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Morwenna Banks

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British comedy actress, writer and producer

Morwenna Banks
BornTamsin Morwenna Banks
(1961-09-20) 20 September 1961 (age 63)
Redruth, Cornwall, England, UK
EducationRobinson College, Cambridge
Occupations
  • Actress
  • comedian
  • writer
  • producer
Spouse David Baddiel ​(m. 2017)​
Children2

Tamsin Morwenna Banks (born 20 September 1961) is a British actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy sketch show Absolutely, and wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film The Announcement. She voices Mummy Pig, Madame Gazelle and Dr Hamster in the children's series Peppa Pig. She adapted Nick Hornby's novel Funny Girl for Sky Max (renamed Funny Woman for TV) and is a writer on Slow Horses for Apple TV+.

Early life

Banks attended the private Truro High School for Girls and Robinson College, Cambridge, and was a member of the Cambridge Footlights from 1981 to 1983. She also acted with the Marlowe Society, such as in a brief comic cameo as the Widow in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, alongside Tilda Swinton.

Career

One of Banks' early major television roles was as part of the team on the comedy sketch show Absolutely, broadcast on Channel 4 between 1989 and 1993. Her other television appearances include the BBC series The Thick of It, Red Dwarf, Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul and the Steve Coogan comedy Saxondale, in which she played receptionist Vicky. She also appeared as Anthea Stonem in the E4 Teen drama Skins and was a cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live, for four episodes of the show's twentieth season. She appeared as Carmen Kenaway in the first two episodes of the ninth series of Shameless.

Her voice roles include Claire Feeble in Stressed Eric; Cleo Lion in Between the Lions; (Nick Jr UK) Mummy Pig and various other characters in Peppa Pig; the ship's computer in the BBC TV series Hyperdrive; Ping Pong in Rupert Bear; (Channel 5); and Guinevere in King Arthur's Disasters (CITV). Banks won Best Voice Performance at the 2014 British Animation Awards for providing the voice for Queen Marigold in Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom and a voice in Humf.

Banks wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film The Announcement in 2001. She also appeared in season one, episode 13 of Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a "rulebearer". In 2004, she played the central role of Tess in the series Catterick, with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. She also appeared in their shows The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, Bang, Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer and Monkey Trousers.

Banks had also voiced Sophie in Crapston Villas, an adult animated sitcom soap opera, which was produced in the 1990s. Both Banks and the television programme’s creator, Sarah Ann Kennedy, would later go on to voice characters in Peppa Pig.

Since 2009

In 2009, Banks made a series of web videos for BBC Comedy called Celebrities STFU, each video featuring her in costume impersonating Lady Gaga, Noel Gallagher, Susan Boyle, Pixie Lott, Jools Holland, and Duffy.

On 19 October 2013, BBC Radio 4 broadcast Banks' play Goodbye about a woman diagnosed with breast cancer. The play is an account of the path from the first diagnosis to the death of Lizzie, played by Olivia Colman; it deals with her relationships with her family and best friend Jen, played by Natascha McElhone, and their reactions to Jen's illness and death. The cast included Darren Boyd, John Simm, Alison Steadman, Banks' Peppa Pig co-star Harley Bird, Banks' son Ezra, and singing by Banks' daughter Dolly. It was produced by Heather Larmour. Banks received the 2015 Tinniswood Award for the play. She subsequently wrote the play's 2015 film adaptation, titled Miss You Already.

From 2012 to 2018, she played Venus Traduces (a parody of Violet Trefusis) and other roles in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom Gloomsbury.

Banks' later voice work includes the roles of Betty and Sonia in the 2008 film version of Tales of the Riverbank; and a translator at the trial of Adolf Eichmann in The Eichmann Show.

In 2016, Banks co-wrote and starred in the comedy series Damned. She co-starred in and wrote (with Rebecca Front) Shush!, a sitcom set in a library broadcast on BBC Radio Four in 2017. In late 2019, she provided the voice of Mrs Brown in The Adventures of Paddington which began airing on Children 4 Jr and Nick Jr. in early 2020.

She adapted Nick Hornby's novel Funny Girl for a 2023 series which airs on Sky as Funny Woman, and is a writer on Slow Horses for Apple TV+, which premiered in 2022.

