Kathy Burke

Everything you could reasonably want to know about the actress and director

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What’s this site about?

Everything you could reasonably want to know about the actor and director Kathy Burke.

And why does it exist?

Because Kathy Burke is the best British character actress of her generation, a comic marvel, and a down-to-earth hero to millions.

She has won worldwide acclaim in both comedy and serious drama roles. She has range – in both life and work.

As an actress, she stunned as a battered wife in Nil by Mouth, appalled as a crass tart in her own sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme, and amazed as a horny (male) teenager in Harry Enfield’s comedy show. Her cameos often steal the show.

As a director, Kathy has produced numerous plays to critical acclaim. And as a human being she has inspired, encouraged and cheered millions of ordinary citizens. Who else would Stephen Fry put in “Room Lovely” where everything about the world is good and life-enhancing?

See more on her, from recent news to a rundown of her career in films, television and theatre to date, interviews and articles about her and a small piece about Kathy and this website.

  • Articles,  Media

    60-second interview: Kathy Burke

    July 9, 2002 /

    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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    ‘I’m a person who walks on eggshells’

    October 23, 2005
    Kathy Burke. Pic by Clara Molden

    Kathy Burke: ‘A national treasure? I’m the opposite!’

    April 6, 2011
    Kathy Burke at home. Pic by Teri Pengilley

    From Waynetta to director

    February 27, 2009
  • Articles,  Media

    Kathy comes home

    January 16, 1999 /

    The Irish Post London-Irish actress Kathy Burke has popped up again on our TV screens, this time in the form of an orange-bewigged flatmate nightmare hunting for a man. Joe Crilly reports. Gimme Gimme Gimme is an odd couple scenario scripted by acclaimed playwright Jonathan Harvey. Kathy Burke plays down-at-heel Linda, who is hungry for love and passion. She shares a flat with her gay friend, Tom, played by James Dreyfus, who also hankers after the ideal mate, like the lyrics of the Abba song, ‘Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight’. In last week’s first episode Linda, discovering a strange man in their flat after a night on the town,…

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    Kathy comes home

    February 10, 2002

    Kathy Burke in Walking and Talking on Sky Atlantic

    June 23, 2012

    ‘I’m a person who walks on eggshells’

    October 23, 2005
  • Articles,  Media

    The gay, the sad and the ugly

    January 4, 1999 /

    Kathy Burke says she knows her place when it comes to casting. And it’s not among the beautiful people. The Independent If you thought that Waynetta was a slob, Linda, the character Kathy Burke plays in a new BBC2 sitcom, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, is even more gross than the shell-suited, chain-smoking wife of Wayne she inhabits for Harry Enfield and Chums. Life for Linda and her gay flatmate Tom (James Dreyfus from The Thin Blue Line) is one long sex, drugs and rock’n’roll perma-bender. Done up in a ginger fright-wig and white-rimmed clown glasses, Linda gets so out of it her only way of knowing whether she ended the blinder…

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    Kathy Burke. Pic by Clara Molden

    Kathy Burke: ‘A national treasure? I’m the opposite!’

    April 6, 2011

    Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke bring everyone’s favourite angst-ridden teenagers to the big screen

    September 9, 1999

    Kathy comes home

    February 10, 2002

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