Charlie Higson

Charles Murray Higson (born 3 July 1958) is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer. He has also written and produced for television and is the author of the young adult post-apocalyptic book series The Enemy, as well as the first five novels in the Young Bond series.

Early life

Born in Frome, Somerset, Higson was educated at Sevenoaks School, Kent and at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich (where his brother taught from 1986 to 2008, latterly as Professor of Film Studies). At UEA, Higson met Paul Whitehouse, David Cummings and Terry Edwards. Higson, Cummings and Edwards formed the band The Higsons, of which Higson was the lead singer from 1980 to 1986. They released two singles on the Specials' 2 Tone Records label. This was after he had formed the punk band The Right Hand Lovers, wherein he performed as "Switch".^[1] Higson then started squatting in London^[2] and became a decorator, including decorating the house of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.^[3]

Career

Higson started writing for Harry Enfield with Paul Whitehouse and performing comedy. He came to public attention as one of the main writers and performers of the BBC Two sketch show The Fast Show (1994–2000). He also worked with Whitehouse on the radio comedy Down the Line.^[4] In 1994 Higson co-wrote (with Lise Mayer) the screenplay for the film thriller Suite 16.

He worked as producer, writer, director and occasional guest star on Randall & Hopkirk from 2000 to 2001. Subsequent television work has included writing and starring in BBC Three's Fast Show spin-off sitcom Swiss Toni. He first appeared as a panellist on QI in 2007. In 2010 he co-directed and starred in the series Bellamy's People.

In 2013 Higson adapted

2020 saw Higson compete on Richard Osman's House of Games.^[5] alongside Chizzy Akudolu, Kate Williams and Tom Allen.^[6]

Higson has also starred in Lobby Land, a radio sitcom on BBC Radio 4, as Tom Shriver MP.^[7]

Books

Time Out has described Higson as "The missing link between Dick Emery and Bret Easton Ellis".^[8]

Higson wrote a series of five

.

Higson wrote a post-apocalyptic, zombie-horror series of books for young adults. The eponymous first book in the series, titled The Enemy, was released in 2009.^[10] At a school event at Abingdon School on 14 September 2011, Charlie told children: "Originally it was going to be three books and then my publisher, Puffin, said make it five, and now we're up to it being seven."^[11] The seventh novel, The End, was published in 2015.^[12]

In 2018 Higson wrote a Fighting Fantasy gamebook titled The Gates of Death, which was published by Scholastic books as part of their campaign to relaunch the Fighting Fantasy franchise. He is a long term FF enthusiast, having attended Fighting Fantasy Fest 2 in London the previous year and also made a cameo appearance in the Ian Livingstone gamebook Blood of the Zombies.^[13]

In May 2023 Higson released his first adult Bond novel, On His Majesty's Secret Service, to mark the Coronation of King Charles III and support the National Literacy Trust.^[14]

Personal life

Higson lives in London with his wife and three sons.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Distributor	Notes
1994	Suite 16		Meteor Film Productions	Co-writer
1996	Shooting Stars: Unviewed and Nude	Alan Ball / Hans Solo		Uncredited
1998	The Land Girls	Subaltern		Uncredited
1998	The Fast Show Live	Various characters
2003	King of the Ants		The Asylum	writer
2013	Appearance	Charlie Higson		Short film
2014	The Red Line	Barman		Short film
2017	The Ministry of Stories Anthology of Horror	Hydra

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990–1991	Vic Reeves Big Night Out	Various characters	9 episodes
1990	The Craig Ferguson Show	Various characters	Television film, also writer
1990–1992	Harry Enfield's Television Programme	Various characters	4 episodes, also writer
1993–1995	The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer	Robert DeNiro Swiss Toni Various characters	10 episodes
1994–2014	The Fast Show	Swiss Toni Various characters	25 episodes, also writer
1997	It's Ulrika!	Various characters	Television film
1998	Ted & Ralph	Ralph Mayhew Aunt Cecilia Ralph's Father	Television film
1999	Bang, Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer	Various characters	6 episodes
1999	You Ain't Seen All These, Right?	Various characters	Television film
2000–2001	Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)	Various characters	12 episodes, also writer
2001	Fun at the Funeral Parlour	Nutkins	1.04 "The Mountains of Doom"
2001	Happiness	Bryan the Counsellor	1.04 "Desperate Dan"
2003	The Fast Show Farewell Tour	Various characters	Television film, also writer
2003–2004	Swiss Toni	Swiss Toni	16 episodes, also writer
2004	Catterick	Pat	Television miniseries
2006	Dick & Dom in da Bungalow	Himself	Celebrity 'Bungalow Head'
2010	Bellamy's People	Various characters	1.01 "Episode One"
2010–2012	Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul	Bunny	5 episodes
2011	The Fast Show Faster	Swiss Toni / Various characters	3 episodes
2013	Marple	James Bond	6.01 "A Caribbean Mystery", also writer
2014	The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm	The Mayor	Television film, also writer
2015	Professor Branestawm Returns	Mayor	Television film, also writer
2015	Jekyll and Hyde		10 episodes. Creator, showrunner
2017	Broadchurch	Ian Winterman	7 episodes
2017	Grantchester	Ronnie Maguire	2 episodes
2023	Mog's Christmas	Jolly Uncle (voice)	Animated television film[15]

