David Mitchell facts for kids

Quick facts for kids David Mitchell
Mitchell in 2009
Born	(1974-07-14) 14 July 1974 (age 50) Salisbury, England
Education	Peterhouse, Cambridge (BA)
Occupation	Comedian actor writer
Years active	1995–present
Spouse(s)	Victoria Coren ​ ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	2

David James Stuart Mitchell (born 14 July 1974) is a British comedian, actor, and writer.

Mitchell rose to prominence alongside Robert Webb as part of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb. The duo starred in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, in which Mitchell plays Mark Corrigan. He won the British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy Performance in 2009 for his performance. They have written and starred in several sketch shows including Bruiser, The Mitchell and Webb Situation, That Mitchell and Webb Sound and That Mitchell and Webb Look. They also starred in the British version of Apple's "Get a Mac" ad campaign. Their first film, Magicians, was released in 2007. They starred in the short-lived TV series Ambassadors in 2013, and have starred in the Channel 4 comedy-drama Back since 2017.

Mitchell starred as Owen in Think the Unthinkable and in the Ben Elton written BBC Two historical comedy Upstart Crow, playing William Shakespeare in the latter since 2016. He is a frequent participant on British panel shows, being a team captain on Would I Lie to You?, the host of The Unbelievable Truth on BBC Radio 4 and the former host of The Bubble and Was It Something I Said?, as well as guesting on other panel shows including QI, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, Mock the Week, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Have I Got News for You. He was also a co-host of the comedy news show 10 O'Clock Live. As a writer, he contributes opinion pieces to British newspapers The Observer and The Guardian.

Early life

David James Stuart Mitchell was born in Salisbury on 14 July 1974, the son of hotel managers Kathryn Grey (née Hughes) and Ian Douglas Mitchell. As his mother is Welsh, hailing from Swansea, and his father was born to a family that was originally Scottish, he considers himself British rather than specifically English. He would explore his ancestry in a 2009 episode of Who Do You Think You Are? and discover his connection to the Gaelic scholars John Forbes and Alexander Robert Forbes. In 1977, when Mitchell was two years old, his parents left their jobs to give lectures on hotel management as this gave them more time with him. He has a brother named Daniel, who is seven years younger.

Mitchell's family moved to Oxford, where his parents became lecturers at Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University). He attended the independent preparatory New College School. In a 2006 interview with The Independent, he recalled his childhood dreams: "When I was at school I either wanted to be a comedian-stroke-actor or prime minister. But I didn't admit that to other people, I said I wanted to be a barrister and that made my parents very happy. I didn't admit I wanted to be a comedian until I came to university, met a lot of other people who wanted to be comedians, and realised it was an okay thing to say." From the age of 13, Mitchell was educated at Abingdon School, a public school. Having always been top of the class at primary school and prep school, he realised after moving to Abingdon that there were plenty of people more intelligent than he, so he turned his attention to debating and drama "where [he] had a chance of being the best".

Mitchell often took part in plays "largely because [he] got to play cards backstage". His roles mainly consisted of small minute-long parts until he won the role of Rabbit in Winnie-the-Pooh. This was the first time that he was "consciously aware [he] was doing a performance" and that this "was better, even, than playing cards". He had been "obsessed" with comedy writing since his school days as he "always felt that doing a joke was the cleverest thing" and "would intrinsically prefer a parody of something to the actual thing itself". Rejected by Merton College, Oxford, he went in 1993 to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he studied history. There, he began performing with the Cambridge Footlights, of which he became president for the 1995–1996 academic year. In his first year at university, he met Robert Webb during rehearsals for a Footlights production of Cinderella in 1993, and the two men soon established a comedy partnership. According to Mitchell, these factors had a detrimental effect on his academic performance at university and he attained a 2:2 in his final exams.

Career

Other Mitchell and Webb projects

Mitchell (right) as "Ginger" on stage with Robert Webb during a performance of their The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb stage tour

After the success of Peep Show, Mitchell and Webb returned to sketch comedy with their BBC Radio 4 sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Sound, which ran for five series. The show was adapted for television and became That Mitchell and Webb Look. Producer Gareth Edwards described it as "the shortest pitch [he had] ever written". The show ran for four series. Towards the end of 2006 the pair made their first tour, with a show called The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb. The tour was criticised as just "a succession of largely unrelated scenes" by The Guardian's Brian Logan, who gave it a rating of two stars.

