News
What's going on in the life and career of Kathy Burke
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Live!
KathyBurke.co.uk goes live on the Internet, featuring a biography of Kathy plus a comprehensive run down of her career so far plus links to articles written about her and several interviews available to listen to online.
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Born bad beckons
Kathy’s latest play, Born Bad, opens at the Hampstead Theatre. Written by Debbie Tucker Green, Born Bad is an intense play centering on a black family forced to confront one sister’s nasty secret over the course of an evening. Described by The Guardian as equivalent to swallowing a “scalding cup of triple espresso in one gulp”. Stars Jenny Jules, Nadine Marshall, Alibe Parsons, Nicholas Pinnock, Ewart James Walters and Sharlene Whyte.
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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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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… 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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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.
