Kathy Burke

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

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  • Home
  • News
  • Career
    • Films
    • Television
    • Directing
    • Theatre
    • Awards
    • TV appearances
  • Podcast
  • Media
  • About

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

    Kathy Burke and her quare fellow

    January 30, 2004 /

    Kathy Burke is one of our most popular actresses. Winner of the Best Actress Award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for Gary Oldman’s lacerating Nil by Mouth, regular nominee and award winner in the TV comedy stakes, she could by now be pulling in the mega-bucks. She also taught me, “don’t just be involved as an actor in this business. Try and branch out and understand the other side of things”.’ Instead, here she is on a grey January evening, sitting in the bare dressing room of London’s famous Old Vic Theatre, solemn-faced, chain-smoking – a far cry from her larger-than-life comic creations – love-lorn Linda of Gimme Gimme…

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    Kathy Burke: Why I’m giving up acting

    July 9, 2002

    60-second interview: Kathy Burke

    June 2, 2005

    Marey, who cleans airports and sings with a band

    February 1, 1999
  • Articles,  Media

    London’s most famous Burke

    April 11, 2002 /

    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…

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    Kathy stars in a change of role

    February 2, 2005

    With most television stars, their small-screen personas are larger than life. With Kathy Burke, it’s the other way round

    August 13, 1995

    Carlton preview of Kevin & Perry Go Large

    April 1, 2000
  • Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke
    Articles,  Media

    ‘I’d see her every day of my life if I could’

    April 10, 2002 /

    Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke get on like a house on fire. But does he really want to make a blue movie with her? Rupert Smith meets them The Guardian “Do you smoke?” Kathy Burke is generous with her fags; she and Ray Winstone have both got one on the go, and she’s eager to thicken the atmosphere. “No? Well, you do now.” An interview with Burke and Winstone, the pearly king and queen of British acting, is an exercise in passive smoking. It also becomes clear, after a few minutes, that the fizzing liquid they are guzzling with such relish after a hard day’s rehearsal is not Perrier. The main ingredient…

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    Burke’s peerage

    July 13, 1999

    60-second interview: Kathy Burke

    June 2, 2005

    60-second interview: Kathy Burke

    July 9, 2002

Recent Posts

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  • Many happy returns
  • Holding Norton

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