That Mitchell and Webb Look won them the BAFTA for Best Comedy Programme or Series at the 2007 awards, and they earned a further nomination for it in 2009. It was nominated for two British Comedy Awards in 2006: Britain's Best New TV Comedy and the Highland Spring People's Choice. Their stage tour The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb was nominated for the British Comedy Award for Best Stage Comedy, and That Mitchell and Webb Sound won a Sony Silver Award.

Their first film, Magicians, was released on 18 May 2007. It was directed by Andrew O'Connor and written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain. Mitchell played the role of a magician named Harry. Later in 2007, the pair recorded a pilot BBC Radio 2 sitcom entitled Daydream Believers, in which Mitchell played Ray, a science-fiction writer. The show was previously a one-off television pilot from Channel 4's Comedy Lab, and also starred Mitchell and Webb.

Mitchell and Webb's first comedy book, This Mitchell and Webb Book, was published in 2009. A second book was planned for 2010. They also wrote and filmed Playing Shop, a comedy television pilot for BBC2 about two men who operate a business out of their shed. Although the BBC commissioners were happy with it, Mitchell and Webb scrapped it themselves, as they felt it was too similar to Peep Show. A new pilot had been commissioned, but the plan was later shelved. Mitchell and Webb voiced a robotic duo in the Doctor Who episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" in 2012.

In 2005, the duo were placed ninth on a list of the United Kingdom's best television talent, and were named twelfth in a Radio Times list of the most powerful people in television comedy.

Solo acting, presenting and writing

As well as his work alongside Webb, Mitchell has appeared on his own in several shows. He played technical expert Owen in the Radio 4 sitcom Think the Unthinkable in 2001. He played the surgeon Dr Toby Stephens in the BBC2 sitcom Doctors and Nurses. In 2005 he played Kate's hapless secretary Tim in the BBC's updating of The Taming of The Shrew in its ShakespeaRe-Told series. Mitchell appeared as various roles on the Channel 4 sketch programme Blunder. The show was not well received, with the British Sitcom Guide naming it as the worst thing that Mitchell did in all of 2006 in their "British Sitcom Awards" of that year. He portrayed the recurring character of Dr. James Vine in the BBC sitcom Jam and Jerusalem. Mitchell had a small part in the film I Could Never Be Your Woman, playing an English writer, also named David. While in Los Angeles to record the part he decided that he did not like the area much, and preferred filming in Britain.

He wrote series five of the BBC2 impressionist sketch show Dead Ringers, and voiced Mitch in the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb. He also narrated the reality show Beauty and the Geek. Following the success of Channel 4's Alternative Election Night in 2010, which Mitchell hosted with Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker and Lauren Laverne, the four presented 10 O'Clock Live, a series of live shows looking at the week's affairs. Mitchell has a solo segment entitled Listen to Mitchell. The show ran for three series.

Mitchell has presented four series of the online video show David Mitchell's Soapbox, a series of short monologues co-written with John Finnemore for ChannelFlip. In these monologues Mitchell has criticised a variety of subjects, including the BBC show Doctor Who and 3D television. Matt Warman of The Daily Telegraph suggested that the series could be a sign that new comedy will increasingly become available online, rather than on television. The series has been released on DVD.

In October 2009, Mitchell signed a deal with HarperCollins and its imprint Fourth Estate to write a volume of memoirs and a novel. The memoirs, Back Story: A Memoir, was published in October 2012 with the novel scheduled for 2013.

Mitchell plays William Shakespeare in all three series of the sitcom Upstart Crow, the first series of which was broadcast in 2016 as part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the playwright's death.

In September 2023, Mitchell published Unruly: A History of England's Kings and Queens, a non-fiction book about the history of the English monarchy up until Queen Elizabeth I. The book was praised by critics; The Daily Telegraph rated Unruly 4/5 stars; In October 2023, Mitchell went on a national book tour.

Stage

Mitchell in 2019

Mitchell made his stage debut in Ben Elton's The Upstart Crow which premiered in London in February 2020 at the Gielgud Theatre. He played the part of William Shakespeare as in the television series Upstart Crow which inspired the play. The play was forced to close in mid-March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it re-opened in September 2022 at the Apollo Theatre, and played for a 10-week run until 3 December 2022.

