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Alan Roger Davies (; ; born 6 March 1966) is an English actor, presenter, stand-up comedian and writer. He is known for his portrayal of the title role in the mystery drama series (1997–2016) and as the only permanent panellist on the panel show QI since its premiere in 2003, outlasting its original host .


Early life and education
Davies was born on 6 March 1966 in , , and spent his childhood years in . When Davies was six, his mother died from and he was raised by his father. He was sexually abused by his father from age 8 to 13, as described in his book Just Ignore Him. Davies also wrote that his brother and sister were turned against him, which began his strong desire to please others. This led him to shoplift for schoolmates and play the joker at home.

Davies attended Staples Road School in Loughton and was privately educated at Bancroft's School in , where he gained eight O-Levels. He then moved on to Loughton College of Further Education where he gained four more O-Levels and two A-Levels (Communications & Theatre Studies). He graduated in Drama & Theatre Studies from the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1988, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university in 2003.

In 2016, he pursued a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, which he completed in September 2018.


Career

Stand-up
Davies began performing comedy in 1988 at the Labour Club. In 1991, he was named Time Outs Best Young Comic. He continued touring and performing in the UK and Australia, winning the Edinburgh Festival Critics Award for Comedy in 1994. That show was released on video and audio cassette in 1995 as Alan Davies Live at the Lyric recorded at the Lyric Theatre as part of the Perrier Pick of the Fringe season in October 1994.

A version of his show Urban Trauma, which ran in the West End at the and toured the UK and Australia, was shown on in 1998.

In 2012, Davies planned a new tour called Life is Pain. The Graham Norton Show, , 27 January 2012. The title for this show came from a story he heard about a six-year-old girl being told off by her mother and responding "Life is pain". Davies said "This really made me laugh". The tour was broadcast on Dave.


Radio and television
In 1994 and 1995, Davies hosted Alan's Big One for three series on Radio 1 before appearing in Channel 4's spoof travel show One for the Road (made by in 1994/5).

From 1997 to 2016, he played the title role in , a trick-deviser for a stage magician, with a side interest in solving crimes. Jonathan Creek won a for Best Drama and brought Davies to mainstream attention. The series ran semi-regularly between 1997 and 2004; the series continued on New Year's Day 2009 with a special episode titled "The Grinning Man", which was broadcast on the BBC. Further specials were aired in 2010 ("The Judas Tree") and 2013 ("The Clue of the Savant's Thumb").

Davies co-wrote and starred in his own radio sitcom, The Alan Davies Show, in 1998. Cassettes of the show were produced and released by the BBC, with episodes broadcast on the station BBC7. He played Russell Boyd in the BBC comedy A Many Splintered Thing, also in 1998 and 2000.

In 2001, Davies played Robert Gossage in Bob and Rose, a about a gay man falling for a woman. He won the Best Actor award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival for his performance. He also played Jack the dog in the radio sitcom About a Dog. In 2003, Davies appeared as a Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car on Top Gear with a time of 1:54 in wet conditions. He returned in Series 8 with 1:50.3 in dry conditions. During a period from the mid-1990s to 2002, Davies advertised for .

Davies took on a less comedic role in 2004, starring as Henry Farmer, a maverick barrister, in ITV Sunday night drama The Brief, for two series. Subsequent drama roles include Superintendent Mallard in Agatha Christie's Marple (ITV, 2008), as well as appearances in The Good Housekeeping Guide (BBC One, 2006), Roman Road (ITV 2004) and Hotel Babylon (BBC One, 2008).

He argued the case for as the greatest Briton of all time on the BBC's series in 2002. In 2007, Davies starred in the second episode of ITV's You Don't Know You're Born and on The Unbelievable Truth.

He has appeared in an episode of the BBC science programme Horizon in which Professor Marcus du Sautoy attempted to introduce him to elements of mathematical thought which was broadcast on on 31 March 2009. He went on to appear in Horizon for a second time in November 2009, this time leading the episode — du Sautoy also returned as a guest speaker.

