Chris Langham - Definition and Overview

Chris Langham (born 14 April 1949) is a British comedian. He is most famous for playing presenter Roy Mallard in People Like Us, first on Radio 4 and later on its transfer to television on BBC TWO, where Mallard is mainly, but not entirely, an unseen character. He subsequently created several spoof adverts in the same vein.

He has also written the BBC ONE sitcom Kiss Me Kate, which he also appeared in along with Caroline Quentin and Amanda Holden. Earlier in his career he wrote scripts for The Muppet Show. He appeared in the first series of Not the Nine O'clock News and Alas Smith and Jones. In the latter series he played an ineffectual panel show host, a character which apparently inspired John Morton to create the character of Roy Mallard. In 2003 he played George Orwell in a BBC docudrama entitled George Orwell - A Life In Pictures. One of his routines is Being an Owl.

Ironically, Langham's first television appearance was as a "special guest star" in The Muppet Show. The real guest star (Richard Pryor) was unable to make it to the recording, and so a script was hastily written in which "Chris the Delivery Boy" must stand in for an absent celebrity.

External links

• Interview (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1333978.stm) on BBC web site
• http://www.electromancer.com/showTrack.php?id=2d6cef72d1
• Profile (http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/talent/l/langham_chris.shtml) on BBC Comedy Guide