Awards

  • 2014 British Animation Award for Best Voice Performance in Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: Nanny's Magic Test
  • 2015 Tinniswood Award for the radio play Goodbye

Charity

Banks is a patron of the Drama Express charity.

Personal life

Banks and fellow comedian David Baddiel have been together since 1998 and have been married since 2017. They have two children, a daughter Dolly (b. 2001), and a son Ezra (b. 2004), both of whom starred in Banks' play, Goodbye and live in North London.

References

  1. Yossman, K.J. (6 February 2023). "'Funny Woman' Star Gemma Arterton on Starring In, Producing New Nick Hornby Adaptation". Variety. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  2. ^ P, Maddie (8 November 2022). "'Slow Horses' Season 2: Release Date, Cast, Trailer, and Everything We Know So Far". Collider. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  3. "Footlights Alumni". Footlights. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014.
  4. Whitelaw, Paul. "Banks, Morwenna (1964–)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  5. "The Thick of It Full Cast & Crew". IMDb. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  6. "Mr Flibble Talks To... Morwenna Banks". Red Dwarf The Official Site. 27 April 2001. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  7. "Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul". ABC. February 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  8. ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (3 October 2015). "Morwenna Banks: tragic tales of loss that gave voice to quiet woman of British TV". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  9. Virtel, Louis (7 September 2010). "Saturday Night Live's 10 Greatest One-Season Wonders". Movieline. PMC. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  10. ^ Wright, Megh (29 July 2014). "Saturday Night's Children: Morwenna Banks (1995)". Vulture. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  11. Gus Wezerek (14 December 2019). "The 'S.N.L.' Stars Who Lasted, and the Ones Who Flamed Out". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019. Some of the names here will be familiar only to die-hard fans; others, like Murphy, defined what was funny for generations of viewers.
  12. Richmond, Ray (11 August 1998). "Stressed Eric". Variety. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  13. "Lion, Flora, (died 15 May 1958)", Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 1 December 2007, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u239890, retrieved 25 June 2021
  14. "Harley Bird Has Been Voicing Peppa Pig for 10 Years! | This Morning" (video). This Morning with Philip & Holly – via YouTube.
  15. "Hyperdrive". IMDb. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  16. "Rupert and the Flying Dragon". IMDb. Rupert Bear. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  17. "King Arthur's Disasters". IMDb. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  18. "Oscar nominee Room on the Broom wins British Animation Award". BBC News. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  19. ^ "British Animation Awards 2014". British Animation Awards. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  20. "British Animation Awards Finalists announced". Skwigly. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  21. "Jenny's Non-Dream". IMDb. Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  22. "Celebrities STFU". BBC. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
  23. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Saturday Drama, Goodbye". BBC. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  24. Radio Times, 19–25 October 2013, p. 135
  25. BBC Radio 4 – Feedback – Moving and poignant: Goodbye by Morwenna Banks, starring Olivia Coleman
  26. Anderson, Jane (13 October 2013). "Goodbye". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  27. Nosheen Iqbal (24 October 2013). "Goodbye – radio review". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  28. Bitel, Anton (29 September 2009). "Tales Of The Riverbank". Eye For Film. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  29. Hogan, Michael (27 September 2016). "Damned: Jo Brand's new comedy could have packed a bigger punch, review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  30. "Rebecca Front and Morwenna Banks talk funny women, taking on dramatic roles and Shush!". Radio Times. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  31. Yossman, K.J. (6 February 2023). "'Funny Woman' Star Gemma Arterton on Starring In, Producing New Nick Hornby Adaptation". Variety. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  32. "Drama Express". www.drama-express.org. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  33. Sanghera, Sathnam (4 September 2021). "David Baddiel on fame, faith (and football)". The Times. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  34. Gilbert, Gerard (27 July 2013). "'Most people still see me as a bit of a lad': David Baddiel returns to stand-up comedy". The Independent. London.
  35. Salter, Jessica (25 July 2013). "The world of David Baddiel, comedian and writer". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  36. Cite error: The named reference telegraph was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  37. Barton, Laura (25 July 2008). "'I have never ended on an unstressed syllable!'". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2021.

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