On 16 May 2010, Davies appeared in "Your Sudden Death Question", an episode of the ITV detective series Lewis, as Marcus Richard, a scamming quizmaster at a competition held in an Oxford college, at which some of the contestants are murdered. In September 2010, he began a three-part documentary series Alan Davies' Teenage Revolution (Channel 4), partly based on his autobiographical book My Favourite People and Me, 1978–88.

In September 2010, a BBC comedy series entitled Whites starring Davies as a chef premiered. It was cancelled after the first series. It is believed to have been a victim of the cuts at the BBC subsequent to the reduced licence fee settlement.

In April 2011, Davies appeared as the guest on the return of the ABC TV conversation program A Quiet Word With .... In 2011, Davies was also one of the judges on the ITV programme Show Me The Funny, a talent contest for new and aspiring stand-up comedy performers.

In September 2012, Davies made his first appearance on Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz series, winning The Big Fat Quiz of the '90s alongside .

In February 2014, Davies presented a chat show Alan Davies Après-Ski on BBC Two, which looked at some of the highlights of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. He also co-hosted the Brazilian Banter podcast for ITV with Tom & Dom from Bantams Banter. The show was a satirical look at the 2014 FIFA World Cup hosted by Brazil.

Since 2014, he has hosted The Dog Rescuers for Channel 5 and the chat show for Dave.

In 2021, Davis took part in the twelfth series of Taskmaster, finishing in joint third with . He would be a studio fill-in for for the "New Year's Treat" special in 2022, due to Peacock being unwell.


QI
Davies appears as the only permanent panellist on the BBC Two comedy quiz game QI; the programme was hosted by from 2003 to 2016, and has been hosted by after Fry's departure. He also contributed "four words" to the QI book The Book of General Ignorance (which appear after Stephen Fry's foreword), "Will this do, Stephen?". Davies has appeared in almost every regular episode of the show, though in one episode (Episode 10 of Series D, "Divination") he appeared, pre-recorded, in only the first few minutes, as he was in Paris attending the UEFA Champions League Final between and his beloved Arsenal during the recording. His chair was empty for the rest of the episode, although his voice was heard during "General Ignorance". He also did not appear in the 2011 Comic Relief episode, when his seat was taken by . During the filming of the QI Christmas episode 2020, Davies set the new Guinness World Record for the most Christmas crackers pulled by an individual in 30 seconds, achieving 35 successful cracks. His record stood until Joel Corry achieved 41 successful cracks at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball on 12 December 2021.


Books
Davies's first book, the autobiographical My Favourite People and Me, 1978–88 was published by Michael Joseph () in September 2009. Of the memoir, Davies said he wished to "attempt to remember what I liked as a boy/youth/idiot and to work out why". The favourite people referred to in the title include , , , Margaret Thatcher ("only for a few days" the author allows), and Starsky and Hutch. The book also mentions Arsenal F.C., the football team supported by Davies; he recalls as a child his mother sewing their club badge and captain's number onto his shirt, done only a year or so before she died. The paperback was published under the title Rebel Without A Clue: How the 80s Made Me.

His second memoir and autobiography, Just Ignore Him, was published in September 2020. The book details the that he suffered as a boy from his father between the ages of 8 and 13. In adulthood both the police and the CPS accepted Davies' abuse accusations but declined to prosecute his father Roy Davies, due to his Alzheimer's disease and his by then advancing years. Davies promoted the book during a BBC Radio 5 Live interview, first broadcast on 9 December 2020.

Davies's third book, White Male Stand-Up, was published in September 2025, and details the early years of his career, and how he was affected during them by the events of his childhood. Davies described it as a "reappraisal my stand-up comedy career, and my career in acting ... knowing the hidden burden I was carrying".


