, live-to-air co-presenter, BBC Scotland) * 2002 – ''

'', (roving reporter & anchor, BBC Scotland & BBC2 coverage of the live music festival) * 2003 – '' Melbourne Comedy Festival Live'', (Host, Channel 9, Australia) * 2010 – ''

Rove Rove may refer to: Places * Le Rove, a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France * Rove, Honiara, a suburb of Honiara, Solomon Islands * Rove, Vojnik, a settlement in the hills east of Frankolovo in the Municipality of Vojnik ...

'', (live-t-air performance, Network Ten Australia) * 2003 – '' Hogmanay Live 2003'', (live-to-air presenter from Edinburgh for BBC 1's New Year's show) * 2003 – ''

'', (roving reporter & anchor, BBC Scotland & BBC2 coverage of the live music festival) * 2004 – '' Floor Show'', (featured weekly artist & presenter, BBC2 comedy programme) * 2004 – ''

'', (roving reporter & anchor, BBC Scotland & BBC2 coverage of the live music festival) * 2005 – '' Craig Hill's Out Tonight'', (presenter, BBC Scotland chat, entertainment and comedy show) * 2005 – '' Edinburgh Fringe with Dara O'Briain'', (guest, STV) * 2005 – '' Hissy Fits'', (guest, Channel 4) * 2005 – ''

The 10 Commandments of Political Correctness ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'', (contributor, Sky1) * 2005 – ''

BBC'S Children in Need #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the ...

'', (guest, BBC Scotland) * 2008 – '' Just For Laughs'', (CBC TV gala at the Montreal Comedy Festival) * 2009 – ''

The Scots factor ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'', (STV) * 2010 – ''

Good News Week ''Good News Week'' is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and 11 February 2008 to 28 April 2012. The show's initial run aired on ABC until being bought by Network Ten ...

'', (panellist, Network Ten Australia) * 2010 – ''

Spics & Specs ''Spic'' (also spelled ''spick'') is an ethnic slur used in the United States for people from Latin American countries and states. Etymology Some sources from the United States believe that the word ''spic'' is a play on a Spanish-accented pro ...

'', (panellist, Network Ten Australia) * 2011-2014 – ''

Cracker Night ''Cracker Night'' is an Australian comedy television gala event sponsored by the Comedy Channel, executive produced by the Comedy Channel programming director Darren Chau, and produced by Elia Eliades, Jorge Menidis and Total Show Productions for ...

'', (hosting & guest spots, assorted Australian channels) * 2018 – ''

Impossible Impossible, Imposible or Impossibles may refer to: Music * ''ImPossible'' (album), a 2016 album by Divinity Roxx * ''The Impossible'' (album) Groups * The Impossibles (American band), a 1990s indie-ska group from Austin, Texas * The Impossible ...

'', (BBC One)

Short film

* Lay of the Land (supporting role, Producer: Screenbase; Director: Fraser McDonald; 1998)

External links

Craig Hill
official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Craig Alumni of Queen Margaret University Edinburgh Comedy Festival Scottish LGBT comedians Living people People from East Kilbride Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Scottish male actors Scottish male comedians Scottish television presenters Year of birth missing (living people) Scottish male television actors 21st-century Scottish LGBT people