Henry "Harry" Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961 in Horsham, West Sussex, England) is a BAFTA winning British comedian, actor and writer, as well as working small-time as a director.

Early life

Enfield is the son of English television, radio and newspaper journalist and presenter Edward Enfield. He has two sisters, Elizabeth (born 1966) and Lucy Katherine (born 1969). He was educated at the independent Arundale School in Pulborough, Dorset House School, Worth School, Collyer's Sixth Form College and the University of York, where he was a member of Derwent College and read politics. He worked for a while as a milkman.

Career

Enfield first came to public attention when appearing on Channel 4's Saturday Live as a number of different characters created with Paul Whitehouse. These quickly entered the national consciousness. Among these characters were Stavros, a Greek restaurant owner with markedly fractured English; Tory Boy, a pompous Conservative MP; and Loadsamoney, an obnoxious character who constantly boasted about how much money he earned. Loadsamoney spawned a hit single in 1988 and a sell-out live tour. As a foil to Loadsamoney Enfield and Whitehouse created the Geordie "Bugger-All-Money" and in 1988 Enfield appeared as both characters during the Nelson Mandela Birthday Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium. In time Whitehouse and Enfield became disturbed that Loadsamoney was being seen in a positive light, rather than as a satirical figure, and they had him run over during a Comic Relief Red Nose Day show while leaving the studio after presenting host Lenny Henry with "the biggest cheque of the night" — a physically huge cheque for ten pence.

In 1989 Enfield realised a personal project, Norbert Smith - a Life, a spoof on British theatrical knights slumming in the film industry. He also provided voices for the British satirical puppet show Spitting Image.

TV series

In 1990 Enfield developed his BBC sketch show, Harry Enfield's Television Programme, later called Harry Enfield and Chums, with Whitehouse and Kathy Burke. Eschewing the alternative comedy style prevalent at the time, both versions of the show were indebted to early 70s comedians such as Dick Emery and Morecambe and Wise. Enfield and his co-performers created another group of nationally recognised characters for these shows, such as Stan and Pam Herbert, who use the catchphrase "We are considerably richer than yow", Tim Nice-But-Dim, The Scousers, Smashie and Nicey, Wayne and Waynetta Slob, Annoying Kid Brother, who grew into Kevin the Teenager, and two old-fashioned BBC presenters, Mr Cholmondley-Warner and Grayson.

In 1991 Enfield played Dermot in the sitcom Men Behaving Badly, originally on Thames Television. He left after the first series and was replaced by Neil Morrissey as Tony. Enfield is a professed fan of opera and fronted a Channel 4 documentary series on the subject.

After a short break from television Enfield signed a new contract with BSkyB, but produced only one series, which flopped badly. In 2002 Enfield returned to the BBC with Celeb, a new series based on the comic strip of the same title in Private Eye, as the ageing rockstar Gary Bloke. The timing was unfortunate for Enfield as almost simultaneously The Osbournes began on MTV, having been a sleeper hit in the United States. The Osbournes, depicting the dysfunctional and unconventional family life of the heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, was effectively what Enfield was trying to satirise with Celeb. The Osbournes became successful in Britain, while Enfield's show disappeared quietly after only six episodes.

In 2002 Enfield was the first guest on the revamped version of BBC's Top Gear and also appeared on the show on 23 November 2008. He came in at an "achingly" slow time of 2:01 on his first appearance and 1:49.7 on the 23 November 2008. Enfield has also narrated various TV documentaries such as the Discovery Wings channel 'Classic British Aircraft'.

In 2007, he played Jim Stonem in the Channel 4 series Skins. He reprised this role in the second series in 2008, and the third series in 2009.

He appears often on mainstream television shows. His current comedy series Harry & Paul started in 2007, had a second series in 2008 and has a third series planned, which has been confirmed for broadcast on BBC2.

Movies

In 2000 Enfield appeared in his first leading film role playing Kevin alongside Kathy Burke, who played the character's (male) friend Perry — roles originally created for Enfield's television series — in Kevin & Perry Go Large. The film charted the pair's attempt to become professional DJs by travelling to the nightclubs of Ibiza and pestering their idol, the DJ Eyeball Paul, played by Rhys Ifans, while gaining love and losing their virginity. Enfield also appeared as King George VI in Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004), a satire on Hollywood's tendency to change elements of history.

Commercials

Enfield appeared in some television commercials before becoming famous, including one made in 1987 for Heineken. Enfield's most memorable commercials include a series made in 1996 for Dime Bar. One commercial in this series had Enfield as a yokel refusing a Dime bar — smooth on the outside, crunchy on the inside — because he preferred armadillos — smooth on the inside, crunchy on the outside. Later Enfield, with Paul Whitehouse, starred in a series of commercials for Hula Hoops as The Self-Righteous Brothers, characters from Enfield's television show . In 2002 Enfield starred in a series of commercials for Burger King in the U.S. as Dr. Angus, a character intended to promote the company's newest hamburger. Two more characters from Enfield's TV series, Mr Cholmondley-Warner and Grayson, also appeared in commercials, for Mercury Communications. In 2004 Enfield provided the voice of "The Roaming Gnome" character used in Travelocity's U.S. advertising campaign.

Recent work

He plays the role of Tony Stonem and Effy Stonem's father Jim Stonem in Channel 4's critically-acclaimed drama, Skins. He has appeared throughout series 1, 2 and 3. He has also directed some of the episodes in series 2 and 3.

Personal life

For several years, Enfield was in a relationship with Alison Owen, the mother of Alfie and Lily Allen. They lived together for 3 years and he helped look after the children. They were going to get married but separated in 1995. In 1997 Enfield married Lucy Lyster and they have one son, Archie Edward Enfield (born 1997) and two daughters, Poppy Sophia (born 1999) and Nell Florence Enfield (born 2003).

References

External links