Panel shows

Mitchell has become a regular participant on many panel shows, leading The Independent's James Rampton to christen him "if not king, then certainly prince regent of the panel games." Mitchell is a team captain on the BBC panel show Would I Lie To You?, opposite Lee Mack. The show has run since 2007. Since 2007, he has hosted 28 series of The Unbelievable Truth, a panel game on BBC Radio 4. The inaugural episode of Was It Something I Said?, a panel comedy show that Mitchell hosts, was broadcast on Channel 4 in October 2013.

He was a team captain on the Channel 4 comedy quiz show Best of the Worst, opposite Johnny Vaughan. Mitchell has also hosted ten episodes of Have I Got News For You. Mitchell hosted the panel show The Bubble. He hosted the second week of Channel 4's FAQ U, and appeared as himself in an episode of Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, a panel show parody. He also appeared as one of the participants on the Channel 4 show TV Heaven, Telly Hell, and has appeared on several episodes of Question Time. Other appearances include QI, Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week, Just a Minute, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive and 8 Out of 10 Cats, as well as appearances on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020. In a 2007 interview with Digital Spy, Mitchell stated that he enjoyed panel shows, as they are "a game worth playing". He then further explained his appreciation of the panel format by challenging criticism from Fast Show co-creator Charlie Higson, who stated in September 2013 that panel comedies were overtaking television programming at the expense of sketch shows and sitcoms:

There was a quote from Catherine Zeta-Jones about playing golf with her husband Michael Douglas. We essentially all started to imagine the scene of the two of them playing golf and that was very enjoyable and turned into a really fun bit of TV. It is moments like that which, for me, justify the existence of panel shows because no-one would ever have written those words. It purely came out of that combination of people which proves panel shows can produce funny TV in a way you could never write into a sitcom or a sketch show and thereby justifies its place on screen. I think it is a great form of entertainment and we shouldn't lose sight of that.

The Radio Times named him "The Best Comedy Panel Show Guest" in the world, stating that "he's incredibly, disgustingly witty" and "even starting to make Paul Merton look slow on the uptake".

Following his BAFTA win, Mitchell was ranked at No. 53 in the 2009 MediaGuardian 100, an annual ranking of media people in The Guardian. In reference to his ubiquitous presence in broadcast and print media, The Guardian's writer called him "the go-to funnyman of the moment". In their entry for Peep Show on their list of "The top 50 TV shows of the Noughties", The Times labelled Mitchell "a national institution".

Influences

Mitchell's favourite actor is Alec Guinness, and he lists Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Peter Cook as his comedy idols. Additionally, following the death of British actor Richard Briers in February 2013, Mitchell revealed that whenever he has acted he "always hoped to be something like him". Mitchell has also identified Morecambe and Wise, Monty Python and The Two Ronnies as highly influential on his career.

Personal life

Mitchell met broadcaster Victoria Coren at Jonathan Ross' 2007 Halloween party and was "completely smitten". She decided to pursue someone else at the time and he later admitted to pining for her, but they had begun dating by December 2010. They were married on 17 November 2012, with Robert Webb as his best man. Their daughter was born in May 2015. On 1 November 2023, they announced the birth of their second daughter. They currently live in London's Belsize Park area.

Mitchell remains interested in world history and said in a 2006 interview with The Observer, "I can see myself in a few years' time joining the National Trust and going round the odd castle. I think I might find that restful as the anger of middle age sets in." In his 2007 interview on Parkinson, he said that if he could go back in time to do one thing, he would choose to attend the construction of Stonehenge to ask them "why they were bothering".

Mitchell is a cricket and snooker fan, and also enjoys playing tennis and squash. He is an agnostic.

Mitchell takes an hour-long walk every day to alleviate a bad back. He describes himself as a "worrier".

Mitchell cites Evelyn Waugh among his favourite authors. He appeared on the radio programme Desert Island Discs in 2009. He revealed that he once attended a Shirley Bassey concert and that he owns just two albums: Phil Collins' ... But Seriously and Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream.

Mitchell, who has Scottish ancestry, was one of 200 public figures who signed an open letter to The Guardian in August 2014 expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue. His participation followed a May 2011 column in The Observer in which he wrote, "If Scotland ever goes it alone [...] the British will have lost their country."

Credits

Film

Television

Audiobooks

Non-fictional appearances

Podcast

Radio

Non-fictional appearances

Books