Bibliography

Novels

• King of the Ants (1992)
  ISBN 0-349-11103-0
• Happy Now (1993)
  ISBN 978-0-241-13363-7
• Full Whack (1995),
  ISBN 0-241-00287-7
• Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen (1996)
  ISBN 0-316-88106-6
• Monstroso (2010)
  ISBN 978-0-14-132845-4
• Whatever Gets You Through the Night (2022) ISBN 9781408714287

The Enemy

The Enemy novels

1. ISBN 0-14-138464-6
2. ISBN 978-0-14-138465-8
3. ISBN 0-14-138466-2
4. ISBN 978-0-14-133612-1
5. The Fallen (2013)
   ISBN 978-0-14-133614-5
6. ISBN 9780141336107
7. The End (2015) ASIN B00Z8PHRKS^[16]

The Enemy short story

• Geeks vs. Zombies (2012)
  Disney Hyperion,^[17] portrays an exclusive scene from The Fear, on World Book Day.^[18]
  )

Young Bond

1. ISBN 0-14-131859-7
2. ISBN 0-14-131860-0
3. ISBN 0-14-132203-9
4. ISBN 0-14-138391-7
5. ISBN 0-14-138451-4
6. SilverFin: The Graphic Novel (2008),
   ISBN 978-0-14-132253-7 (with Kev Walker
   )
7. ISBN 978-0-14-132768-6
   (authored short story included in book)

Fighting Fantasy

• The Gates of Death (2018)

James Bond

• On His Majesty's Secret Service (2023),
  ISBN 978-1-915-79707-0

Non-fiction

• The 'Fast Show' Book (1996),
  ISBN 0-7522-2267-8 (with Paul Whitehouse
  )

Short stories

• "The Red Line" in The 'Time Out' Book of Short Stories, edited by Maria Lexton (1993),
  ISBN 0-14-023085-8
• "The Beast of Babylon" in Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories, with Neil Gaiman, Richelle Mead, Eoin Colfer, Marcus Sedgwick, Michael Scott, Philip Reeve, Patrick Ness, Malorie Blackman, Alex Scarrow, Derek Landy (2013), ISBN 978-0-14-134894-0

References

1. ^ Odell, Michael (31 August 2008). "This much I know: Charlie Higson, author, 50, London – Life and style – The Observer". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
2. ^ Charlie Higson (October 2015). "Charlie Higson: my days squatting with Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse". The Guardian.
3. ^ according to Stephen Fry on the QI programme (Series D, Episode 12) (repeated on the channel Dave, 21 July 2009)
4. ^ Byrne, Ciar (1 October 2007). "Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson: Making (radio) waves". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 24 December 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2007.
5. ^ "BBC Two – Richard Osman's House of Games". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
6. ^ "Episode #2.25". IMDb.com. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
7. ^ "Lobby Land". BBC. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
8. ^ "Quoted on Publisher's webpage". Little,Brown on 'Full Whack'. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
9. ^ "By Royal Command official announcement". The Young Bond Dossier. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
10. ^ "Official Enemy Website". Archived from the original on 29 July 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
11. ^ "mostly books blog: A master class in dealing with the undead". Mostly-books.blogspot.com. 15 September 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
12. ^ sapphirebooklover; Higson, Charlie (30 October 2015). "Charlie Higson: 'The Enemy series is my own zombie survival plan'". The Guardian.
13. ^ "Fighting Fantasy Interview with Charlie Higson". fightingfantasy.com. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
14. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (31 March 2023). "New James Bond Story 'On His Majesty's Secret Service' Commissioned to Celebrate King Charles' Coronation". Variety.
15. ^ "Voice Cast Announced as Everyone's Favourite Family Cat, Mog, Comes to Channel 4 for Christmas 2023". channel4.com/press. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
16. ^ "A Master Class in Dealing With the Undead". Mostly-Books. 15 September 2011. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
17. ISBN 978-0-14-134424-9
    .
18. ^ Book Description: Geeks v. Zombies. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2012 – via Amazon.com.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charlie Higson.

• Official website
• BBC Talent Guide profile Archived 17 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
• Another BBC profile of Higson
• Higson profile at MI6.co.uk – interview series and biography
• Charlie Higson at
  IMDb
• Charlie Higson at Library of Congress, with 14 library catalogue records
• Charlie Higson at British Comedy Guide
• New interview (2008): Charlie in Command
• Charlie Higson Archive, University of East Anglia