Personal life
Davies married Katie Maskell, a writer, on 13 January 2007 after a six-month engagement. The couple first met backstage at QI in 2005. Friend and comedy partner was Davies' best man. The couple have three children: a daughter, Susie, and two sons, Robert and Francis. Before meeting Maskell, Davies had been in relationships with and .

Davies is a . He narrated an video for called Wasted Lives in 2006.

In late 2007, The Times and The Daily Telegraph both reported that Davies bit the ear of a homeless man. Davies had just left a wake at the nearby . He told The Times in 2009, "He wasn't a tramp. He was a raging, horrendous arsehole. He called me a cunt several times. Or if it wasn't him, it was his mate. And, yes, I went for him and, yes, I did it in what turned out to be an amusing way." Following the incident, Davies was banned from the Groucho Club.

Davies is a lifelong fan and season ticket holder of Arsenal F.C. Davies also used to host the podcast "It's Up For Grabs Now", which took a light-hearted look at goings on at the club. On 18 January 2011, he began hosting the new Arsenal Podcast "The Tuesday Club" with , Keith Dover, Tayo Popoola and . Releases of the podcast ceased in August 2018, but returned in April 2020 on a (mostly) weekly basis. His support of Arsenal has been used as a recurring source of humour on QI in various ways, such as by assigning him a buzzer sound of a chant by fans of rival club Manchester United.

Davis is a supporter of the Labour Party. In 2013, he told : " is important to me. Life isn't about every man for himself. Life should be about co-operation and collaboration." Despite initially voting for to be party leader, when being interviewed by alongside fellow comedian regarding the broadcast of his Channel 4 sitcom Damned (which coincided with the 2016 Labour leadership election), Davies supported 's leadership bid, saying Corbyn was an ineffective Leader of the Opposition.


Filmography

Television
1995One for the RoadSimon TreatChannel 41 series
1997–2016Jonathan Creek5 series
1998–2000A Many Splintered ThingRussel Boyd1 seriesThis series started off as one off television film in 1998, which later resulted in a series two years later.
2001Bob & RoseRobert GossageITV
2003–QIPermanent panellist20 series
2004–2005The BriefHenry FarmerITV2 series
2006The Good Housekeeping GuideRaymond FoxTV film
2007Agatha Christie's MarpleMallardITVEpisode: "Towards Zero"
2008Hotel BabylonOtto Clark2 episodes
2009HostTV shortOriginal Broadcast Date:17 November 2009 Episode:"How Long Is a Piece of String?"
2010WhitesRoland White1 series
LewisMarcus RichardsITVEpisode: "Your Sudden Death Questioned"
2011Comedian / AlanSky12 episodes
Show Me the FunnyHimself, JudgeITV1 series
2014Alan Davies Après-SkiPresenter1 series
Playhouse PresentsAlSky Arts 1Episode: Damned
2014–PresenterDave7 series
The Dog RescuersPresenterChannel 56 series
2016All Over the WorkplaceHimselfCBBC1 episode
2016–2018DamnedAlChannel 42 series
2018Frankie Drake MysteriesJonny Cork1 episode
2019FlackDan ProctorW1 episode
2021TaskmasterHimselfChannel 4Series 12; New Year Treat II
2022McDonald & DoddsGeorge GillianITVEpisode: "Belvedere"Original Broadcast Date:19 June 2022 Episode:"Belvedere"
2023Have You Been Paying Attention?HimselfNetwork 102 episodes
2024Perfect Pub Walks with Bill BaileyMore4Episode: "Highs & Lows"
Channel 4Episode: "Trieste"


Film
2001Dog Eat DogPhil
2004Roman RoadVinceTelevision film
2008Angus, Thongs and Perfect SnoggingBob NicolsonGeorgia's dad
2018The Bromley BoysDonald Roberts


Stand-up VHS and DVDs
  • Live at the Lyric (1994)
  • Urban Trauma (1998)
  • Life is Pain: Live in London (18 November 2013)
  • Little Victories (28 November 2016)


External links
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