Matthew Holness

Born: None

Born in Whitstable, Kent in 1975, Matthew Holness is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is best known for his comic creation, the fictional horror novelist Garth Marenghi. He read English at Trinity College, Cambridge and was vice-president of the Cambridge Footlights. His contemporaries included Footlights president, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Olivia Colman and his Marenghi co-writer Richard Ayoade. Holness first appeared on television as a cast-member of the 2000 BBC Choice TV series Bruiser, which starred Mitchell, Webb, Colman and Martin Freeman. In that same year he won the Perrier at the Edinburgh Fringe for Garty Marenghi's Fright Night, which was transferred to UK television in the guise of the 2004 Channel 4 horror comedy Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Other credits include 2006's Man to Man with Dean Learner, several productions with Ricky Gervais such as The Office, Life's Too Short and Cemetery Junction, and the 2017 Channel 4 sitcom Back which starred Mitchell and Webb. In 2018 he made his feature length directorial debut with the film Possum, having previously helmed short films The Snipist and A Gun For George.


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Cemetery Junction

as Band Leader
Released: 2010-04-14

In 1970s England, three blue-collar friends spend their days joking, drinking, fighting and...

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Festival

as Roger - Lighting Man
Released: 2005-07-15

'Festival' is a black comedy set during the annual Edinburgh Fringe festival. The film is based...

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Friday Night Dinner: 10 Years and a Lovely Bit of Squirrel

as Himself
Released: 2021-05-28

With exclusive interviews and outtakes, this anniversary special celebrates a decade of Robert...

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A Gun for George

as Terry / George / The Reprisalizer
Released: 2011-05-11

Author Terry Finch struggles to find an outlet that will stock or reprint his violent pulp crime...

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Dodger Special: Bad Egg

as Sir Denholm Havers
Released: 2023-04-07

When a heist goes wrong, Dodger is given his harshest punishment yet - school!

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The Russell Howard Hour

as Garth Marenghi
First aired: 2017-09-21

Russell Howard offers his unique take on the week's news and current affairs, picking through...

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The Haunting of Bly Manor

as Dominic Wingrave
First aired: 2020-10-09

After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave hires a young American nanny to care for his...

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The Mighty Boosh

as Bob Fossil
First aired: 2004-05-18

A British comic fantasy containing humour and pop-culture references. Episodes often featured...

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Toast of London

as Max Gland
First aired: 2013-10-20

Steven Toast, an eccentric middle-aged actor with a chequered past, spends more time dealing...

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Toast of Tinseltown

as Richard Chickentoss
First aired: 2022-01-04

Tortured thespian Steven Toast relocates to the ultimate actor's playground - Hollywood. Surely...

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Year of the Rabbit

as Hector, Crown Prince of Bulgaria
First aired: 2019-06-10

Set in the dark heart of Victorian London, Detective Inspector Rabbit is a hardened booze-hound...

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The Office

as Simon
First aired: 2001-07-09

Nightmare boss. Tedious colleagues. Pointless tasks. Welcome to Wernham Hogg. Fancy a tea break...

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Friday Night Dinner

as Chris Parker
First aired: 2011-02-25

Two siblings share their Friday night dinners at their parents home and, somehow, something...

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Life's Too Short

as Ian
First aired: 2011-11-10

Life's Too Short is a British sitcom mockumentary created and written by Ricky Gervais and...

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We Are Lady Parts

as Gameshow host
First aired: 2021-05-20

An anarchic, laugh-out-loud music comedy following a Muslim female punk band called Lady Parts,...

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Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

as Garth Marenghi / Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.
First aired: 2004-01-29

When the Hellmouth opens beneath Darkplace Hospital in downtown Romford, kiddy doctor, Vietnam...

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Back

as Laurie
First aired: 2017-09-06

Estranged foster-brothers Stephen and Andrew vie to take over the family business following the...

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Man to Man with Dean Learner

as uncredited
First aired: 2006-10-20

Man to Man with Dean Learner is a British comedy chat show that was first broadcast on Channel 4...

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Bruiser

as uncredited
First aired: 2000-02-28

Bruiser is a TV comedy sketch show produced for BBC Two.

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Time Trumpet

as uncredited
First aired: 2006-08-03

Set in the year 2031, this mockumentary looks back at events that ostensibly happened during the...

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Free Agents

as uncredited
First aired: 2009-02-13

Free Agents is a romantic black comedy starring Stephen Mangan, Sharon Horgan and Anthony Head....

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