News
What's going on in the life and career of Kathy Burke
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On the Graham Norton Show
Kathy Burke appeared on the Graham Norton Show yesterday to plug the new show she’s written called Walking and Talking. The show is based on her childhood in London (“my life at the age of 14, 15, waiting to get into the Anna Scher theatre”) and stemmed from a short piece she wrote last year called Little Crackers – a true story about she and her friend Mary met The Clash and got their autographs. The show also features Kathy herself playing an “angry nun” that is based on her father. “It was a very 60s and 70s upbringing, I had a really rough time but I remember everything with…
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On Have I Got News for You
Kathy guest hosted Have I Got News for You last night: a rare accolade given to Britain’s finest characters (and occasionally famous idiots). Starring alongside the usual team leader Ian Hislop and Paul Merton was Ken Livingstone – recently beaten in the London Mayoral election – and some funny fella with a good beard. Thanks to the power of the Internet, you can watch the whole episode below (at least until the BBC complains and it’s taken down). Kathy is a terrific host of course and you can expect to see her pop up on other shows soon. HIGNFY S43E06 – Kathy Burke, Ken Livingstone… by bobalmighty
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Return to the big screen
There’s been a fair amount of press in the past week about Kathy’s return to the big screen. She will be playing the role of Connie Sachs, a key supporting role in the spy book Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy which is currently being filmed. Also starring is old friend and collaborator Gary Oldman – who most likely persuaded Kathy to take the part – Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, and others. According to one press report, whose source appears to be the film’s executive producer, Kathy has called the part “blinding”. The character of Connie Sachs is an eccentric alcoholic spinster who both mothers and flirts with the MI6 agents. She’s…
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On Desert Island Discs
Kathy appeared this morning on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs – one British institution meeting another. The radio show is a long-time favourite mostly because of its clever format: guests are asked to select eight records that they would take with them to a desert island, and those songs are used to gain insight into who they are and where they come from (they are also allowed a luxury item and a book). As ever, Kathy spoke honestly and movingly about her life and her experiences, including making peace with her alcoholic Dad before he died, her contentedness in living a single life, the pleasure of winning Best Actress at…
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Getting the Horne
The BBC has put out a press release about Horne and Corden, calling it “most successful first series of a comedy on BBC Three”. The series attracted an average of 929,000 viewers – impressive but plenty of critics have been mean enough to point out that the audience dropped off rapidly, with nearly 1.4 million watching the first episode but less than half that – 675,000 – watching the last. The BBC feels it has a success on its hands (talks are “underway” for a second series) but the critics have been pretty much universally negative calling it crude and unfunny.
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Last call for Corden
The last episode of Horne and Corden was shown today. For in-depth details of the show and an episode guide, go to the British Comedy Guide website. There is an official website for the series on the BBC website.
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Direct this!
An amusing spoof of Kathy’s directing and role in British comedy filed on the set of Horne and Corden has been posted on YouTube by BBC Three. Pasted below.
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New gig
Kathy has been named as the director for a new BBC comedy sketch series with the working title Horne And Corden Have Come. According to a press release, the BBC Three show is “designed as a traditional comedy entertainment show in the style of Morecambe and Wise”. It will be consist of new comedy characters as well as performances in front of a live studio audience. The production company, Tiger Aspect, has a few sparse details about the series on its website. A fan site for one of the two stars – James Corden – has a lot more. And the BBC’s Newsbeat has an interview with the two about it. Of working with Kathy, they…
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Talking nunsense
Kathy has spoken about with the fact that she spent the past 12 months extremely unwell and hasn’t been working as a result. She did an interview with Mark Lamarr and Jo Brand on Radio 2 and talked about catching the Clostridium difficle “superbug” while in hospital for an operation on her abdomen. Disturbingly, she apparently went through no less than three “near-death experiences” during the course of the year, but jokingly added that “I didn’t see any white light or nuns or anything.” The C.difficile bacteria occur naturally in the body but an infection – on the increase in hospitals in recent years – can result in massive overgrowth…
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Dying for it – literally?
According to The Sun newspaper, Kathy was taken to hospital yesterday “with a mystery illness after collapsing with crippling stomach pains”. Despite the wisdom of taking any Sun story with a pinch of salt, it has since turned out that Kathy has already been replaced as director for a play opening at the Almeida Theatre in March. In fact, the Almeida put out a barely noticed press release [Word doc] on 29 January that read: “Anna Mackmin will take over from Kathy Burke to direct the Almeida’s latest commission Dying For It – Moira Buffini’s new free adaptation of Nikolai Erdman’s satirical comedy The Suicide. Kathy Burke has unfortunately had to withdraw from the production at short…
