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Happiness is…
Kathy has a guest appearance in Paul Whitehouse’s comedy Happiness as herself. The comic tale of a man approaching 40 whose wife has recently died, Danny Spencer (Whitehouse) is the voice of a kid’s cartoon bear called Dexter. This is the first episode of the second series and sees Spencer continue his mid-life crisis with an unsuccessful blind date and a visit to a cool London club. Kathy appears playing successful actress Kathy Burke, loved by all, but a stroppy and demanding cow when she turns up in person to lend her voice to a guest-star cartoon character.
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Gimme gimme… have that!
Kathy has been awarded Best Comedy Actress of the year for Gimme Gimme Gimme at the British Comedy Awards. And created quite a stir with her acceptance speech, instantly beamed to millions of viewers and just passed by the 9pm watershed. “Thank you very much. This is nice, it’s about fucking time. Gimme Gimme Gimme has won fuck all.” She then told the “Groucho Club” media types “I couldn’t give a shit about any of you.” Host Jonathan Ross quipped: “If only they had the courage to put this out live.” Vintage Burke.
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Anita and Me
Meena is a twelve-year-old living in the Midlands in 1972 with her Indian parents. They believe that by coming to England Meena has the chance of a better life but when Anita Rutter and her family arrive on the scene things start to change rapidly… Year released 2002 Director Metin Huseyin Character played Deidre Rutter IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes | Wikipedia
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Mother Rutter
Anita and Me goes on general release. Adapted from the bestselling novel by Meera Syal, this film covers the growing up of young Indian girl Meena (Chandeep Uppal) in a small English village in the 1970s. Meena soon starts to idolise 14-year-old local Anita Rutter (Anna Brewster) and gets herself in a few scrapes while trying to impress her. Kathy stars as Anita’s vicious mother.
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Once Upon A Time In The Midlands
The great classic that never was, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands boasted the Britain’s biggest directing talent, Shane Meadows, alongside its finest actors – Robert Carlyle, Rhys Ifans and Kathy Burke. The tale, a modern Western set in Nottingham, promised to be a breath of fresh air. Sadly, despite some lovely acting, it all ended up a bit stale. Meadows possesses an undoubted gift for capturing bottled-up emotions and their explosive release, but it doesn’t stretch to bittersweet comedy. Despite the introduction of Mr Bittersweet himself, Ricky Tomlinson, and the acting range of the cast, the film swerves wildly down the hill on which much of the action is set.…
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Once upon a… now
The latest film by Shane Meadows, Once Upon A Time in the Midlands, starring Kathy as Carol goes on general release. Filmed in Meadows’ home city of Nottingham between September and October 2001, the film is an updated homage to Sergio Leone’s legendary Western Once Upon a Time in the West. Kathy plays the sister of the main character Jimmy (Robert Carlyle) who arrives back in town to win the hand of his old girlfriend Shirely (Shirley Henderson). Ricky Tomlinson starring as Carol’s estranged husband and Rhys Ifans plays the unlucky loser in love. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer pop up as kung-fu clowns.
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Kathy Burke: Why I’m giving up acting
Kathy Burke, one of this country’s best-loved character actresses, is directing her first West End play. She tells James Rampton about the frustrations of being an actor and why she decided to quit The Independent Five years ago, Kathy Burke was being taken in Luc Besson’s private jet to the Cannes Film Festival to pick up her Best Actress Award for her stunning performance as the battered wife in Nil by Mouth. Hollywood producers were door-stepping her like so many double-glazing salesmen. This week, she is to be found in the rather more humble surroundings of a run-down church hall normally used by an Islington Scout group. But she couldn’t be…
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Oooh Betty!
Doors open to Karen McLachlan’s play Betty at the Vaudeville Theatre. Directed by Kathy, Betty sees Geraldine McNulty play devout and repressed middle-aged woman who accidentally finds love in her washing machine’s spin cycle. She then heads off on a bizarre journey of discovery as she tries to break her addiction to the mechanical marvel.
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60-second interview: Kathy Burke
The Metro Kathy Burke is probably the UK’s most versatile actress; whether playing Linda in Gimme Gimme Gimme or portraying a victim of domestic violence in Nil By Mouth, the plaudits are all hers. Yet now she’s turned to her other love, and has her West End directorial debut with Betty, starring Geraldine McNulty at the Vaudeville Theatre. How crazy is it seeing yourself on screen?It’s horrible. People started to get really body-conscious when camcorders came along. They suddenly saw what they really looked like. You look in the mirror and see what you want to see but when you find out how other people see you, it’s a bit of a shock. Is…
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London’s most famous Burke
The Evening Standard Kathy Burke has been called a national treasure so many times that they might as well erect a monument to her. So it is a matter of some concern when one of the very few Brits to have won the prestigious Best Actress award at Cannes, for Nil By Mouth, declares that she’s had enough of acting. The truth is that her work on screen has slightly overshadowed her other life as a playwright and a theatre director. But next week, at the Royal Court, Burke-fanciers will be able to see the results of her directorial work on stage with a new Nick Grosso play, Kosher Harry. Having directed…
